Decoy

DVD review from The Movie Snob

Decoy (B-). This entry from my film noir collection has an odd sci-fi element. A crook is going to the gas chamber for stealing $400,000 and murdering someone in the process. He won’t tell anyone, even his gorgeous girlfriend, where he’s stashed the loot. But she hatches a scheme to grab the loot by reviving him after his execution with a weird chemical called "methylene blue." To carry out her plan, she seduces an idealistic doctor who also happens to be the state’s medical examiner at executions. It’s kind of silly, but it gets sort of fascinating as the body count piles up, and we gradually realize that this femme fatale makes Kathleen Turner’s character in Body Heat look like a girl scout. Adding to the sense of unease is the fact (disclosed in the following short documentary) that the starring actress, Jean Gillie, appeared in only one other film and then died of pneumonia at the age of 34. Now that's noir.