| Borderline fits right in line with the recent romantic comedy-esque horror movies like Companion and Heart Eyes. Although in this case the romance is all in the head of one deranged superfan, the comedy and horror elements are all front and center. Samara Weaving stars as Sofia, a rich and famous popstar whose cushy life has a rude and violent awakening and when one fan can’t take no for an answer, so instead she’s going to have to say, “I do.” | | 2025
Directed by: Jimmy Warden
Screenplay by: Jimmy Warden
Starring: Samara Weaving, Ray Nicholson
|
Ray Nicholson is delightful as the obsessive Paul Duerson, a violent and deranged fan, who has stalked and killed his way into Sofia’s life. “Delightful” might seem like an odd adjective for such a gory and unwell role, but it definitely fits a man who otherwise wouldn’t be so harmful if he didn’t have a double-bladed knife on him and didn’t have a knack for convincing other deranged psychopaths to join him on his quest.
His quest is rather simple: get Sofia to marry him. Sofia fortunately has multiple people on her side who may or may not be able to keep her safe against the unhinged attacks. The cast includes Eric Dane as Sofia’s security guard and right-hand man, and Jimmie Fails who slays as Rhodes an NBA player and sort-of boyfriend to Sofia; he has a lot of great elements to his personality which really help tie the film together.
It should be obvious at this point that the movie gets insane, arguably too insane as the comedy gets lost towards the end when the insanity, horror and comedy are all trying to balance out and instead things regularly topple over. The body count is high, although refreshingly it’s never quite as high as it seems.
The soundtrack is filled with 80s and 90s love songs, including, of course, the titular “Borderline” by the Flaming Lips. The movie has a really fun atmosphere at the beginning, aided in large part by the romance filling the airwaves as everyone’s safety is in jeopardy.
Borderline can be a fun watch. The tone, especially at the beginning, makes it really compelling as you start settling into this off-kilter horror comedy. The cast for sure had a blast and I can understand why Samara Weaving says this is her favorite genre. It leans more towards annoying than fun by the end, but I tend to prefer comedy over horror, so if you lean in the other direction then it probably stays on the right side of fun.
|
