Borderline already had me on its side from the beginning by copping the тιтle of Madonna’s early hit single to underscore everything that it does best as both a stalker thriller and a movie about obsession with pop music. But there’s so much more to it than just that. The new horror-comedy is the directorial debut of Cocaine Bear scribe Jimmy Warden, and while it hits some typical freshman film snags, it is an excellent argument for the filmmaker to get behind the camera for more projects in the future.

This Samara Weaving horror movie tells a relatively simple cat-and-mouse story, though the amount of mayhem that is born from it knows no bounds. But the basic premise is as follows: in 1990s Los Angeles, pop star Sofia (Weaving) lives a pampered but relatively isolated life in a giant mansion, protected by her friend and bodyguard Bell (Eric Dane). However, chaos ensues when her delusional stalker Paul Duerson (Ray Nicholson), who believes they are deeply in love, arrives with several accomplices and hostages in tow on what he insists is their wedding night.

The Borderline Cast Only Hits One Flat Note

Its Two Leads Are Impeccable

Borderline is first and foremost an acting showcase, and both leads knock it out of the park. After making a big splash with his supporting performance in the Smile 2 cast, Ray Nicholson gets to try his hand at a horror lead in a role that begs the question “why hasn’t he already had a dozen projects like this?” Nicholson is simply superb, finding little bits of physical comedy to add flavor to even the smallest moments, and crafting a character who is at all times simultaneously believable as both a hopeless naïf and a credible, unpredictable threat.

I was completely bowled over by what he brought to the table here. There is a sH๏τ that focuses entirely on his face and the emotions flashing across it that would earn pride of place in even Oscar-winning actors’ reels, and the fact that a relatively untested actor has earned that kind of directorial confidence shows that he is absolutely going places.

Samara Weaving is also as reliable as ever here. She only gets one or two real chances to pull out the piercing, ululating wail that makes her such a good scream queen in movies like Ready or Not, but even though Borderline asks her to work in a very different mode, it is tremendously effective. The performance she is delivering is relaxed, shaggy, and piercingly funny, sculpting a character who has the same DNA as her scrappy Ready or Not survivor and yet feels entirely different. And a pop star certainly should feel different from a blushing young bride.

Unfortunately, the cast does have one huge liability in the form of Grey’s Anatomy and Euphoria alum Eric Dane. He delivers the majority of his dialogue in a flat monotone that can thankfully sink into the background in group scenes but deflates the momentum of any one-on-one moments, particularly (and most ruinously) in the extended opening sequence. It is very fortunate for the movie that his character becomes significantly less important after the rest of Borderline‘s otherwise very capable ensemble — which also includes the delightful Patrick Cox and Alba Baptista — is introduced.

Borderline Doesn’t Need An Eras Tour Budget To Put On A Good Show

It Makes Good Use Of Its Limited Means

It is clear that Borderline was not a fabulously expensive movie, but it wields what it has very well. The 2025 horror movie is so cleverly mounted, in fact, that it features one of the best kills I’ve seen in a horror movie in months, without showing a single second of actual carnage. All it takes is one glorious close-up insert sH๏τ to deliver every last shred of information you need to parse exactly what is going on and be walloped with its brutality.

Borderline also features dynamite music supervision, which is absolutely necessary for a movie about a pop musician that doesn’t feature a full original number like last year’s Smile 2, Trap, or even The Idea of You. Although there are enough glimpses of Sofia’s career around the edges of the movie that they deliver a sense of exactly how big she is as a pop idol, it seems obvious that they didn’t have the time or money to mount a performance or even a faux music video.

However, that absence is hardly felt, as the money saved was clearly spent on a series of pitch-perfect needle drops from the 1990s. It infuses the movie with a vibrant musical sensibility by draping it in everything from Annie Lennox to Irving Berlin. What it lacks in a Sofia original it makes up for by existing in a cinematic universe where music and the enjoyment of both listening to and performing it is always front of mind.

Once It Gets Going, Borderline Really Sings

The First Act Can Be A Bit Of A Slog

Unfortunately, there are a few drawbacks that prevent Borderline from being a top-to-bottom exhilarating experience. In addition to Dane’s performance, this includes a ᴅᴇᴀᴅly slow opening act that has too many characters milling around with too little to do. And while it is not unwatchable murk like many modern movies, the cinematography could have done with a bit more contrast to make it legible and striking. The technical aspects also slip elsewhere from time to time, including a smash cut that is meant to be comedic but is executed so poorly that it renders the scene nonsensical instead.

The setting is also vague and slippery in quite a few frustrating ways, insisting on being a 1990s period piece without putting too much effort into it (beyond the soundtrack, and even that includes a song from 2021) and trying to draw as much borrowed atmosphere from Los Angeles stock footage while showcasing the characters interacting with some of the most Canadian buildings ever put onscreen. All of this is intensely distracting, because there was really no apparent need to set it in L.A. in the 1990s in the first place. It just doesn’t make sense why they even bothered.

However, once all the pieces snap into place in act two and beyond, most of those complaints go flying out the window. The cast of characters ping-ponging around Sofia’s mansion and the surrounding neighborhood feel fresh and funny, the movie consistently delivers both thrills and laughs, and there is an absolutely delectable piano scene that I won’t soon forget. While Borderline may not have what it takes to end up as one of my Top 10 genre films of 2025 by the end of the year, I have no regrets about spending my time with it.