[.ca] Mimic: 3: Sentinel

Not much of a film:
The first MIMIC was a strong horror film, but the series gets progressively cheaper & worse with every entry. MIMI 3 open with an establishing shot of the New Jersey shore overlooking Manhattan. Seems the story takes place in a New Jersey city, but once we see the depressing building courtyard, I immediately thought, "Hey, New Jersey looks like Eastern Europe." And sure enough, the end credits reveal the film was shot in Bucharest, Romanina. That's okay, except that it LOOKS like Eastern Europe, not New Jersey. The story is very "small." Everything occurs in one apartment and the couryard it overlooks. (Yeah, we also see people in the other windows.) Only a few actors, and a couple of Judas Priest bugs. I suppose some find the film "claustrophobic" or "grungy" but I just found it small and cheap. The whole film is an hour and 12 minutes long. That's a movie? (Claims to be 76 minutes, but four minutes are end credits). The story is a REAR WINDOW ripoff, except that MIMIC 3 acknowledges it. The sickly character (who can't leave his room) says, "I saw the movie," implicitly refering to REAR WINDOW. Essentially, the sickly character sees Judas Priest bugs killing people in the courtyard, but at first no one believes him. In the end, the bugs come to his apartment, and there's some more violence. No-name actors, aside from supporting roles for Lance Henricksen and Amanda Plummer, who probably each shot their scenes in a couple of days. I don't see how anyone can understand this film unless they've first seen MIMIC, since the back story isn't much explained. Newcomers to the MIMIC series may wonder where all those giant bugs came from. This is an okay film for hardcore horror fans and horror completists, but mainstream viewers who only occassionally watch horror will want to pass on this. There are many better horror films out there (such as LOST SOULS, the Winona Ryder film released in 2000).

With MIMIC 3, director J.T. Petty becomes one to watch for!:
When you rent a Dimension straight to video project, you never know what you're going to get. Sometimes you'll find a rare gem but most of the time it won't even be worth remembering. Remember all those PROPHECY sequels? That's what I thought. Anyway, I'm happy to say that MIMIC SENTINEL falls into the rare gem category. I had absolutely no idea what to expect with this one nor do I know why I even rented it after hating MIMIC 2 so much and the fact that I'm not even that big of a fan of the original. But I'm glad I did. It goes something like this. Strickland disease (which was established in the first film) survivor Martin (Karl Geary) suffers from extreme environmental sensitivity making it hard for him to leave his room in the apartment he shares with his mother (Amanda Plummer) and his sister, Rosy (Alexis Dziena). So, he obsessively takes photographs of the world outside his window and, as you might have guessed, eventually learns that the Judas Bugs are back once again. While it's absolutely no mystery that the plot of this film borrows more than a little from Alfred Hitchkock's REAR WINDOW, the film really works. While I've always found the MIMIC bugs rather creepy, this film seemed to really capitalize on that and make a genuinely scary, suspense building movie out of them. Rookie filmmaker and screenwriter (he also wrote and directed the as of yet unreleased indie SOFT FOR DIGGING) J.T. Petty has what it takes to tell a good story and make an entertaining film. Instead of trying to make a crappy film that requires more money than he had to work with, Petty made a good, small film that was within his means. By getting rid of a lot of the special effects (even though there are a few) and different locations, Petty lets the viewer become engrossed in the characters and lets them feel the paranoia that Marvin experiences. Instead of just watching the film, the viewer becomes a voyeur right along with Marvin. Later in the film, even after Marvin's voyeuristic journey is over, the director shoots the film with a blackened ring around the corners of the TV as if your now watching Marvin from an apartment across the street as Marvin did to others earlier in the film. For me, this worked to great effect. I felt like I was watching someone in danger and wasn't getting up to do anything about it. While I felt the whole Lance Henrisken aspect of the film was a bit unnecessary, for the most part the film really worked for me. So as for director J.T. Petty, I'm going to place him in my directors to watch book. I mean, if he can make a good sequel to a movie about giant bugs then I'm convinced he's capable of anything. C+

Rear Window and the Judas Breed:
This is the weakest of the Mimic movies. A young man (23ish) is living the life of a bubble boy. Surviving Strickler's disease has left him with respiratory problems. To bide his time he takes pictures of the neighbors in the building across the way. His younger sister helps him with his hobby. But then a young boy disappears. As the guy becomes more and more obsessed with the neighbors he sees a possible murder. He doesn't realize that the Judas Breed is behind it, but he does get the police involved. Things quickly build an it becomes obvious that the big bugs are back. I am not sure of the ending in this one. It is a little vague. If one character was right, then the Judas has already won and humans will be wiped out. It also seemed like there was something missing from the film. Something that would explain what was going on with the birds. Much different from either of the first two and worth seeing once but probably not more.

For completists:
The lack of money shows especially on the 'street scenes'. They're always in the same spot in the middle of the 2 or 3 buildings where all the characters live, in 'the rear window' style. This is OK given the plot's nature, the problem is there are almost no extras and no sound effects of city life either, it's like a post-apocalyptic movie where half the population are dead. The main character's room is under-produced too. Otherwise it's quite entertaining. Strangely, the movie succeeds to hold your interest during the more subdued first and second act, but falls apart in the last act, when all the action and special effects start kicking in. I think this part was ackwardly edited and isn't very effective. The dvd has a good widescreen anamorphic transfer, and the cast's audition tapes make a curious extra.

"Rear Window" Meets "THEM":
This is the third entry in the Mimic series; this time a shut-in and his hoochie sister have a run-in with the giant cockroaches. The movie starts off slow, maybe too slow in my opinion, but Mimic 3 gets real good at the end. The whole picture has this grungy look, contrasting the main character's immediate surroundings and lifestyle.