Piégés

Normally I would never watch a movie like Decoys. I am not a fan of this type of cinema and the description sounded like a big ripoff of the 80's cult flick Revenge of the Teenage Vixens From Outer Space. Since Decoys was given to me as a gift just recently I figured I would force myself to watch it...

Basically, the storyline is similar to that of Revenge of the Teenage Vixens From Outer Space, just the vixens aren't "teenagers" and they don't turn their victims into vegetables. Anyway, the movie takes place on a college campus. Luke is the star of the movie and he witnesses these two beautiful girls turning into aliens before his very eyes. The only problem is getting everyone else to believe his story. Meanwhile, the "vixens" are screwing guys to death, literally, by freezing them from the inside out. What will Luke do to stop this invasion?

Well, as much as this movie looked dreadful, it really isn't that bad. The acting was actually pretty decent and the special effects (for lame CGI) weren't as bad as I would have expected. My two main complaints were the cliché horny college kids and the absolutely awful music played throughout the movie. But, I guess this movie was aimed to more of an early 20's age group. I guess the makers figure that is what people listen to or how they act. Whatever...

Anyway, I got a few laughs out of this movie and it kept my interest throughout. So, I guess it did what it was aiming for. Check it out on a rainy day. 6/10

Students at a Canadian college campus are beginning to disappear, only to be found dead, their bodies frozen stiff from the inside. Luke & Roger, two students at the campus, come across two new female students. But Luke discovers that they are in fact aliens who have arrived in order to breed so that they can save their race from extinction.

You can imagine what the executives at the Sci-Fi channel were thinking when the pitch for this film was given. "Hey, let's make a teenage version of SPECIES, set it in a college & throw in some American PIE." And sure enough, they delivered it.

"Decoys" is exactly what you would think it is; a cross between SPECIES & American PIE, only it takes the main plot points of both films; alien chicks & horny students; & throws them in a blender. The film's intentions are clear from the outset – the way the camera lingers on female college students as it passes them, shows that the film is purely for adolescent males who want to see sex, booze & cheap CGI effects.

That said, the film does have a number of glaring problems. The acting is not too bad, with Richard Burgi & Nicole Eggert playing their part as the two cops better than the actors playing the co-eds. The plot has some massive plot holes – why did the aliens pick that particular college to mate with? Also there's the fact that the director / screenwriter does not know who the real villains are (the aliens are shown as evil at first, but later come across as being sympathetic). The makeup effects used to portray the frozen victims are quite good but the CGI aliens are very cheesy.

I'll be the first to admit that this is by no means a great movie. I didn't like the special effects with the creatures themselves, but I did like the way they did the corpses. The plot could have used a little more work as well, seems like there wasn't much there.

With that being said, Decoys wasn't as bad as you are led to believe. I'd say this movie was pretty much in the middle of the road, with as much good as bad.

I didn't like the performances by Corey Sevier, Stefanie von Pfetten or Elias Toufexis (they came off as annoying, especially Elias) but thought that Meghan Ory and Kim Poirier did an excellent job. Meghan in particular stood out in this movie. I thought she looked much better than the girls who were supposed to be the best looking, and she probably had the strongest performance of the movie. While I'm at it, I have to say, Nicole Eggert is not aging well. Am I the only one who noticed this? Probably not.

The one thing I can say about this movie without hesitation, is that I didn't see the ending coming. Maybe others did, but it did surprise me, and I'm used to expecting the unexpected in movies like this. As far as that goes, the film makers here did an excellent job. Too bad the rest of the movie doesn't hold up.

Like I said, middle of the road. Maybe worth a rental or waiting for it to come on TV. I'd say around 6.5 out of 10.

Now, that being said, my expectations of this film were very low. It was a movie I had never heard of, that turned up in a box of movies I bought at a yard sale for a buck. But curiosity got the best of me and I watched it, and wasn't disappointed. There are quite a few scares and even a twist that make this 90 minute flick watchable. And for a horror flick, this has very minimal violence. But it doesn't need it. This film does well just with the suspense, and the acting isn't bad either. The special effects, though few and far in between, are quite convincing, considering how low-budget this film was. Worth picking up if you have a little time to kill. Not a waste of time, not Oscar material either. 5/10

Lilly (Stefanie von Pfetten) and Constance (Kim Poirier) are sexy cousins that are more than a couple of hot college girls. Luke (Corey Sevier) snuck into their room and sees something alien. Alex (Meghan Ory) is his best friend who just doesn't believe him.

The girls are aliens. It's not a spoiler because they show it in the first 10 minutes. There is absolutely no horror in this horror movie. The writing is all camp. Some intentional like punching a girl. But there is a lot of unintentional camp.

The odd thing is that Stefanie von Pfetten and Kim Poirier are probably the best actors in this movie. They have this frienermy competitiveness going on. All the guys are useless, both as characters and as actors. Meghan Ory is too distant.

This is a super cheesy TV movie. There is sometimes good fun to watch a little bit of camp. But the guys aren't good enough or funny enough or compelling enough. It's almost a funny watch, but it tries to be a serious horror.