Three times the giant bug fun with my quick rundown of the Mimic trilogy.
MIMIC (1997)
Back when the original came out in the 90s, it left absolutely no impression on me. Upon viewing it again, I see why. It’s basically Alien with a giant bug in the underground subway tunnel system instead of an alien on a spaceship.
In New York City, kids are dying from a disease carried by cockroaches, so Mira Sorvino concocts a bug breed that is supposed to take care of the problem. Turns out she accidentally created a giant bug that can mimic…the form of a man in a flasher’s trench coat.
There’s a kid who communicates with bug man Mimic using spoons. There’s a bunch of religious imagery. Mira, Josh Brolin, and friends end up down in the subway being chased by Mimic. And the final confrontation involving a train feels like a boss battle in a Resident Evil game.
The one amazing scene in the film is when Mira is standing on the train platform alone and the man standing a few feet away unfolds into its true bug form and flies through the subway station to snatch her up! Amazing. The rest of the film just pales in comparison.
MIMIC 2 (2001)
Now this is what I’m talking about. This crappy sequel is awesome. More bug man! More deaths! More gore!
So in the first movie, Mira had a friend named Remi, played by Alix Koromzay (Children of the Corn 666: Isaac’s Return, Nightwatch, The Haunting). She returns as the star in this film, looking a lot like Reba McEntire.
She’s a teacher and bug lover. And now Mimic is stalking her. Seriously. Mimic is also slaughtering men in dark alleys and ripping off their faces to wear as part of its trench coat ensemble. Awesome.
Meanwhile, Remi is profiled by police as a man-hating lesbian killer. There’s a detective played by hottie Bruno Campos of Nip/Tuck, a young kid (these bug ladies sure like little boys), and a cute teen played by adorable Will Estes (May, Terror Tract). And they all take part in an endless chase scene through a school.
There’s also plenty of stupid shit. We never learn why a man at the beginning of the movie was running around with a suitcase full of dirt and Mimic larvae. Considering there’s no chemistry between them at all, there’s a ridiculously out of place “intimate” accidental hug between the detective and Remi. The teen feels up Remi because he’s worried he might die having never gotten the chance.
And Mimic is so good at pretending to be a man it fools even an entire police force into thinking it’s one of them.
“Bwah hah hah! They’ll never know it’s me, Mimic!”
But Mimic 2 is definitely the most thrilling and nasty creature feature installment of the bunch.
MIMIC 3: SENTINEL (2003)
Mimic goes Rear Window. Distractingly BJ-lipped Karl Geary (The Burrowers, Stag Night) plays one of the kids who was infected by the roach disease in the first movie. He is now living pretty much in a bubble in his apartment with his mother (Amanda Plummer) because he still suffers environmental side effects.
He spends most of his time taking pictures and observing the comings and goings of a drug dealer and garbage man through his camera lens. Then he witnesses a “man” kill the drug dealer and is convinced the garbage man did it. The janitor from The Breakfast Club appears on the scene as the detective and is soon more interested in banging Amanda Plummer than solving a murder case.
The third installment is kind of fun in an old school mystery/suspense way, except for the fact that we know Mimic is the fricking killer because we’re watching Mimic 3. Lance Henriksen steps in (shocker) for the final bit of bug man thrills, but unfortunately, much of Mimic’s limited on screen appearance has gone the way of bad CGI. But the good news is, the movie only runs an hour and fifteen minutes, automatically making it the best in the series. Well, that and Karl’s BJ lips. Funny thing about BJ lips. When you see a guy who has them, you kind of wanna blow him….
