Borderline Cult

Borderline Cult (2007)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

There's no doubt that the career of director Ulli Lommel went downhill after his hit THE BOOGEY MAN, which has become a cult favorite over the years. Lommel's career has it rock bottom the past several years as he's started making movies that base themselves around real murder cases. BTK KILLER, GREEN RIVER KILLER and ZODIAC KILLER are just a few of these real killer movies from Lommel and all of them have ranged from horrid to poor. This film here deals with three serial killers who lure women out to the desert on the Mexico border and kills them. This is actually a small step up for the director who at least shows some technical qualities here. The performances are also better than you'd expect but the end results are still pretty poor. The film goes on way too long and we basically see the same thing over and over. A woman lures other women to the desert and then they're killed. There's a little gore, no nudity and certainly no suspense.

Borderline Cult (2007) is another one of the notorious Hollywood House of Horror releases helmed by Ulli Lommel. Three sociopaths hang around Topanga Canyon and Juarez Mexico looking for easy prey. What they want or why they murder people remains a mystery? The trio spend their free time documenting their exploits on digital video in between looking for victims. Some of them wander in the area or they go out hunting for them. Who are these killers and why do they do what they do? Do find out why or if you care check out Ulli Lommel's Borderline Cult.

Like the earlier reality horror films from Lommel, they had all kinds of problems with the MPAA over content. This one is no exception. Many of the murders were heavily edited to get an R- rating. I've always wonder why he even bothers to try and get his films rated. Do they actually play in theaters?

Story Synopsis: A fictionalised account of what was responsible for the deaths of more than 400 women, mainly prostitutes & tourists, in the US / Mexican border town of Juarez. Three shady characters team up to kill as many victims as they can. With them in the area, nobody is safe.

Film Analysis: This is yet another of the staggering number of cheap horror films made by former German New Wave legend turned Hollywood hackmeister Ulli Lommel. As is the case with practically all of his post-millennial works, he takes a true story – in this case the mysterious force killing hundreds of women in the US / Mexican border town of Juarez – & uses it to mount an abstract film.

Borderline Cult is one of Lommel's better films, although strictly mediocre. There is not much to the film than three despicable characters luring female victims to an isolated spot in the hills & killing them. That's all you're going to get & Lommel keeps things going by using all the tricks he's learned after decades making art-house films in his native Germany & cheap hackwork in the States. It is like watching a zombie rise from the grave & stagger about with no real aim other than pure instinct. That is how the film feels to me.

The acting is disturbingly good – Christian Behm makes quite an impression as the intelligent brute who enjoys killing women & has a habit of comparing parts of his life to history's worst killings. He has made acting appearances in most of Lommel's post-millennial films & outdoes himself here. It is a shame that the film isn't entirely up to scratch. Also making an appearance is producer Nola Roeper, who appears as a fortune teller.

Boarderline Cult... Apparently based on one of those true stories made into horror movies that you can't seem to find...BUT...that's not the here nor there.

It may be a low budget cheesy no real good guy good girl character setting, the main characters are the killers telling the story.

Ulli is a very talented and unique horror film maker. His vision is one of a kind and he definitely deserves more respect.

If you are a fan of found footage type of horror or based on true story horror then this is definitely the horror movie for you. I would honestly love to see a remake of this made with some crazy plot twists. It is a great story for horror. A new breed of horror if you will. I definitely recommend it if you are only a true dedicated horror movie fan.

BORDERLINE CULT opens with two drunk women staggering around. We learn that one of them is part of a trio of murdering maniacs. The non-crazy woman is tortured and killed by a bald man in Drew Carey's old glasses. There's also a voodoo dude in a top hat.

Another female is lured to her doom.

Then, a tarot card reading by a woman with a sprayed-on tan, more mindless murder, etc.

This is a totally nonsensical movie of "rinse and repeat" slaughter. Three weirdoes and the women they annihilate. It's lazy filmmaking at its most idiotic, with any semblance of a plot discarded in favor of one dumb scene of violence after another.

Roll credits...