MIMIC: SENTINEL
US, 2003, 78 minutes, Colour.
Lance Henriksen, Karl Geary, Alexis Dziena, Keith Robinson, Rebecca Mader.
Directed by J.T.Petty.
Judging by the comments from bloggers, fans are divided about their like and dislike for this third film in the Mimic series.
For those who do not like the film, they consider it to talkie, confined to a room, lacking action until the end, someone remarking that the cockroaches, so prevalent in the previous two films, have only the equivalent of cameo roles!
For those who do like the film, they see it as a thriller more than a horror film, a thriller with moments of horror and the climax of horror. And most film buffs who see it, with the hero confined to his room, photographing from his window, looking into the windows of apartments opposite as well as into the dark streets, it is obviously a homage to Rear Window. And there is quite a lot of footage of looking at the photographer, looking at his camera, looking through his lens and seeing what is going on via the lens.
Karl Geary portrays Marvin, who is affected by the cockroaches when the mutants roamed the city and destroyed or infected the inhabitants. He is infected and is like the boy in the plastic bubble, except that he does go into other rooms as well as into the street. His widowed mother is played by Amanda Plummer, fussy about her son, becoming emotionally involved with a visiting policeman who has inflated his reputation and authority in the force and antagonises Marvin. There is also his sister, Alexis Dziena, full of vitality, but full of drugs, who sees a killing on the street, is anxious, calls the police, goes across the street (another reminder of Rear Window) with a young woman, Carmen, Rebecca Mader, whom Marvin sees, studies, and who comes to visit him (giving up smoking and perfume so that he will not be having breathing into his respirator).
Down on the street is a man, amongst the many that Marvin photographs and puts on his wall, and they identify as the garbage man (Lance Henriksen). There is also another mysterious character called Birdman. At the beginning of the film, a young boy is wandering the streets and is brutally killed. Those who know the other films will realise that it is the giant cockroaches at work again, nesting in the basement of buildings, the basements becoming something of cocoons – although it is mentioned that the cockroaches don’t have to be bigger, they have adapted, intelligently, and can be smaller. Nevertheless, they do emerge at times with deadly results.
The garbage man was trying to sell off some specimens, since he has been observing the cocoon and is an authority on insects, Marvin finding a book written by him. When Marvin’s sister is killed in the street, the garbage man and Carmen bring her to the room, explaining that light or fire repel the insects. When there is a knock at the door, it is the mother and she is immediately speared by the cockroaches, who then keep battering at the walls, Marvin even hiding himself in the fridge, and the garbage man dying.
Marvin reawakens in hospital, Carmen is visiting him – but is the plague averted? Since there was no further sequel, audience will have to wonder?
