The Devil's Playground Is Just Around The Corner
Three college students, Phil, Ed, and Henry take a road trip into Mexico for a week of drinking and carefree fun only to have Phil find himself a captive of a group of satanic Mexican drug smugglers who kill tourists and whom are looking for a group of new ones to prepare for a sacrifice.
Genre(s): Crime, Horror, Thriller
Runtime: 105 minutes
Rating: 5.7/10 (2,617 votes)
Release Date: 10 February 2007
Country: Mexico, USA
Languages: English, Spanish
Company: Tonic Films
MPAA: Rated R for strong grisly violence/torture, drug use, language and some sexuality/nudity.
Director(s): Zev Berman
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Producer(s):
Rossana Arau - line producer
Mike Crawford - line producer
Deborah Davis - executive producer
Randall Emmett - producer
George Furla - producer
Susan Jackson - executive producer
Lauren Moews - producer
Vance Owen - executive producer
Keith Previte - executive producer
Jeff Rice - executive producer
Elisa Salinas - producer
M. Dal Walton III - executive producer
Steve Whitney - executive producer
Writer(s):
Eric Poppen - (written by) &
Zev Berman - (written by)
Cast:
Brian Presley - Ed
Rider Strong - Phil
Jake Muxworthy - Henry
Beto Cuevas - Santillan
Martha Higareda - Valeria
Sean Astin - Randall
Damián Alcázar - Ulises
Marco Bacuzzi - Gustavo
Roberto Sosa - Luis
José María Yazpik - Zoilo
Music: Andrés Levin
Rossana Arau - line producer
Mike Crawford - line producer
Deborah Davis - executive producer
Randall Emmett - producer
George Furla - producer
Susan Jackson - executive producer
Lauren Moews - producer
Vance Owen - executive producer
Keith Previte - executive producer
Jeff Rice - executive producer
Elisa Salinas - producer
M. Dal Walton III - executive producer
Steve Whitney - executive producer
Writer(s):
Eric Poppen - (written by) &
Zev Berman - (written by)
Cast:
Brian Presley - Ed
Rider Strong - Phil
Jake Muxworthy - Henry
Beto Cuevas - Santillan
Martha Higareda - Valeria
Sean Astin - Randall
Damián Alcázar - Ulises
Marco Bacuzzi - Gustavo
Roberto Sosa - Luis
José María Yazpik - Zoilo
Music: Andrés Levin
Posted on: November 1, 2007
June 3rd, 2008
Based on the Matamoros Cult Killings, this film finds three friendstraveling to Mexico for a little wine, women & song. When one of them,Phil (Boy Meet World's Rider Strong) gets kidnapped, it's up to theother two along with help from a few local girls ad a Mexican cop whohad lost his partner to the cult to find a way to save him. But time isfleeting as the dark gods demand a sacrifice.
This has been compared to Eli Roth's "Hostel" and I can see somevalidity there, albeit small, as both films are quite graphic, butwhereas Eli throws up gore just for the sake of gore, the extremeviolence in this film is actually integral to the story at hand. ZevBerman has crafted a cautionary tale about human cruelty and themonsters that lie within. The film's a little slow going to introducethe trio of friends but that methodical to give them as much personaltyas Zev could. It gets quite intense toward the end. While I can'treally say I enjoyed the film, I ca say I respected it.
My Grade: B
DVD Extras: Commentary with Director Zev Berman, Actor Brian Presley,Director of Photography Scott Kevan, and Producer Lauren Moews; 2featurettes (Rituals de Sangre, & Inside Zev's Head) the former beingthe real life account while the latter is a video diary; MissHorrorfest Contest Webisodes; Trailers for "the Eye" remake,"Wristcutters: a love story"; and Promos for Fear.net, Horrorfest 2007,& After Dark: 8 Films to Die for
June 4th, 2008
This movie was simply great.I was expected it to be good, but yet Ithought it turned out wonderfully.The suspense was good, and theviolence was bloody and gory.The acting was good for a low budget filmas well, and this was just an all around great movie.There were someparts where it got a little boring, and yes there were some scenes wereit felt like the actors weren't trying hard enough, but overall it wastotally worth watching.If you like the Afterdark Horrorfest films, thisis a must see, because it is one of the best of the series.I will sayall the Afterdark Horrorfest films are a little underrated and theydon't need to be, because these are some of the greatest B-Movies everto be made.
