MIMIC

US, 1997, 115 minutes, Colour.
Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Josh Brolin, Giancarlo Giannini.
Directed by Guillermo del Toro.

Mimic is a horror thriller, a combination of such B-budget films of the 1950s like Them with the myth of Frankenstein and the creation of monsters.

This time the setting is New York City and the New York subway. The monsters are cockroaches – scientists have prepared a virus which eliminates them, only, of course, to produce a super bug which menaces the human race.

Mira Sorvino and Jeremy Northam appear as doctors. An international cast includes Giancarlo Giannini, Josh Brolin and F. Murray Abraham.

The production design is interesting, as are the special effects. However, in retrospect, the particular interest is in the work of the director Guillermo del Toro. He had previously directed the interesting horror/drama Cronos in his native Mexico in 1993. In 2001 he made a very fine film in Spain about the civil war with the touch of the occult and ghosts, The Devil’s Backbone. However, he then moved to comic books which his particularly enjoys and made Blade 2 as well as Hell Boy. He has Hell Boy 2 in production.

In the meantime, he returned to Spain to make a film about Spain in the post-civil war era during the time of World War Two. He draws on the experience he has gained in working in the comic strip epics and created a fantasy world in the midst of a stark and violent world of war. The film was Pan’s Labyrinth.

1. The work of Guillermo del Toro, his science fiction? His interest in horror films?

2. The popularity of films about menace, giant insects, plagues in cities? Monsters lurking in subways? Scientists, heroes and heroines? How well combined in this thriller?

3. The title, the experiments with the cockroaches, the warding off of the danger of plague, the creation of hybrid mimics in the laboratory, their getting out from the laboratory and creating havoc?

4. The special effects, the creation of the giant insects, the human dimension? Lurking in the subways, the battles in the subways? The musical score?

5. The opening: the plague, the cockroaches, the scientific explanation? The deaths, Susan as scientist, Peter as policeman? Their combination, finding a solution, creating the mimic? The professor and his wariness?

6. The aftermath, success? The transition of three years? The mysterious happenings, the preacher, his confrontation in his room, falling on the sign, his death, being drawn down into the subway? Chuy and his watching, identifying the victims and their shoe sizes?

7. Susan and Peter, their relationship, his skill as a policeman, brusque manner? Her skill as a scientist? The boys coming to her with the specimens, his investigating the mystery of the dead minister? The discovery of the giant specimen, the baby, its biting Susan’s finger? The opening up of a new plague?

8. The investigations, Peter and Josh and their working together? Peter and Susan going into the subway, Leonard and his hostility, blocking them, their getting permits? The professor and his rebuke of Susan for her experiments?

9. The exploration of the subway, the finding of the pods? The boys and their discovering the nest, their being killed? Chuy and his going down, his disappearance? The exploration, the finding of the monstrous mimics, the explanation, the scientific background? The terror, Josh and his trying to get out and his being dragged down? Leonard and his shouting and fears? Susan and her being taken by the winged insect? Peter and his being trapped? The rescue of Susan, Leonard? The knowledge that they were attracted by blood, Susan and her piercing her hand and saving Chuy? Their covering themselves with the insect liquid? Susan and her getting out, saving Chuy? Peter and his getting out, being reunited? The professor and his offer of support?

10. The character of Manny, looking after Chuy, mending the shoes, cleaning the shoes in the subway? Chuy and his knowing what was happening? Manny and his helping, going down into the subway, his helping the group, his death?

11. The popular ingredients for this kind of scary menace film? How well handled, fear, plausibility? Audiences identifying with the scientist and the policeman? The inherent evil in the mimic insects?