The Borrower

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The Borrower
Directed by John McNaughton
Produced by William H. Coleman,
Steven A. Jones,
R.P. Sekon
Written by Mason Nage (story and screenplay),
Richard Fire (screenplay)
Starring Rae Dawn Chong,
Don Gordon,
Tom Towles,
Antonio Fargas
Music by Ken Hale,
Steven A. Jones,
Robert McNaughton
Cinematography Julio Macat,
Robert C. New
Editing by Elena Maganini
Distributed by Cannon Film Distributors,
Warner Home Video
Release date(s) 1991
Running time 90 min
Country Flag of the United States USA
Language English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Borrower is a 1991 science fiction / horror film directed by John McNaughton. It's a B-movie about an alien serial killer, who is sent to Earth to live among humans as a form of penalty. It stars Rae Dawn Chong (daughter of actor/musician Tommy Chong) and -as one of the alien's victims- Antonio Fargas, probably best known for his role as Huggy Bear in Starsky and Hutch. The film has lots of splatter scenes and black humour, but its ending is kind of flat.

[edit] Plot

The alien's penalty includes that his body is genetically transformed to look like a human's, but since this transformation is not perfect, after a while his body starts to revert back to its original form and his head explodes, prompting him to "borrow" a new head from the next person happening to be present at the time -by squeezing it off with a crab-like claw and placing it on its own neck. Female cop Pierce (Chong) and her partner try to make sense of the ongoing killing spree, which stands out through the fact that all victims are missing their heads, slowly coming to the conclusion that they are facing a rather unearthly killer. At the same time, a human psycho-killer breaks out of the hospital and it's clear from the start, on whose body his head is going to end up..

[edit] Social Satire

In the movie, the titular borrower acquires not only the heads of his victims, but also parts of their personality and social status, ranging from a black, homeless person (Fargas) to a white, wealthy doctor. At one point, he even has to use the head of a dog!

[edit] Trivia

Tony Amendola, later widely known as Bra'tac on SG-1 has a short appearance as a doctor

Mädchen Amick, of Twin Peaks fame, briefly appears as a rock groupie