June 12th, 2008
I was a bit curious about this movie by the synopsis and specially forbeing based on a true story (that was what really got my attention inthe 1st place), and it kinds of tells a little bit of the story andit's not that bad on the genre that's included for a movie. But i was alot disappointed because i was excepting a bit more attention in thecult, folklore, beliefs, framing in the time and space of the storyitself etc… In resume: i was expecting that would go deeper on thestory and it's angles, explanations, ''whys'' and ''hows'', events, andnot so much ''kicks and punches in the trunks'' what turns it a bitboring. We got to know there was a cult and 3 Americans on a supposing''go wild'' trip and have fun before facing university, that got caughtby the cult. but that's it. the rest is runnings and punchings,fightings and a few chopped heads, a few gun shots, a bit of blood andscreaming… In the end, i ended up learning more about the Santeriacult, it's beliefs and length of actions, and what was really going onbehind all that, in a review i read here and not in the movie. So, it'snot bad, well performed for it's purpose, but …the purpose was not upto my expectations of actually hearing a true story told.
June 18th, 2008
When three Texas University students travel to a Mexican border town onthe eve of their graduation the last thing they expect is to face theirown deaths. Without warning they fall prey to an ancient blood culthellbent on finding candidates for human sacrifice. Based on trueevents BORDERLAND tells a story which blends the raw fear of TexasCHAINSAW MASSACRE with the stark reality of IN COLD BLOOD evoking aworld soaked in paranoia fear and dread.
Borderland is based on true event and follow a story of a three friendwhich come to Mexico, to use drugs. Not really god one there, justanother bloody fun.
June 29th, 2008
~Spoiler~
Borderland is not at all what I expected from one of the After DarkHorrorfest titles. First off, it's doesn't strike me as a straight-uphorror film. Yes, the situation is terrifying, but that doesn'tnecessarily make it horror. From the hype I had heard, I was expectingHostel in Mexico. Thankfully the filmmakers went another direction.Borderland is simply a really engaging thriller with some visceral andbloody moments. But horror fans should not be put off by thosecomments. It's actually a good movie (which is more than I can say forthe majority of the Horrorfest movies). It involves three friends whogo to Mexico to live it up for a few days before returning home andpossibly going their separate ways through life. One friend iskidnapped and tortured by an evil cult who operate near the border. Theother two buds are left to their own devices when they get no help fromthe police or any of the scared townsfolk. The biggest surprise here isthe acting. After coming off the disappointed Tooth and Nail (anotherHorrorfest flick), Rider Strong returns to my good graces with awonderfully vulnerable performance. He plays the kidnapped friend anddoes a great job. Equally good are Brian Presley as the voice of reasonamong the friends and Jake Muxworthy in the role of the group'sa$$hole. One actor going very much against type here is Sean Astin. Heplays one of the cult's deranged followers. Now, this is a guy I loveto love. This is Rudy…freakin' Samwise! I'm impressed that he waswilling to try something different, but I just don't want to see thatout of my Goonies. One other complaint comes at the finale. I wasn't assatisfied as I should have been at the end. Comparatively speaking, thevillains did not get as good as they gave. Though nothing I would buy,I enjoyed the viewing experience and would recommend this to others.
July 26th, 2008
On a road trip to Mexico, a group of college kids looking for a partystumble across a gang of drug smugglers at the border. These smugglersare more dangerous than they seem, however, as they're also Satanistslooking for tourists to sacrifice in the name of the Devil.
While I'm not a big fan of the torture films that have come in the wakeof Eli Roth's 'Hostel' films, there have been a few that I very muchliked. . . the French horror 'Frontière(s)' was a great addition to thesubgenre, as was the very well done straight-to-video 'Carver.' Whileit's not a hard type of film to make, it's certainly difficult to makethem simultaneously of quality and original enough to stand alone,rather than being lumped in with the other dozen or so coming out.Borderland, while sounding like the typical 'Turistas'-esque'tourists-in-peril' film, it does have a few more things going for it.The Satanism of the drug cult is something that throws back to the70s-style exploitation films where Satanists were often the enemies.The dark, savage look of the film works very well to keep the mood. Theactors, victims and attackers, personify the given material in arealistic way. The gore & violence, though not as prevalent as similarfilms, is well done and not over-the-top so much as to be fake-looking.The film does drag a little bit a couple times, but doesn't totallykill the pace or the watchability of the film. Overall, it's not agreat film by any means, but definitely worth a view for fans of thissubgenre.
Final verdict: 6.5/10