Ultimately, Borderline is too tame to be a great horror film and too clunky to be a great comedy. It’s not outright terrible, but it’s forgettable—another mid-tier genre entry that will likely be lost in the shuffle. Samara Weaving stars in the film and remains its strongest asset.
‘Borderline’ Movie Review
I wish Borderline (2025) worked better because it reminds me of movies I genuinely enjoy. The most obvious comparison is Ready or Not, Samara Weaving’s best horror outing to date, where she plays a woman unknowingly thrust into a deadly game of hide-and-seek. Borderline treads similar ground—once again placing Weaving in a confined, high-stakes scenario with a psychotic love interest—but it never quite finds its footing as a horror-comedy.
The film, directed by Jimmy Warden in his feature debut, opens with a narrative framing device that immediately undercuts its tension. We see Paul (Ray Nicholson) and Sofia (Weaving) standing at the altar, a clear indication that, despite whatever chaos unfolds, we’re going to end up here. The setup saps the film of suspense before it even begins, making the journey feel more like an inevitability than a thrilling descent into madness.
Sofia is a ’90s pop superstar living in an opulent mansion under the watch of her security guard Bell (Eric Dane) and frequently visited by her love interest DeVante (Jimmie Fails). Given the security presence, it would take an elaborate plan for a deranged stalker to get inside. But Paul, recently escaped from a mental institution, is already familiar with Bell—who doesn’t take his return seriously until it’s too late. Before long, Paul has infiltrated the mansion, orchestrating his version of the perfect wedding while Sofia fights to survive.
The film is marketed as a horror-comedy but rarely delivers on either front. The horror elements are more slapstick than suspenseful, relying on buckets of gore rather than genuine unease. Ray Nicholson leans into the role of an eccentric, delusional villain, but his performance veers into cartoonish territory, making it hard to take his menace seriously. On the flip side, the comedic beats fall flat more often than not. The dialogue and situational humor have their moments, but they don’t add up to a film with any real bite.
It all feels predictable. Whether due to its genre influences or the decision to start at the end, Borderline never builds momentum. The pacing drags, and the story’s twists are so telegraphed that you always feel a few steps ahead of the script. Warden, who previously wrote Cocaine Bear and produced The Babysitter, brings a similar fleeting energy here—it’s frantic and messy but lacks staying power.
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That said, Weaving remains the film’s strongest asset. She commits fully to the role, elevating scenes that might otherwise feel stale. Eric Dane and Jimmie Fails provide decent, if unremarkable, support. But solid performances can’t save a film that doesn’t have much to say or a unique way to say it.
Ultimately, Borderline is too tame to be a great horror film and too clunky to be a great comedy. It’s not outright terrible, but it’s forgettable—another mid-tier genre entry that will likely be lost in the shuffle.
Score: 4/10
Borderline (2025)
- Cast: Samara Weaving, Ray Nicholson, Jimmie Fails, Eric Dane, Alba Baptista
- Director: Jimmy Warden
- Genre: Comedy, Horror, Thriller
- Runtime: 94 minutes
- Rated: R
- Release Date: March 14, 2025
