Mimic (1997)

Director:

Guillermo del Toro

Writers (WGA):

Donald A. Wollheim (short story "Mimic")
Matthew Robbins (screen story) ...

Release Date:

22 August 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

For thousands of years, man has been evolution's greatest creation... until now.

Plot:

Three years ago entomologist Dr. Susan Tyler genetically created an insect to kill cockroaches carrying a virulent disease, now the insects are out to destroy their only predator, mankind!

Plot Keywords:

Insect | Disease | Entomologist | Epidemic | Cockroach

Awards:

3 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Mira Sorvino	...	Dr. Susan Tyler
Jeremy Northam	...	Dr. Peter Mann
Alexander Goodwin	...	Chuy
Giancarlo Giannini	...	Manny
Charles S. Dutton	...	Leonard
Josh Brolin	...	Josh
Alix Koromzay	...	Remy
F. Murray Abraham	...	Dr. Gates
James Costa	...	Ricky
Javon Barnwell	...	Davis
Norman Reedus	...	Jeremy
Pak-Kwong Ho	...	Preacher
Glenn Bang	...	Yang (as Glen Bang)
Margaret Ma	...	Chinese Woman
Warna Fisher	...	Bag Lady

Also Known As:

Judus (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for terror/violence and language.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG (uncut) | Malaysia:U (cut) | France:-12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Belgium:KNT | Brazil:14 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:PG | South Africa:16 | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Disused lower platform, Bay subway station, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Dimension Films

Trivia:

Originally planned as a single 30-min. short as part of a feature of sci-fi/horror/comedy shorts by Miramax. The other segments also grew into the features Impostor (2001) and Alien Love Triangle (2002).

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Susan (Mira Sorvino) takes her pregnancy test, she and Peter (Jeremy Northam) move around and shake the test. This often results in false readings.

Quotes:

[on insect's inner motivation]
Dr. Gates: Can I eat it or will it eat me?

Movie Connections:

References Twelve Monkeys (1995)

Soundtrack:

Give Me Central 209

Good for this type of movie

I must confess I'm not a big fan of these type of movies, but since Mira Sorvino was in it, and John Sayles and Steven Soderburgh both worked on the script, I thought I'd give it a shot. This was actually pretty good, because they paid attention to the science without becoming clinical about it, and it was more interesting and credible than I expected (then again, science was never my subject). The second half of the movie is pretty much a chase movie, but that's well done for the most part, though Charles S. Dutton wears out his welcome pretty quickly in a thankless role. Sorvino is as good as I expected.