Well hello ladies and gents. Well it
is that time, that time I must endure some gut wrenching terror or
just spattering of fluids against the walls, ceiling and floors. I
know it seems a trifle odd for this festive of the year when I could
be enjoying Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" or George
Seatons's "Miracle on 34th Street" but alas this
blog is not that classy, refined or whimsical enough to handle that
much Christmas hilarity and buoyancy. Do not be fooled by the
extensive vocabulary , people. I sat through Zombie Lake.
Yeah this won't end in tears.
With this in mind I shall slug my waist
high snow pants into the muck and bile that is Christmas themed horror
films. "But Jake, clearly you have already suffered the
slings and arrows of Christmas horror movies every made." A
well meaning attempt to detour me from my chosen task, crazy voice in
my head, but sadly there are more terror imbued dog flop to be had
and I am spending this week subjecting you all to it. So if you
were expecting a delightful reminiscence of Rudolph or Frosty, buddy
have you hit the wrong blog. ENJOY!!!!
classic; both sneered and cheered at. So grab a can of Raid, maybe a fly swatter
and a can of Coke to lure them out.
This is Mimic.
Spoilers can be
people!!!
Based on the short story of the same name by American sci-fi
author Donald A. Woldheim, Writer Matthew
Robbins (The Sugarland Express, Close Encounters of the Third Kind,
Dragonslayer, *batteries not included and Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark)
and our boy Guillermo del Toro (Cronos,
The Devil’s Backbone, Blade II, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy II: The
Golden Army) combine their forces to bring this sci-fi thriller to live
deep in the passages of New York City. Entomologist
Doctor Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino of Mighty Aphrodite, Romy and Michele’s High School
Reunion, The Replacement Killers, and Too Tired to Die) and her husband
Doctor Peter Mann (Jeremy Northam of The Net, Emma, Amistad, Gosford Park and The Invasion)
are geneticists dealing with a plague dubbed Strickler’s disease that is spread
by cockroaches that claiming hundreds of the city’s children left and
right. Desperate to quell this
onslaught of infection, the two created a new breed of insect called the Judas
breed that would feed on the roaches. The concept of stunting the ability to
breed the Judas breed would die out in 3 years time. Well that is the plan of course but we all
know how Man plays and God laughs according Nietzsche.
Unfortunately the good intentions aside, years later the
Judas breed has managed to reproduce and to amass to over six feet tall and
they got hungry for more tender meat that the roaches cannot offer but in a city
of 8 million people I think they may have one hell of a buffet.
Transit Cop Leonard (Charles S. Dutton of Crocodile Dundee II,
Alien 3, Rudy, A Low Down Dirty Shame, Nick of Time and Gothika) hears
a noise and spots one of these giant bugs, drops a few rounds at it and calls
for back up. Tyler, Mann and their
extended staff all make their way into the subway line to offer assistance. As Leonard knows these tunnels like the back
of his hand, the lot proceeds deep in.
I still love how we go from the hustle and bustle of New
York City streets to these vast underground steam tunnels of Ontario er…um...I
mean New York of course. To the sum of
$28 million, this is Guillermo del Toro’s first American movie and to be fair
why the story itself was not overtly fascinating to me of Man twisting God’s
work but again the initial storytelling and atmosphere of grim standing one
moment but with a little dark humor when deemed necessary. I still was impressed how del Toro made you
guess who was next on the menu. It is
almost as he threw out that unwritten rule of animals, old folk and kids were
most likely to survive to the very last minute. Not a favorite but well done by performance
and story.
