The Borrower starts in deep space as an alien killer (Robert Dryer) has been genetically devolved into a human being as the ultimate punishment as execution is too good for him, the human looking alien is taken to Earth & dumped in a park somewhere in America. Stranded on Earth the alien is found by two men, unfortunately devolution is not a precise science & the aliens human looking head explodes. While looking at the headless body the man Bob Laney (Tom Towles) gets too close & the alien suddenly comes back to life & replaces his own missing head with the ripped-off head of Laney. As the alien walks around the city & sees human society his head keeps exploding which it needs to replace with the nearest bonce it can find, human or animal will do. The news of a serial killer who decapitates his victims quickly spreads & homicide detectives Diana Pierce (Rae Dawn Chong) & her partner Charles Krieger (Don Gordon) are on the case & struggle to make sense of what's going on...
Directed by John McNaughton who had previously made the notorious Henty: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) this sci-fi horror comedy was his second feature film & is certainly something a little different & entertaining enough in it's own strange way. The script mixes sci-fi with social satire as our society is seen through the eyes of an alien, the pitfalls & perils of our society like homelessness & the benefits like when he becomes the doctor & suddenly has lots of material possessions. It's almost like the alien lives an entire life in a few days as he comes into our world with nothing but (almost) ends up with everything he could want, I think it's a neat little examination of our society without ever really being too deep or meaningful, the script is more playful with it's ideas & humour than serious. At just under 90 odd minutes long the pace is pretty good & the story is enough to keep you watching but it does get a little repetitive towards a rather rushed & unfinished feeling climax, none of the subplots or the main story get wrapped up to any great satisfaction. The Borrower has a fun & different central concept about a head stealing alien trying to survive on Earth but the script never really does anything with the premise, the subplot about the cops & some criminal they are after never really goes anywhere, the alien never seems to have any motive or goal or ambition as it wanders around the city doing nothing in particular & while it's entertaining enough I don't think I would want to watch it again.
The Borrower has a very late 80's feel to it, lots of neon lighting & latex gore effects rather than CGI. Speaking of gore it varies, a lot of the gore scenes feel choppy & badly edited like they didn't shoot enough footage & had to make do with what they had, there are a few headless bodies & a bit of blood splatter but not much else. There's a decent looking alien cockroach looking creature at the start but overall the effects vary from good to average. The only real gross-out moment the film has to offer is when the alien in human form eats a dead rat. Rumour has it that The Borrower ran out of money & the production was shut down & wasn't released for a couple of years, while there doesn't seem to be any huge gaps of narrative missing there certainly could have been some more fleshing out of the concept & character's.
Filmed in Illinois in Chicago this looks quite good with decent production values & local scenery, the effects are alright with some being pretty good. The acting is OK but having a fine actor like Tom Towles as the first alien was a bad idea as the other's after him don't compare despite being the 'same' alien but with a different head.
The Borrower is a fun little sci-fi horror comedy with an oddball premise poking fun at our society but it never really goes that deep & the central concept which is all the film has really isn't enough to sustain 90 minutes, entertaining enough for what it is & worth a watch for sure but in my opinion not a classic.
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