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On Halloween a young man delivering flowers makes a gruesome
discovery of two decayed bodies. Cut to a college where freshman
Luke meets two girls in the laundry room who give him the
come-on. He later goes to their room which is ice-cold and,
hiding in the wardrobe, sees tentacles writhe from their torsos
as they drink in N2 gas. Luke's friend Roger is invited by
the same girls to a sorority party. Luke's 'alien' date goes
off with the captain of the hockey team, whose body is discovered
the next morning frozen from the inside. Luke makes it his
mission to reveal the true nature of the girls with hidden
cameras, while Roger just wants to get his end away. It becomes
evident that the girls thrive on extreme cold and extreme
heat kills them. Bring on Luke, the flame throwing exterminator...
As
time goes by it undoubtedly becomes increasingly difficult
to deliver the goods in horror in an innovative and refreshing
manner. I for one involuntarily make comparisons with the
classics that have gone before. The opening of Decoys
reminded me of a scene-setter from John Carpenter's Halloween;
though I suppose that was inevitable when you see young trick
or treaters in a small town.
Once
we arrive at the college location for the film it appears
to turn into a teen adolescent kill-by-numbers. You know the
kind of thing: parties, booze, girls... death! In this instance
it is the girls that mean death, and not in the manner you
might imagine, although it comes pretty close! Remember when
your mother warned you about girls with tentacles which emerge
from their torsos, and how no good would come of it? What
do you mean you were absent that day?
Anyway,
the point is this is considerably better than the usual high
school drivel we have come to expect from teen horror. Like
The Faculty, this works. The girls are genuinely alluring;
there's the human touch of Roger's girl falling in love with
him and not wanting to risk killing him by spawning; and the
film has many humorous moments, although I'm not entirely
convinced all of them were meant.
The
special effects are sensibly kept low-key but are generally
impressive. Okay, it's not Alien (it's a league below
it), but it is worth 90 minutes of your time as a bit of fun.
I would just say that the twist in the tale is nonsensical,
as the betrayal is totally out of character from the rest
of the movie.
Ty
Power
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