The Borrower
The Borrower
R | 16 August 1991 (USA)
The Borrower Trailers

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.

Reviews
Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Fulke Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
peterpants66 Being sentenced to Earth after some unknown problem on another planet, one alien goes on a weird and wild quest to stay alive, one head at a time. What i mean by that is the alien can't survive unless he continues to switch heads, which is awesome! It reminds me of "The Hidden" where Kyle Mclaughlin is fighting an other worldly alien that just wants to drive fast cars and listen to heavy metal. Each movie contains a host alien, but only one contains Rae Dawn Chong! I'm mysteriously attracted to her in this, she pulls a bit of film noir and wields a badge, on the hunt for a rapist murderer. This movie has fabulous gore. There is very little back-round music, mostly white noise, giving it a creepy texture. Some real funny moments, and some nice out of focus stuff (theres a point in the movie where just peripheral to a conversation in the police headquarters a battle takes place between a cop and a wild street tough). The only problem i have with this movie is most of the interactions between Chong and her partner are labored and seem like a pacing problem. But all the sequences with the alien, ripping off heads or hitchhiking or pretending to be a human being, are highly awesome. The end is splat-tastic, a sequel is rumored but never done.
trashgang 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.
spacemonkey_fg Director: John McNoughtonCast: Rae Dawn Chong, Don Gordon, Tom Towles, Antonio FargasTagline: Dont lend him anything you cant afford to looseReview:Director John Mc Naughtons follow up to Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer is a b-movie sci-fi/horror flick. I know that might not make the best of sense to some of you because youd expect something grand after seeing Henry, but this is the route that the director took. Its not a total waist though. An alien criminal is sentenced to earth as a punishment for his crimes. The worst part of his punishment is, he will be a human all through out his sentence here on earth. And he has to take care of his body parts because they are fragile. After every couple of hours his head explodes so he goes around replacing it with other peoples heads and living out their lives. kind of like the same plot of a similar film called The Hidden only there the idea was better developed.The problem with this movie is that it becomes redundant after a while. The alien dude does nothing but going around switching heads and walking around acting like a retard, repeating everything that everybody says and wobbling around like a zombie. Aside from this, theres no real suspense or tension...its just a one note gag with a few amusing moments along the line.The film is trying to make a social commentary on humanity. Kind of the same way the Gremlins made fun of the worst things about us humans (vices, violence and the such) the alien on this film goes around seeing the worst of the human species. Violence, sex, murder and greed all make an appearance, with some funny results. I thought those scenes with the homeless where the best in the film. But ultimately, the movie had a good premise, a good idea and an opportunity to make a socially conscious sci-fi/horror film, but sadly it falls flat on its ass.The movie does come up with some interesting moments, like those involving a dog (wont spoil it dont worry) and those head exploding scenes. There are some cool images int his film similar to the exploding head scenes in Scanners. Kevin Yagher and KNB effects guys did a decent job with the aliens and the make up effects. But these moments arent enough to save the movie from the poor execution that it was given.Rae Dawn Chung demonstrates in this movie why she is no longer making movies. She plays a detective on the hunt for the alien. Her performance sucks like crazy, nothing special. On the other hand, Tom Towles as the hillbilly guy hunting dear was funny as hell, unfortunately he gets the least amount of screen time. Atonio Fargas as the homeless guy who befriends the alien had me cracking up a few times. They were the real highlights of the film for me. I thought they brought a certain amount of humor that the movie needed. I think the movie should have amped up the humor a little bit more given the type of film that this is.The ending for The Borrower was very unsatisfying. Aside from the fact that the movie doesnt build any suspense or momentum, its just feels flat. I hate it when films just suddenly and abruptly end, just like that and leave you hanging. Its purposely left open for a sequel, but I dont think that it will ever get made.Ultimately, I think this movie works as a b-grade, cheesy fun time. It has some social commentary, but it doesnt get its points across to well. If you dont mind ludicrous stories and situations or just a plain weird ass tale, lightly sprinkled with social commentary then check The Borrower out. But if your in need of a conventionally told story that gives you suspense and chills, then pass this one up, watch The Hidden instead.Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5
ep.com ... 'cause once that guy has your head, he won't give it back ;) This is an odd, bizarre little movie... the whole thing is as anticlimactic as it gets and there's no excitement or suspense at all. However, I prefer to take "The Borrower" as a look at society's problems seen through the eyes of an alien convict. This makes for some funny bits. There's one scene, where he sits in a coffee shop, doing nothing at all, and all people around him suddenly grab their guns and start killing each other. Then he he just gets up and walks away, like nothing what happened matters to him. The whole movie's like this. So, if you're going to watch this, think less of a horror movie, more of a social commentary and you know what you're in for. Recommended...