Borderland - After Dark Horror Fest (2007)

When three Texas University students travel to a Mexican border town on the eve of their graduation the last thing they expect is to face their own deaths. Without warning they fall prey to an ancient blood cult hellbent on finding candidates for human sacrifice. Based on true events BORDERLAND tells a story which blends the raw fear of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE with the stark reality of IN COLD BLOOD evoking a world soaked in paranoia fear and dread.System Requirements:Running Time: 106 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR/KILLER Rating: UNRATED UPC: 031398226864 Manufacturer No: 22686 Product Description

WOW, GOOD & UNEXPECTED SHOCKER!!

Usually "after dark" series A big turn down for me , well most of them I saw was LAME!. till i seen this flick, NEVER thought from opening seen going to get real deep & disturbing!! SHOCKED me out of the blue.... Just never thought going TO GET that gruesome!! Has style of " HOSTEL" mix, with real good acting, Made my skin crawl and shocked me in torcher seens!!, Coz " base on true story".. Could happen again to anyone & U could feel the pain!!.. After all WERE REAL good SCRIPT,ACTING, NICLY DONE AND SHOT. with CRAZY Violent & gory shocking parts I didn't excepted to roll like that!!!! MUST SEE!! Just i feel soo sorry for those college KIDS they murdered like that,back in 80S :( B+ August 30, 2008

Borderland

GREAT movie! I love scary movies and this delivered! Lots of gore! Based on a true story - now, that always makes it better! August 16, 2008

horrible trash

This movie won't help Mexico's tourism.. I wonder the purpose of this trash. Because this story is kinda true makes this even worse. I wasn't in the mood to witness 'Gringos' being hacked, dismembered to death by machetes. This movie wasn't so much poor rather the location. What a depressing and vile place Mexico can be at times with extreme racism toward whites. Weird drug lords, satanic sacrafical cults and a lot unclean living. I regretted renting this.. It is disgusting with no remorse or payoff. Just violent dribble.. AVOID!! July 9, 2008

BETTER THYAN MOST OTHER HORRORFEST ENTRIES

In the last film in our coverage of the After Dark Horrorfest fims, we take a look at Borderland, a film based on actual events. I'm happy to say that Borderland is the best of the four films that I reviewed. On the other hand, the bar was so low with the previous entries, that this isn't saying too much. Three college buddies, Eddie, Henry, and Phil head to a small Mexican bordertown for a few days of booze and babes. Naïve Phil (Rider Strong) is plucked off the streets by members of a cult who practice human sacrifice.

Eddie and Henry have little luck with getting help from the police who themselves are terrified of the cult. Their only aid comes from a local girl, Valeria (Higareda) who helps the guys with the translations although she is new to the town herself. They finally meet a Mexico City cop whose partner was killed by the cult a year ago and has been tracking them down ever since. They plan a desperate rescue attempt to try and save Phil before the cult's charismatic leader, Santillan, can sacrifice him.

Now if the film truly is based on real events then Mexico has moved into my Top 1 spot of places that I will NEVER visit. While not a true horror in the strictest sense, the thriller's themes are horrific and it is suitably bloody. Victims of the cult have limbs chopped off and are hacked to bits with machetes. Sean Astin of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is almost unrecognizable as a fat, sadistic lackey of Santillans. It took me several scenes to realize that was him, as I had not checked out the credits before watching the film.

Borderland had the best performances of any of the four Horrorfest films that I reviewed. Damian Alcazar was outstanding as the beaten down, and crippled cop trying to avenge his partner's murder. Martha Higareda is extraordinarily beautiful and hopefully she will be in more American film productions as most of her previous credits have been in her native Mexico. Rider Strong, who also starred in another of this year's Horrorfest films, Tooth and Nail, is also very good as the innocent, baby-faced Phil. Chilean Beto Cuevas who plays the ruthless cult-leader, fronts a rock band.

Director Zev Berman moves the film along briskly and dispenses with a lot of the usual low-budget horror film plot devices like gratuitous sex scenes and the like. He goes after the viewer with a visceral intensity and doesn't stop until the final credits roll. Borderland isn't a great film but it's certainly on of the best in this year's batch of Horrorfest films.



Extras
The disc features a commentary track with director Zev Berman, actor Brian Presley and director of photography Scott Kevanand producer Lauren Moews.

There are also two featurettes:

"Inside Zev's Head: A Filmmaker's Diary" runs 24:00 and is basically your "making of" piece with comments from the actors and director.
"Rituales de Sangre - The True Story Behind the Cult Murder Investigation" featuring interviews with the actual investigators of the real life case. 28:00
June 23, 2008

Horrifying premise, well executed story

In 2 days I watched 5 Afterdark Horrorfest films. They all pretty much sucked, except for this one. Here's the heading to an actual newspaper article involving this case--

TEXAS COLLEGE STUDENT FOUND IN MASS GRAVE IN MATAMOROS, MEXICO.

No, he wasn't buried in a graveyard either. When some grads travel down to Mexico for a weekend of partying, they get more than they bargained for. There's a horrific blood cult seeking bodies for human sacrifice.
This movie is inspired by a true story. It unfolds with a penetrative fear that is almost overwhelming. The acting is suprisingly good, and there are some frightening, real characters. There isn't alot of blood and gore, but the hopelessness and desperation is reminiscent of the feeling in Hostel. I think the main drawback of the story is that it doesn't avoid the cliched, dramatic ending that stretches the believability factors a bit. Still it doesn't go too far.
Plus don't miss the Special Features on this one. It includes the true story behind the cult murder investigation. Truly disturbing.
June 8, 2008

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