Simply A Masterpiece

Don't Believe the Hype

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

You gotta say one thing for director John McNaughton: he certainly hasn't been predictable, having directed horror, comedy, documentary, erotic drama, and even a made-for-TV women in prison flick. For The Borrower, the follow up to his dark, gritty, and critically acclaimed 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer', he stays within the horror genre, but still surprises by drastically changing tack to enter cheesy, B-movie territory with the tale of a violent alien creature, banished to Earth in human form, who regularly requires new heads in order to survive.This hokey story allows McNaughton to indulge in some cool special effects (courtesy of Kevin Yagher), a touch of light hearted humour, and plenty of horror/sci-fi silliness in the vein of The Hidden—and for a while, it looks like his new, fun approach is going to pay off, with the first half-an-hour or so being very entertaining stuff. After the premise has been established, however, the action becomes rather monotonous, with the alien repeatedly swapping heads (allowing several actors to play the monster, including Antonio 'Huggy Bear' Fargas), whilst tough cop Diana Pierce (Rae Dawn Chong) struggles to make sense of the carnage left in his wake.Towards the end, the film is lifted momentarily by a bonkers scene in which the creature, wearing the head of a dog, attacks and kills a metal-head, but this level of craziness isn't maintained for long—a shame, because this is exactly the kind of lunacy the film needed more of. Instead, the momentum quickly wanes, and the film finishes with a very unsatisfying ending that feels as though no-one could really be arsed to think of anything better.5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for the dog-headed monster, a bit of dead mouse munching, and a totally gratuitous sex scene.

Five years after John McNaughton made Henry Portrait Of a Serial Killer he made this supposed gory SF horror. It made me think a bit of The Terminator. I mean, somebody coming to earth and start to learn earth. the film opens with an alien punishing another alien by giving him a human face and exile him to earth. Still being an alien he wants to change his identity by ripping of heads and replacing his former head with it. It's all shown with the typical effects of that time, I mean the bladder effects. It's all done by Kevin Yagher, still in the business and known for MI 2 and Friday the 13th final chapter and some Nightmare on Elm Street episodes. So the effects are really good but the movie lacks in storyline, they involved another killer Scully, nothing to do with the alien and nothing to do with the storyline. He's in the movie for no reason and just got shot. I gave it a 5 just for the effects, it's weird that with the actors known in that era and the director and effects that this isn't out on DVD, you can find it still on VHS only in NTSC. Weird, I surely could BORROW a copy.

If you enjoy bad movies, especially late 1980s/early 1990s science fiction/horror, I recommend this movie. The premise and story are interesting, there are both intentionally funny parts and unintentionally funny parts, and the music is good (especially the theme). Probably the weakest aspect is the acting. Between the title character--an alien who is played by five different actors as he changes identities--and the two heroes, a pair of cops boringly played by Rae Dawn Chong and Dan Gordon, we never really have anyone to care about. One aspect of the movie that I found especially pleasantly surprising is its urban setting. Most low-budget SF or horror b-movies are set in the wilderness or a post-apocalypse to cut down on costs, while this was set in the big city, full of people and streets and buildings and modern technology. That--and the unexpected cross-dressing by Brad-Pitt-manqué Neil Giuntoli--are what make this movie a keeper!

Aliens punish one of their own by sending him to earth. The alien is very violent, and when the body he occupies is damaged, he is forced to find another. Strange, unorthodox science fiction/horror film. The script is quite clever and the film has plenty of amusing moments, but Mr. Mcnaughton should stick to more serious films, i.e. "Henry". Impressive make-up effects by Kevin Yagher and plenty of gore help but only to a certain extent. Runs to long and tends to drag out a bit, especially towards the end. Above average for this kind of film but somewhat disappointing in the end.5.5/10.