Mimic - attack of the killer insects
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Mimic - attack of the killer insects |
| Original title | Mimic |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1997 |
| length | 105 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Guillermo del Toro |
| script |
Matthew Robbins Guillermo del Toro |
| production |
Ole Bornedal Bob Weinstein B.J. Rack |
| music | Marco Beltrami |
| camera | Dan Laustsen |
| cut |
Patrick Lussier Peter Devaney Flanagan |
| occupation | |
| |
Mimic is an American horror film by Guillermo del Toro from 1997 and is based on the short story Mimic by Donald A. Wollheim .
action
An incurable deadly disease with high infant mortality rates spread by cockroaches is rampant in New York . The entomologist Dr. Susan Tyler therefore breeds a genetically modified cockroach species that is supposed to cross with the vector so that after a few generations they become sterile and thus wiped out. The plan seems to be working, the epidemic is disappearing. The crossing does not lead to the self-extinction of the cockroaches. Rather, contrary to the calculations, the genetically modified animals reproduce for three years over many generations and continue to mutate. They use disused New York subway shafts that are no longer used as living space. This development only came to light when two teenagers sold the entomologist an oversized cockroach; When the researcher examines the animal forebodingly, she discovers that it is a young animal of the current generation of the genetically modified cockroaches that she once bred herself. When a dead larva of this cockroach species that is the size of a human baby is washed up in the municipal sewage treatment plant and is handed over to the researcher for an autopsy, she decides to act, shaken. The mutated cockroaches are now as big as their greatest enemies, humans, and look similar to them: From a distance you hold a cockroach in an upright position for a man with a hat in a foot-length coat.
Another storyline shows Chuy, the autistic shoeshine son, who imitates the crackling communication sound of the mutant cockroaches by hitting two soup spoons on his thighs and against each other. In order to investigate the noise, he gains access at night to a community room that has been locked by the police across from his apartment, in which he once saw a giant cockroach scurry past. Chuy moves in the dark of the community room towards the cockroach noise, as if in response, it continues to imitate with the spoons. Since he is unable to recognize danger, he does not exhale a sweat of fear, which is why a fatal attack does not take place when Chuy meets two of the mutant cockroaches. The community room is adjacent to the abandoned subway network into which the giant cockroaches drag Chuy. There Chuy is wanted by his father after he noticed that his son must have left the apartment and must have gone to the locked meeting house. When the father finally finds Chuy, he is torn to pieces by a giant cockroach in front of his eyes, while Chuy himself can be saved from the subway network.
With her husband, a research colleague and a subway attendant, Susan Tyler gets into the area of the abandoned subway shafts and tunnels in front of which the young people found the young animal. The team around the scientist wants to prevent the mutated cockroach colony from coming to the surface and threatening people, because the oversized cockroaches attack and kill all people who approach them or their nests and attack them. In the search for these nests, the investigation team suffered several accidents that made it impossible to return to the surface on the way there; the research expedition turns into a life and death fight with the giant cockroaches. Susan Tyler can save herself to the surface with Chuy. When there seems to be no more escape for her husband, who is surrounded by giant cockroaches, he damages the natural gas supply lines of the residential districts that happen to run in his shaft space, ignites the escaping gas with a blow of his pickaxe on metal and jumps into a sewage hole to save himself Sewers among themselves. A chain reaction of underground gas explosions ensues, causing devastating destruction to the surface of the earth (manhole covers and cars above them blow up, shop windows burst, the gas inflames shops) and triggers disaster alarms. The inferno of flames in the underground destroys all mutated giant cockroaches along with their brood of maggots. Susan Tyler initially assumes that her husband is dead, but he gets out of a subway station in front of her eyes, and in the happy ending Chuy and the two hug each other.
background
The film opened in German cinemas on February 26, 1998. The Director's Cut only appeared in the USA on September 27, 2011 . The German version of it was released on April 19, 2012 and, like the theatrical version, received FSK 16. The German version of the Director's Cut therefore differs from the theatrical version in many film scenes and contains those that are not dubbed in the middle of the main film but are left in the original English sound were subtitled in German. The additional material on the DVD consists of the director's commentary on the entire film, an explanation of the film by the director, canceled and failed scenes, the slightly animated storyboard (filmed sketches with some atmospheric noises) and a small "making of".
reception
Reviews
The film made a positive impression on around 63 percent of the critics and around 37 percent of the audience on the Rotten Tomatoes website .
"What sounds like outrageous nonsense turns out to be an excellent horror flick that spins a well thought-out horror scenario here. Of course, director Guillermo del Toro uses well-known role models without copying them in a striking way. So the dramaturgy of the film is extremely efficient and lets the viewer shudder or two. People with any insect phobia shouldn't even turn it on. "
"A carefully crafted horror film, which, however, leaves it at the pure surface stimuli and, despite some hints of the story, cannot give the story any depth."
Awards
- The film won a Saturn Award for Best Make-up in 1998 .
Gross profit
With a budget of around 30 million US dollars, the film brought in around 25.5 million US dollars in the North American region.
Sequels
In 2001, Mimic 2 , which is more of a remake than a sequel, was released straight to DVD. In 2003 Mimic 3: Sentinel was released on DVD. All three films were released together on May 1, 2012 as a 3-film set on a Blu-Ray in the USA by Lionsgate.
Web links
- Mimic - Attack of the killer insects in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Mimic - attack of the killer insects at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Comparison of the theatrical version - Director's Cut by Mimic at Schnittberichte.com
Individual evidence
- ^ Mimic (1997). Accessed July 31, 2020 (English).
- ↑ horror film Mimic See prisma.de
- ↑ Mimic - Attack of the killer insects. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Mimic. Accessed July 31, 2020 .
- ↑ First art / details: “MIMIC: 3 Film Set” on Blu-ray , accessed on February 16, 2012.