Decoys [DVD]

... and that's what DECOYS is.

If you look at it as a classic horror film, you'll be disappointed. DECOYS is definitely a tongue-in-cheek marriage of comedy and horror, unashamedly borrowing elements from films in both genres.

The real value of the DVD lies in the deleted scenes and bloopers, both of which fill in frustrating gaps in the plot and give a real sense of what the film was intended to be; funny, sometimes over the top, undeniably goofy -- sort of a horror version of Airplane!

It's a pity some of the deleted scenes included in the DVD didn't make it into the film, as they fill in some gaps in the story that otherwise leave you scratching your head. Richard (Det. Kirk) Burgi's scenes with Corey (Luke) Sevier and Lilly (Stephanie Von Pfetten) are delightfully goofy and fun and explain a whole lot about Kirk's behavior throughout the film.

The bloopers... here's where you see why the cast say they all had a blast making this film. Burgi and Sevier have to fight to maintain straight faces around each other, often just giving up and collapsing into gales of laughter. :-)

DECOYS is definitely one of the "your mileage may vary" DVDs, but if you enjoy Richard Burgi's work, grab it!

It's hard to keep up with all the movies being filmed in Canada nowadays. Back when I was a kid that was a major event for us film fans north of the border but these days low-budget sci-fi and action filmed in Canada is the norm. But would these American production companies ever dare to set the story in Canada? Rarely if ever. They'll pretend Toronto is NYC or Vancouver the American Northwest. Finally with "Decoys" we get a horror film from Canada, set in Canada and for Canada! While Decoys is not the most original horror film in existence and is not likely to make me forget the films of David Cronenberg anytime soon, it is still definitely a great way to spend an hour and a half. This one has chuckles and laughs aplenty!

The setting is St. John's college in Ottawa, a higher education institution where books are the day's calling and frat parties rule the night. Luke and Roger are a couple of freshmen with one-track minds whose missions are to score as many babes as possible. One night Luke meets a couple of blonde bombshells who live a few doors down from him. Luke is enamoured but also mystified since school has been in session for months yet he's never seen the two until now. While managing to sneak into the closet of their room and watching the two undress, he is horrified to see tentacles protruding from their back. It is clear to Luke that these two girls are anything but normal. And is it mere coincidence that their arrival on campus coincides with recent campus deaths where several male students were found frostbiten to death, their mouths wide open in a silent scream? Luke seems to be the only kid on campus who doesn't think so, strangely enough.

The director himself has referred to his film as "American Pie meets Species", a very apt description. It's a bit of an awkward film to categorize since it has the look and feel of after-school PG-13 horror yet is quite graphic in both the violence and nudity departments. Is it original? While the physical make-up of the "Decoys" is unique, in the end all we have is yet another campus horror film that reinforces stereotypes of modern teenagers to the Nth degree. The guys are either extreme versions of jocks or nerds, except of course main character Luke who falls somewhere in between. The girls on campus are all pop tarts except for Luke's goth friend Alex. Yet when the ball is dropped these students somehow manage to outsmart the local police force AND the coroner. And why can't modern thrillers ever serve up a happy ending anymore? Enough with the "we're so clever" cornball twist endings. But while "Decoys" came across as somewhat flawed and formulaic at least it delivered skin in spades and holy mother of moose did it ever make me laugh! Definitely worth a rental.

Ever pick up a movie at your favorite local rental place, and just *KNOW* you are picking up low budget shlock? Ever decide, what the heck, I *WANT* to see this shlock? Other reviewers have likened it to "porkys", "species", "alien", etc... and there is a touch of all of that in this flick. This is canadian film, which considering its low-budgety look and feel wasn't THAT awful. The plot is VERY close to "species"... horny alien females invading earth to reproduce like made crazy. There were some good scenes, there were some awful scenes. There were story lines that went nowhere. (love interest between the protaganist and the female detective?) There wasn't any real plot twists and the special effects were "okay". But I'm getting annoyed by completely digitized creatures attacking Earth. I call it "attack of the pixels". (There's something to be said about the giant ugly snot infested rubber Jabba the Hutt over the crisp digital version that Lucas later dubbed in.. ya know?) If you've never seen any of the "species" movies, then this might be more entertaining for you than it was for me.