Mimic (1997)

Directed by Guillermo del Toro. Starring Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Charles S. Dutton, Giancarlo Giannini, Josh Brolin, F. Murray Abraham, Alexander Goodwin, Norman Reedus. [R]

Guillermo del Toro’s first Hollywood effort is a pretty decent fright flick with an odd set-up—entomologist Sorvino develops a new breed of insect to essentially wipe out plague-carrying cockroaches in NYC, but years later, that new breed has evolved into a freakishly large creature that has the ability to walk among us (and kill). Well-made and full of damp, shadowy texture, but the story (by del Toro and Matthew Robbins) is thin even by creature feature standards, and undercuts its own premise of giant-bugs-that-look-like-us by focusing on the gradual discovery of their existence and a lot of creeping around in dark, cavernous places (especially the second half, which takes place almost exclusively in decrepit subway maintenance tunnels). The climax, which is overly indebted to Aliens, is a conventional let-down. Funny how the man-size insectoids aren’t as viscerally repulsive as the tinier creepy-crawlies, but they’re still none to be trifled with; not recommended viewing for anyone with Katsaridaphobia (a pathological fear of cockroaches). Reedus’ film debut. Followed by two straight-to-video sequels.

62/100