Decoys (2004)

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.

Decoys is set on St. John's College campus in New Brunswick in Canada where Luke (Corey Sevier) & his roommate Roger (Elias Toufexis) are two students just trying to have a good time, while trying to return some loose change to blonde babes Lilly (Stefanie von Pfetten) & her roommate Constance (Kim Poirier) Luke witnesses something strange & terrifying, the two female roommates are in fact aliens. Obviously no-one believes Luke but when Bobby Johnson (Mark Trottier) is found dead under mysterious circumstances Luke is convinced the alien babes are behind it & since he is blamed for Bobby's murder after having a fight with him earlier in the evening Luke has even more reason to expose the alien menace on campus....This Canadian production was co-written & directed by Matthew Hastings & the feeling I get from the other IMDb comments is that Decoys has divided opinion with some mixed reviews & as I write this the average 'User Rating' on the main page comes to an almost exactly half 4.4 out of 10. While I didn't think Decoys was the worst sci-fi horror film out there I wasn't that impressed with it & overall I would probably have to say I thought it was slightly below average. The biggest problem I had with Decoys is that it spends far, far too much time on boring teen drama issues & at times I thought I was watching Dawson's Creek (1998-2003) or something & the horror is kept to an absolute minimum with a few pinches of sci-fi thrown in there. The script isn't very good either, why would someone during a talent show turn up with a flamethrower, shoot a jet of flame at the crown & then just leave? How can someone enter a room with a flamethrower, use it to fry a couple of aliens & yet none of the curtains, carpet, wooden table, chairs or anything else not get so much as a singe? Why, if one of those aliens saw or even suspected she saw Luke hiding in her closet did she not do anything? After seeing someone in the closet she just leaves yet Luke must have seen her revealing herself as an alien which just makes zero sense to me if your an alien & are trying to stay incognito. Also why was one alien good & the other's bad? How did they get to Earth? How were they able to mimic humans perfectly? Are morgue's in Canada so lax that they allow any old teenager in to take a good look at his dead classmate? Do these very same morgue's leave autopsied bodies just lying around at night on any old table? Are these guy's so pathetic that when a total blonde babe goes down on them to suck their manhood they make silly faces & come up with excuses why the total blonde babe should stop. Right, I know I wouldn't. I also felt there just wasn't that much to the film, it's fairly slow, not that much happens, there's nothing in the way of mystery or surprises & there's a pointless twist ending that paves way for a sequel tacked onto the end. Those are just off the top of my head to, I could go on. I suppose if your looking for a dull teen drama with a few touches of sci-fi & horror then Decoys might be the film you have been waiting for, if not then there are much better alternatives out there that deserve your time & money more.To be fair the film looks pretty nice with slick production values & better than average but still nothing brilliant CGI computer effects. There's not too many memorable scenes here, there's little horror & apart from a shattered frozen arm & a brief glimpse of a rotting dead body there's no gore whatsoever. Despite lots of opportunity there's not much nudity either, I think there's only one nude shot in the entire film despite several sex scenes which all end up being tamer than tame. The aliens when revealed are nothing special in themselves & look rather dark & drab & to save on the budget very humanoid in shape. AS I have already said the film spends too much time on dull teenage angst & dramatics rather than genuine chills of which there are virtually none. Even though Decoys might have a somewhat glossy look there's very little substance here below it.According to the IMDb this had a budget of about $5,000,000 which amazes me, although the film does have a nice look about it & decent production values virtually nothing happens & I can't believe that amount of money was spent on this but having said that it's not impossible it cost that much. If it did then Decoys is even more of a disappointment when the amount of money the makers had to play with is taken into consideration. Filmed in Ottawa in Ontario in Canada. The acting is alright but nothing special from no-one I have ever heard of, some of the college girls are pretty hot though.Decoys is a film that seems to have provoked a fairly mixed reception, some seem to like it while just as many don't. In my opinion I would say it's slightly below average & forgettable & there are better films out there. A sequel Decoys 2: Alien Seduction (2007) went straight-to-video & while I haven't seen it it's meant to be terrible.

