The Borrower (1991)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

John McNaughton

Writers (WGA):

Mason Nage (story)
Mason Nage (screenplay) ...

Genre:

Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Aliens punish one of their own by sending him to earth. The alien is very violent, and when the body he occupies is damaged...

Plot Keywords:

Severed Head | Decapitation | X Rayed Skeleton | Mirror | Independent Film

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Rae Dawn Chong	...	Diana Pierce
Don Gordon	...	Charles Krieger
Tom Towles	...	Bob Laney
Antonio Fargas	...	Julius
Neil Giuntoli	...	Scully
Larry Pennell	...	Captain Scarcelli
Pam Gordon	...	Connie
Tony Amendola	...	Dr. Cheever
Robert Dryer	...	Borrower / Human
Richard Wharton	...	Alien Pilot
Bentley Mitchum	...	Kip
Zoe Trilling	...	Astrid
Tamara Clatterbuck	...	Michelle Chodiss
Tom Allard	...	Ruben Whitefeather
Darryl Shelly	...	Druggie

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Italy:VM14 | Australia:M | Germany:18 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | UK:18 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Cannon Group

Movie Connections:

Referenced in American Beauty (1999)

Alien: Portrait of a Serial Head-Snatcher!

What a strange career decision of John McNaughton to follow-up his dark masterpiece "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" with this silly and ultra-cheesy Sci-Fi romp! "Henry" was an intense and harrowing shock-drama, partly based on horrible real-life events, whereas this crazy flick revolves on naughty aliens banished from their planet and killer headaches! "The Borrower" is an endurable and occasionally even fun little flick, but it lacks a proper script and especially that last half hour lingers on enormously. This low-budget B-movie opens with images inside an alien spaceship at it heads for the earth to drop off a banished member of their intergalactic community. The opening is pretty funny, as the alien refers to human beings as the absolute lowest forms of life and getting sent to earth is actually a punishment far worse than execution. Gee thanks, Mr. Alien! We like your planet, too. The rest of the film is reminiscent of "The Hidden"; only the alien's modus operandi to switch hosts is a whole lot messier. Whenever the unfriendly visitor runs out of energy or gets damaged, he simply rips off the head of any poor person (or dog) that stands too close and attaches it to his own body. His first victim is a redneck hunter (the ultra-cool Tom Towles of "House of 1.000 Corpses") and the alien uses his head to go to the big city and run a little amok there. Meanwhile, the ambitious female detective Diana Pierce pursues an escaped psycho-killer and naturally both story lines will neatly come together in the end. The crazy head-transplant aspect results in some excellent splatter-sequences and a fair amount of delightful black humor. Also, and as some other reviewers already mentioned, the film is even mildly effective as a social commentary pointing out all the issues of life in the big city. Too bad about the imbecile and downright crappy ending. It almost seems like McNaughton completely lost interest in finishing the film properly.