THE BORROWER
A review in the public domain
by The Phantom
(baumgart@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
: baumgart@esquire.dpw.com
: {cmcl2,uunet}!esquire!baumgart
.
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