MIMIC (48)

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro

Starring: Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Charles S. Dutton

The Pitch: Massive bugs, able to look like human beings - the results, inevitably, of a genetic mutation - roam the subway tunnels beneath New York City.

Theo Sez: For a bug movie, surprisingly sluggish. As suggested by the - admittedly dazzling - opening credits, del Toro seeks to venture into SE7EN territory, not only through determinedly murky visuals (daylight is a precious commodity in this movie) but also by sprinkling religious references - characters speaking of absolution and Catholic guilt - and suggestions of a world gone rotten (evil preachers, mysterious plagues, a "city full of perverts") throughout the film. It pays dividends, especially in the visuals - eerie subway stations with blinking neon lights, a night sky (seen from below) lashing down with rain, a striking wide-angle shot of a cathedral-like hospital ward - but really this oppressive, apocalyptic mood, well-suited to the grisly horrors of SE7EN, seems rather excessive in a movie about killer cockroaches, especially man-sized ones that loiter on subway platforms bundled up in long overcoats, looking more like potential flashers than millennial terrors. Despite the near-risible elements (and an incredibly stupid last ten minutes) it's ambitious and generally interesting ; but it's worth remembering that the only really satisfying monster movie of the 90s - TREMORS, natch - was both resolutely unpretentious and set entirely in broad daylight.