Plot: What’s it about?
An alien invasion has begun, though a rather small scale one. A spacecraft lands in a small California town, with plans of world domination. The plot to overtake mankind is one that involves sex, a lot of sex. The aliens stop off at the local hospital, where they possess the hot nurses and take control of their minds and oh so gorgeous bodies. With these hot new bodies, the aliens unleash their sexual predatory instincts and the lethal mating game begins. If they can seduce the human men, the result will be further breeding of their alien genetics and soon, that could spell certain doom for the human race. Granted, the aliens are only three strong, but they’re so hot, the sex is sure to be nonstop. A group of friends happens into the hospital around the same time, after Matt (Brian Lloyd) suffered an injury in a basketball contest. When they discover a maternity ward of sorts, filled with the web spun victims of the aliens, they know an escape has to come soon. But between a total lockdown outside and the voracious sexual predators inside, that won’t be a simple task. Can Matt and his friends survive, or will they be fodder for the aliens’ sexual seduce and destroy mission?
I suppose I have a weakness for hot females on killing sprees, but I couldn’t wait to check out Candy Stripers, even though I knew I would probably be disappointed. I wanted what I want from most horror films these days, as much blood, gore, and naked breasts as possible. In the end, Candy Stripers is like a horror chick flick, an estrogen fueled adventure into violence. The gore is passable, with some cool sequences, but not enough of the red stuff, at least not for me. As I said, you will see a handful of cool scenes, including some genital mutilation by teeth, but I still wanted more gore packed in. As far as the naked side, with former Playboy playmates on deck, you would think would be a flesh feast, but that isn’t the case. I didn’t find this to be a bad movie, but it wasn’t that great and was dull at times. As far as storylines, this movie is very close in plot to the films Decoys, which turns out to be a better overall picture than this one. So we have an unoriginal concept, moderate flesh, and moderate gore, which is not a great concoction for this kind of movie. Even so, Candy Stripers had its moments and for horror fans, it still warrants a rental.
Video: How does it look?
Candy Stripers is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. This movie has been given a clean, sharp visual treatment that is sure to please viewers. The print is free from all but minor defects, which gives us a very clean image that allows the other elements to be unhampered. I found colors to be bright and often even vivid, while black levels seem spot on in most scenes, though a few sequences came off a shade or two too dark. But as I said, most scenes look terrific and as such, I won’t knock the score much due to what minimal flaws can be found here.
Audio: How does it sound?
The included Dolby Digital 5.1 option packs a mean punch and should push your home theater system, which means plenty of horror atmosphere. The surround use comes from a few sources, from the subtle normal noises to the more robust impact effects to the musical soundtrack, which is fueled by heavy metal music. The more powerful scenes will send some surges through the speakers, including some nice bass presence, making this is an active, quite intense audio experience at times. No trouble with dialogue however, as vocals remain clean and properly balanced throughout. This disc also includes subtitles in English and French, so you can always rely on those in times of need.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes no bonus materials.