Recap: Luke and Roger are roommates at college, and the main interests are sex, girls and alcohol. One night, while doing the laundry and drinking beer two beautiful girls comes in flirting heavily with him. Luke thinks he's in heaven. After they leave, Luke finds a roll of quarters that one of the girls, Lilly, left. He goes to return the roll, but when nobody answers at the door he sneaks into their room. Suddenly he hears somebody coming in after him. Thinking, probably correctly, that he has blown his chances if found breaking in to their room he hides in the closet. There he sees something that will change him forever. The girls strip down, but when naked some freakishly alien tentacles sprout from their chest. And soon male students turn up dead, frozen from the inside out. No one believes Luke's story, not even Roger, who is about to score with the other girl, Constance...Comments: If, and this is a big if, you get your expectations right you might actually get some good entertainment out of this. If you expect it to be what it is, which is mostly low-quality crap, you might get some good laughs out of it. Unfortunately those laughs are mostly at it instead of with it. The idea (obviously) of the movie is to put a story full of sex, some nudity and beautiful girls without getting a too high rating, allowing teen boys to see it. And it does this knowingly, and apparently with some self-distance and criticism as it sometimes seems to joke with itself and the genre, which are the best parts.Oddly enough, somewhat two thirds into the movie, it suddenly changes its genre and strategy going from comedy/horror to romantic drama. With it, my appreciation plunges. The movie doesn't have the quality of story, or the quality of actors (whose performances are outright laughable sometimes) to pull it off. Luckily, it slowly, but never completely, changes back towards the end.Another point of confusion is the lead character of Luke, who in his desperation to reveal the aliens, starts out as a Peeping Tom, advances to assault, kidnapping and finally arson. At the end he seems to be completely mad, and to feel sympathy for him or identify with him is impossible. You might find yourself feeling more for the "evil" aliens. I wonder if that was the idea from the beginning...But all in all. With my low expectations I got more enjoyment out of it than I expected. Therefore I give it such a high rating as 5/10

"Decoys" is one more of those new low budget horror movies that are coming straight to video these days. However, "Decoys" shines among the rest of b-grade films because of the simple fact that it is quite funny and entertaining despite its clichéd storyline. This is no "Ginger Snaps" (the Canadian horror cult-film) of course, but it is very close to be great.The plot follows the adventure of Luke (Corey Sevier), a young man in his first year in college, who just discovered that the two beautiful students he just met are actually murderous aliens who kill every guy they have sex with. Of course nobody believes him, and the movie follows his lonely attempt to prove he is not insane. To make things worse, his best friend Roger (Elias Toufexis) is currently dating one of the aliens and is very interested in losing his virginity this year.With a storyline like that one would expect a cheap and dumb teen movie, but "Decoys" manages to keep the interest and the laughs at a good level without becoming stupid or boring. In fact, it slowly develops the characters and one can't avoid to feel for them. Something quite rare nowadays. This is director Matthew Hastings' first feature and boy he did it notably well for a debut.The acting is very good for the most part, although Corey Sevier is a bit weak for a lead role. On the other hand, Toufexis shows a lot of potential in a remarkable performance as Luke's friend that goes beyond being a simple comic relief to become a likable and interesting character. The same could be said of Kim Poirier, who in her role of the alien Constance shows that she is more than a pretty face and sexy body.Of course, like the plot implies, the movie displays its fair share of nudity; not only of Poirier, but also of the beautiful Stefanie Von Pfetten. Fans of these actresses will be pleased.The film has the obvious flaws of a b-movie film, although some of the CG effects are very good. the script its a bit flawed and has some plot-holes, but nothing minor or too distracting. Of course it could had been better, but it is OK for the movie. Also, the film drags a bit by the middle but it recovers its power for a very good and clever ending."Decoys" may not be a horror classic, but it is a very funny mix of horror, comedy and sci-fi. Hastings, Toufaxis and Poirier show a lot of talent and probably they'll have a bright future ahead if they continue this way. This was really a surprisingly entertaining film. 7/10