Borderline (2025) Movie Review - Could Have Been Good
Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are taking a look at the brand new comedy horror movie Borderline. Reading the synopsis for this movie, I was pretty eager to check it out. An obsessed fan invades the home of a 90s pop starlet forcing her bodyguard to have to save her. What’s not to love?
That’s without mentioning the fact that it features the, typically, excellent Samara Weaving in a starring role and Jack Nicolson’s son, Ray Nicholson, as the stalker. Hell, if he can channel even 10% of his dad’s trademark brand of lunacy, this could be a great movie. Oh how wrong I was. Borderline is one of those films that brings out the worst in everyone involved.
Apparently a Bit Controversial?
My fiancée told me about Borderline a few weeks back. As I always say, I try to do things a little different from most horror reviewers. I don’t keep up with news, I don’t really watch trailers, and I don’t anticipate releases. I feel that keeps my opinions more honest.
With that being said, I was, vaguely, aware of this film’s impending release. Apparently people were, kinda, up in arms about the plot. What with it being somewhat offensive to people who suffer from emotionally unstable personality disorder (formerly known as borderline personality disorder).
I can understand that. People with BPD have been taking hits for years when it comes to negative portrayals in movies. It’s probably not something you need when you are given a label and are just trying to exist in spite of it. I have bipolar disorder so am all too aware of negative portrayals in the media.
The thing is, however, Borderline isn’t offensive to people with BPD. It is offensive to everyone. And when I say everyone I mean horror fans, horror comedy fans, Samara Weaving fans, fans of good movies, anyone who has suffered from psychosis, anyone who dresses in a manner atypical of their gender, anyone who doesn’t want to waste their life watching trash. It’s just a really bad movie.
No Substance
Things start off pretty promising with a flashback to our antagonist’s first attempt to get into, popstar, Sofia’s (Weaving) house. Paul’s (Nicholson) character is quirkier than a farting grandma and the opening scene is quite amusing for its randomness. Don’t get too comfortable, though, as things go straight downhill from there.
Our antagonist escapes from a psychiatric hospital and immediately sets about returning to Sofia’s home to continue what he started six months before. Borderline hastily devolves into a mashup of loosely connected sequences that are hugely dull, viciously unfunny, repetitive and boring.
It quickly becomes clear that the opening moments of quirkiness are all this movie has. Extremely poor editing and horribly butchered scene transitions, as well as a lacklustre script, hint at an inexperienced filmmaker. An overreliance on slow motion to fill time and an abundance of montages punctuated by old pop songs offer up a distinct feeling of someone doing their best impression of Ti West.
There are a ton of things, here, that point to a director out of their depth. The ideas are so haphazardly drawn together that the lack of cohesion makes the film feel extremely messy. Important plot elements are pushed to one side to shoehorn in highly stylised, yet redundant, sequences. The constant use of heavy handed exposition demonstrates a lack of confidence in the audience to follow the very simple, and very predictable, plot. It’s a woefully put together film.
So Many Problems
Borderline is the movie equivalent of that person who, in 2025, still repeatedly quotes Anchorman because they think they are quirky. Every scene is punctuated with some small amount of silliness that is supposed to make you laugh for the sake of laughing. All while, in reality, being completely unfunny and, actually, a bit cringeworthy. It just undermines the already scattered focus of the film.
This is a movie that has no idea what it wants to be. It presents the viewer with an unthreatening antagonist who, to be honest, is little more than a goof. Sometimes portrayed as a genuine menace, other times as a complete buffoon. A protagonist that is very difficult to care about because she is a vapid asshole. A bunch of side characters who never seem all that bothered by what is taking place and some henchmen that are beyond cliched. It then puts them through a mill of unbelievable scenarios which they react to in ridiculous ways.
Borderline flitters between acting like a tense thriller that is supposed to have you on the edge of your seat. A gross out comedy that wants you to laugh at someone vomiting in someone else’s face. A horror movie with characters cutting the electric and stalking people in the dark. And a romantic comedy chuckling at the relationship complications of the characters and the bizarreness of the situation. It simply doesn’t work.
On top of that, Boreline’s presentation of psychosis is absolutely ludicrous. Attempting to convince the viewer that someone who is deluded enough to not recognise the person they are obsessed with. Could concoct an elaborate plan to escape a psychiatric hospital and invade the home of said person. Meticulously eliminating all of their carefully constructed security procedures in the process. Come on!
Impossible to Recommend
Borderline’s biggest sin might be how bad it makes Samara Weaving look. I have always been a big fan of Weaving and was excited to see her name in the cast. I totally understood why she is struggling to break through into non-horror. She is an, obviously, flawed performer but I enjoyed her in almost everything.
Despite that, she is terrible, here. Her accent is all over the place. She seems low energy. The director doesn’t reign in her constant pulling of the same wide eyed expression. She gurns relentlessly and feels every part the Temu Margot Robbie that I think Hollywood probably views her as.
People probably won’t agree with me and that’s fine but I am just calling it how I saw it. I think Weaving may be one of those actors that needs a strong director to bring out the best in her. When she is on, she is brilliant but that is not the case here. Ray Nicholson tries, he really does. The script just doesn’t give him much to work with. He has moments where he shines but it never really amounts to a truly great performance.
Eric Dane is a special kind of lethargic, here. He is so unenthusiastic that he made me feel legitimately tired. I really enjoyed Alba Baptista as Penny. Her character is a bit of a silly cliché but she puts so much effort into the role that it is hard not to like her. Jimmie Fails plays his character so seriously that he feels almost out of place. Like he was in the wrong movie, or something. He does good, though, and felt a step above most of the cast.
Should You Watch Borderline?
There’s a section of the horror audience that will see past the problems this movie has and that’s great. For me, however, it is probably the worst horror movie I have watched, so far, in 2025. Sure, other movies are technically worse but with the budget, cast, and facilities at director Jimmy Warden’s disposal, this should have been, at least, watchable. He has managed to put out a real wet fart of a film. It is unfunny, messy, totally lacking in focus, poorly edited, poorly scripted, and, worst of all, extremely boring. A real chore of a movie to get through. Unless you have a high tolerance for dull comedy horror, just skip Borderline.
Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight
Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.
A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.
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