Synopsis: Ed (Brian Presley), Henry (Jake Muxworthy) and Phil (Rider Strong) are three American college graduates in search of wild times in Mexico. After a night of partying with two local women, Ed and Henry realize that Phil is missing. Joining forces with an ex-cop, their search for their friend leads them to a horrifying encounter with cultists who practice human sacrifice.
Are you a fan of gore, Satanic practices, and dark lighting? Perhaps Borderland (2007) is the right choice for you.
Spoilers
Borderland is an American-Mexican movie that explores the gory and bloody practices of drug dealers looking to sacrifice humans so their coke smuggling will go untouched. As someone who can’t really enjoy gore-porn, I was shutting my eyes for most of the film. Okay, not most, but some really key parts. Like when Narcos: Mexico’s Jose Maria Yazpik’s character was dismembered within the first five minutes.
In fact, there were a few familiar faces in Borderland. Yazpik, Damian Alcazar (Gilberto Rodriguez in Narcos), and Martha Higareda, who played Kristin Ortega in Altered Carbon. Sean Astin is also in it as a crazy guy. The story mainly focuses on three Americans: Rider Strong as Phil aka “Cannon Fodder”, Jake Muxworthy as Henry aka “Racist douchebag”, and Brian Presley as Ed aka the “nice guy”. These three examples of privileged college students decide that going to Mexico across the border is a great way to party because of the “lack of law enforcement”. Oh, you shallow souls, you’ll wish there was law enforcement.
Very Predictable
As expected, one of these three men will become the sacrificial lamb. Not until, though; Henry is just the worst and Ed meets Higareda’s Valaria and falls in love. I did love her in the movie, but I simply love Higareda from Altered Carbon. Phil, who I nicknamed cannon fodder before, gets captured by these human sacrificing drug dealers, which brings everyone’s Mexican vacation to a halt. Due to the law enforcement’s refusal to help, the friends meet Alcazar’s Ulises. They must team up to save Phil and take down the narcos.
In the end, Borderland isn’t that bad. The lighting was a little dark, but the editing was fine, the movie had a structured story, and it achieved what it wanted to – being a disturbing film. Borderland was also predictable. You pretty much knew what was going to happen every step of the way, so it was a little cookie cutter. Did we need a needless romance in the film? Not really. And the main bad Santillan (played by Beto Cuevas) reminded me of Imhotep from the Mummy movies. Also, you always know a movie has gotten corny when you have this exchange:
“Tell my story.”
“You’ll tell it.”
Rating: 3/5
Again, the acting wasn’t terrible, I loved Higareda, and it was delightful seeing Astin play a twisted cultist. Borderland is available on Amazon Prime.
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