Review of Mosquito

Mosquito (1994)
8/10
An enjoyably silly, gory and trashy retro 50's giant killer bug horror creature feature hoot
5 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
An enjoyably pulpy, trashy, competently mounted and energetically executed 50's style over-sized killer insect creature feature done with wonderfully sleazoid 90's type gore, nudity, profanity and general self-aware film buff fanaticism. An alien spaceship crashlands in a lake located nearby by a forest summercamp community. Bacteria from the spaceship infects the local mosquitoes and causes them to grow into hideous, butt-ugly, way lethal and voracious gigantic mutants who promptly develop an insatiable appetite for human blood. In short time lots of folks have been sucked dry, leaving the standard collection of mixed bag everyday schmo reluctant protagonists -- a hunky dude and his feisty girlfriend, a rugged, quick-thinking take-charge scientist, a constantly sniveling spineless clod, and a gang of bumbling criminals led by a portly, pony-tailed Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface in the original "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre") -- to destroy the bugs before they multiply and feast on the entire human race.

Made on a modest, but well-used spare change budget in Detriot, Michigan, directed with tremendous go-for-it gusto by Gary Jones, acted with comparably infectious aplomb by an enthusiastic cast, with several slam-bang stirring insect attack set pieces (the sequence where an unrelenting swarm of flying mosquitoes attack a speeding camper especially smokes), a tasty plenitude of moist, squishy, blood-spilling and slime-slinging splatter, somewhat variable, but still funky special effects (the giant rubbery insects are really cool), a nice smattering of winningly witty B-movie in-jokes (a TV reporter named Allen Smithee, Gunnar wields a mean chainsaw in one scene, and there's a right-on raunchy send-up of the inevitable "have sex and die" backwoods fright flick cliché), a crackling forward-ho pace and a whole-hearted affection for gleefully junky $1.50 cheeseball horror cinema, "Mosquito" eagerly delivers a handy helping of good, gruesome, delightfully blunt and unpretentious straightahead dimestore monster fun.
5 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed