REVIEW: THE BORROWER
The Phantom
THE BORROWER
A review in the public domain
by The Phantom
(baum...@esquire.dpw.com)
The Phantom returned to the Angelika theater last Saturday night
for a midnight showing of John McNaughton's latest horror film, THE
BORROWER. Long-time readers will remember the Phantom's prior
spine-tingling encounter with SoHo's premiere theater for the
all-in-black set, and it was with some reluctance that the Phantom
decided to return for THE BORROWER. Alas, this horror/comedy gem can be
seen in New York City only at the Angelika, and only at midnight; but
given how taken the Phantom was last year with McNaughton's horror
classic HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, and how much he enjoyed
McNaughton's direction of Eric Bogosian's one-man show, SEX, DRUGS AND
ROCK & ROLL (currently in limited theatrical release), the Phantom felt
it was worth braving the espresso, the cappuccino, and the black leather
so that he could see what Mr. McNaughton has in store for
quality-starved horror phans.
Still dazed from his last encounter with the Angelika (at which
time he was horrified to overhear someone decline the popcorn because it
wasn't topped with real butter), the Phantom decided that this time he
would try to blend in as best he could. To that end he dressed himself
in black jeans, black running shoes, a black leather jacket and a black
Boxhill Systems t-shirt. He also ordered a cup of coffee -- black --
when he arrived, and put all thoughts of real movie theater food out of
his mind. To complete his camouflage, he was also joined at the last
moment by four friends, all of whom were themselves black, though most
of whom were probably grievously misled into attending -- after all, the
number of people who will willingly attend a film that features giant
bugs, exploding heads, and Rae Dawn Chong are few and far between. But
knowing how ill at ease he would be sitting there among the
foreign-film-aholics, they came to the Phantom's rescue and kept him
from buying popcorn with the express intent of throwing it at the first
"film enthusiast" who loudly expounded on the declining state of the
American cinema and explained to anyone within earshot why LA FEMME
NIKITA was really so much more than a movie about a pretty girl with
long legs who shoots people. It's an allegory, or so the Phantom has
been -- unwillingly -- told.
Still, the Phantom appreciated their company, and as the opening
credits rolled, he attempted to reassure them with one of his
long-standing horror maxims: that any movie with giant bugs, exploding
heads, and Rae Dawn Chong can't be all bad. And as it turned out, THE
BORROWER wasn't bad at all, though it's certainly not in the same league
as HENRY. In fact, THE BORROWER is really more a horror comedy than a
serious horror film, and although it contains a reasonable amount of
gore, it's not an over-the-top gore-fest like REANIMATOR or EVIL DEAD 2.
But the deadpan style is much the same, and to their credit McNaughton
and everyone else play it straight; as a result, THE BORROWER is rather
like the NAKED GUN of horror films.
The story is a simple one: an alien is sentenced to live out the
remainder of his life as a human being (obviously the result of a
misdemeanor crime -- if it were a felony conviction the alien would be
sentenced to live out his life as a film producer) on the planet Earth.
Although he is initially given a human form, he's warned that any damage
done to his body might result in a partial transformation back to his
original form -- which, by the way, bears more than a passing
resemblance to James Earl Jones dressed as a giant locust in EXORCIST
II: THE HERETIC. Homage or coincidence? You decide.
As is typical with these sorts of situations, such a transformation
frequently results in the need for additional human body parts (to
replace the damaged ones). Not realizing that most people are attached
to their heads and arms and tend not to want to hand them out on loan,
the alien finds that every so often he must, well, borrow a spare head
from someone if he is to go on living.
This alone might be considered ludicrous, but McNaughton is nothing
if not relentlessly logical. In addition to borrowing a head or two,
the alien must also eat part of his victim, presumably so the rather
complicated skin grafts will take.
So. Spare body parts, cannibalism, giant bugs. If THE BORROWER
had only this -- and nothing more -- to offer horror phans, it would
hardly be worth seeing; after all, one could always stop by one's local
Blockbusters and rent DAWN OF THE DEAD or REANIMATOR. But in what may
well be the casting coup of the year, McNaughton gives us Rae Dawn Chong
as an upscale police woman without a social life who manages to stumble
onto the film's terrible secret after an astonishingly short 90 minutes
of police work. (As an extra, added attraction, he also gives us
Antonio Fargas as something other than a pimp -- he plays a homeless
man, but for Fargas that's a career move.)
Ms. Chong puts her all into this film -- perhaps aware that her
reputation as the Linda Blair of the nineties could be at stake -- and
the Phantom is pleased to report that she does not disappoint. Her
acting range is, if anything, even more limited than Blair's at the
height of her career; after all, Ms. Chong has never had to star in any
"women in prison" films, the Shakespearean tragedies of the B-movie
world. What's more, her near-perfectly blank expression and her flat,
uninflected delivery reminded the Phantom at times of -- dare he say it?
-- Bo. Both Blair and Chong have a long way to go before they can even
be considered in the same league as Ms. Derek, and for now Bo's role as
Jane in TARZAN, THE APE MAN remains unchallenged as the very pinnacle of
bad acting. For now. Should Ms. Chong ever decide to star in QUEST
FOR FIRE II, however, the movie world will probably have to give her the
nod, since Bo has effectively retired from competition with an
undisputed title.
There are decently cheesy special effects (some might include Chong
in this category), lots of good lines (none of which the Phantom will
spoil here) and sundry gross-outs, the best of which involves an effect
that reportedly cost upwards of $1.98, proving once again that it
doesn't take money to make an audience sick to its stomach, just talent.
We're also treated to two very good performances: one by Tom Towles as
the country yokel who first discovers the alien (and a short time later
as the alien himself), and the other by Pam Gordon who plays a coroner
who always seems just a little too enthusiastic about her work. Phans
of HENRY will remember Towles as Henry's partner in crime, and while his
performance here is much less serious, it's no less effective. They
should also be on the lookout for a couple of inside references to the
film.
Phans of the horror film THE HIDDEN will notice certain
similarities between it and THE BORROWER; the Phantom doesn't know how
intentional those similarities are supposed to be, though he believes
that its just a case of two good directors getting some mileage out of
one good idea. The stories are similar, but McNaughton plays it more
for laughs, and ultimately THE BORROWER winds up borrowing just as much
from REANIMATOR as it does from THE HIDDEN.
McNaughton made THE BORROWER between HENRY (which was made in 1985
but only released last year) and the Bogosian project; his next film,
MAD DOG AND GLORY (starring Robert DeNiro and produced by Martin
Scorsese) will be his first big-budget, major-studio release. The
Phantom suspects that no matter what kind of film it is, everyone's head
will stay where it should and nary a giant bug will be seen. Ah, the
price of commercial success....
It's not worth going way out of your way to see THE BORROWER, but
it's certainly worth catching once it's released on video. It's a film
that's probably best seen at midnight-only showings, but it should play
well enough at home, where you won't even have to dress all in black to
see it.
: The Phantom
: baum...@esquire.dpw.com
: {cmcl2,uunet}!esquire!baumgart