This movie has all the right elements and themes for an 80's horror movie. It combines semi-naked girls, bad hairstyles, hilarious fashions, a college prom (mind you, we never get to see this) and a hilarious soundtrack that seems to have gathered Men At Work-sound-a-likes and the main theme which appears to have been recorded directly from a synthesizer!
The movie starts off in the 1950's where a young man and his date decide to investigate a grounded unidentified flying object which has come to rest in the middle of a forest. While the boyfriend investigates, he leaves his girlfriend in the car who manages to get herself hacked to pieces by a recent asylum-escapee wielding an axe (complete with a strait-jacket!). If this sub-plot doesn't sound formulaic already, the boyfriend investigates the UFO where a 'slug-like' creature shoots into his mouth (reminiscent of David Cronenberg's also-hilarious "Shivers").
Cut to the next scene and we're in the 1980s. One of the most homeliest guys ever to be passed off as a hero wants to ask this girl out who also happens to be dating the most popular boy on campus. Our hero has a funny little sidekick (complete with a set of crutches) who has a witty comment to make every 2 seconds. The two guys think that the best way to get this girl out on a date is to join her boyfriend's fraternity. The only task they have to complete to join the fraternity is to steal a corpse from the science labs. Of course, when they enter the laboratory (which is supposed to be under maximum hi-tech security), they stumble through an open door while the on-duty scientist is busy making a phonecall and discover a body in a cryogenics chamber. The laboratory has a lot of consoles and funny flashing lights (reminiscent to the consoles on the set of Battlestar Galactica). Of course, there is a big red button on the wall that says "deregulate" and whaddya know. Before you know it, the body is released from the chamber. Little do the two guys know that the body is the boyfriend from the 1950s chapter of the movie and that he is not dead at all.
Cut to the next scene, our two heroes run screaming from the laboratory and our dead friend is shooting a slug from his mouth into the mouth of the scientist, seconds before his head explodes even more slugs. The slugs apparently control the brain (much like "The Puppetmasters") and use the brain and body as an incubating chamber to breed more slug-like creatures and when manifesting, explode from the cranium in a shower of blood and gore.
The rest of the movie basically feeds off dead plots like "Night Of The Living Dead" and "The Pod People". Person runs into dead person. Slug goes into mouth. Person becomes dead person. There are a lot of plot holes. There is no explanation as to why the boyfriend from the 1950s was in a cryogenics chamber in the first place. Why he didn't attack the person(s) who found him and why being frozen stopped the slugs in his brain. According to the slugs, it doesn't matter if you're crippled from the waist down or dead even. They know how to control the body.
Some of the best scenes involve the resurrection of the asylum-escapee from the 1950s, an axe through the head of the sorority house mother, a dead dog who infects a busload of dead frathouse prom dates and a vengeful cop who takes it upon himself to destroy the slugs in the basement of a house with a drum of kerosene and his trusty cigar. (Watch what happens to him at the end!)
The film's weakest points is the story's hero. You won't find yourself sympathising with him or his sidekick much. The film's heroine is just another cardboard cut out of a ditzy brunette who doesn't know how to operate a flame thrower (like who doesn't!!). There is one scene where the story's hero and the girl he loves gets trapped in a garden shed. The scene is so pathetic, you don't know whether you should be angry at the fact that she didn't blast the zombies with the flame thrower before going into the shed, or the fact that our hero decides to run over a zombie's head with a lawnmower after he has been told that the only way the slugs will die is by fire. Neither of these two characters have much common sense.
Which brings me to the conclusion of my comment on this movie. Watch it for laughs only. If you try to treat this semi-serious like one of those "well maybe it *could* happen" scenarios, you will only be fooling yourself. Try not to rent it on video. Try to catch it late at night on television. It pops up every now and then. Just be warned that you won't see any signs of Mulder, Scully or Doggett making any cameos.
6/10
The movie starts off in the 1950's where a young man and his date decide to investigate a grounded unidentified flying object which has come to rest in the middle of a forest. While the boyfriend investigates, he leaves his girlfriend in the car who manages to get herself hacked to pieces by a recent asylum-escapee wielding an axe (complete with a strait-jacket!). If this sub-plot doesn't sound formulaic already, the boyfriend investigates the UFO where a 'slug-like' creature shoots into his mouth (reminiscent of David Cronenberg's also-hilarious "Shivers").
Cut to the next scene and we're in the 1980s. One of the most homeliest guys ever to be passed off as a hero wants to ask this girl out who also happens to be dating the most popular boy on campus. Our hero has a funny little sidekick (complete with a set of crutches) who has a witty comment to make every 2 seconds. The two guys think that the best way to get this girl out on a date is to join her boyfriend's fraternity. The only task they have to complete to join the fraternity is to steal a corpse from the science labs. Of course, when they enter the laboratory (which is supposed to be under maximum hi-tech security), they stumble through an open door while the on-duty scientist is busy making a phonecall and discover a body in a cryogenics chamber. The laboratory has a lot of consoles and funny flashing lights (reminiscent to the consoles on the set of Battlestar Galactica). Of course, there is a big red button on the wall that says "deregulate" and whaddya know. Before you know it, the body is released from the chamber. Little do the two guys know that the body is the boyfriend from the 1950s chapter of the movie and that he is not dead at all.
Cut to the next scene, our two heroes run screaming from the laboratory and our dead friend is shooting a slug from his mouth into the mouth of the scientist, seconds before his head explodes even more slugs. The slugs apparently control the brain (much like "The Puppetmasters") and use the brain and body as an incubating chamber to breed more slug-like creatures and when manifesting, explode from the cranium in a shower of blood and gore.
The rest of the movie basically feeds off dead plots like "Night Of The Living Dead" and "The Pod People". Person runs into dead person. Slug goes into mouth. Person becomes dead person. There are a lot of plot holes. There is no explanation as to why the boyfriend from the 1950s was in a cryogenics chamber in the first place. Why he didn't attack the person(s) who found him and why being frozen stopped the slugs in his brain. According to the slugs, it doesn't matter if you're crippled from the waist down or dead even. They know how to control the body.
Some of the best scenes involve the resurrection of the asylum-escapee from the 1950s, an axe through the head of the sorority house mother, a dead dog who infects a busload of dead frathouse prom dates and a vengeful cop who takes it upon himself to destroy the slugs in the basement of a house with a drum of kerosene and his trusty cigar. (Watch what happens to him at the end!)
The film's weakest points is the story's hero. You won't find yourself sympathising with him or his sidekick much. The film's heroine is just another cardboard cut out of a ditzy brunette who doesn't know how to operate a flame thrower (like who doesn't!!). There is one scene where the story's hero and the girl he loves gets trapped in a garden shed. The scene is so pathetic, you don't know whether you should be angry at the fact that she didn't blast the zombies with the flame thrower before going into the shed, or the fact that our hero decides to run over a zombie's head with a lawnmower after he has been told that the only way the slugs will die is by fire. Neither of these two characters have much common sense.
Which brings me to the conclusion of my comment on this movie. Watch it for laughs only. If you try to treat this semi-serious like one of those "well maybe it *could* happen" scenarios, you will only be fooling yourself. Try not to rent it on video. Try to catch it late at night on television. It pops up every now and then. Just be warned that you won't see any signs of Mulder, Scully or Doggett making any cameos.
6/10