Mimic 3: Sentinel (2003)

Director: J.T. Petty

Starring: Karl Geary, Alexis Dziena

Run Time: 77 mins

Certificate: 15

 

Plot Outline: Twenty-four year old Marvin suffers from Strickland's disease (the disease that the Judas Breed cockroaches spread) and is confined to living in the protective bubble in his room. He spends most of his days taking photos of people living in the high-rise apartment block opposite. When the inhabitants start to go missing, Marvin eventually uncovers the presence of the mutated insects known as the Judas Breed. They're back with a vengeance. But what can he do? He's confined to his room.

The Review: If there's one thing I hate more than pointless sequels, it's pointless horror franchises that drag out sequels for little or no reason. There's the never-ending rehash of the same story in the Children of the Corn sequels. Puppet Master went on for too long. Wishmaster had his wish of three sequels granted. Hell, we've even had three Mangler films for crying out loud! So it comes as no shock to me to find yet another film being released under the Mimic banner. Mimic was a formulaic horror/sci-fi hybrid that provided a few cheap thrills but nothing outstanding and did reasonably well at the box office (it grossed back it's budget in the US alone I'm led to believe). You'd have expected a sequel, which was given to us with Mimic 2 and that went straight to video for good reason. So why drag out another film? Well that's obvious. Schmucks like me still watch these films and, usually, pay to see them on video. It's like a weird form of self-harm. I know that I'm not going to enjoy them, but I still do it anyway because I have to.

Mimic 3: Sentinel supposedly has the novelty of setting a lot of the film in the bedroom of Marvin. Granted it's a novel idea but has anyone seen Rear Window? This idea quickly outstays it's welcome when you realise they're only setting the film here because they've only got a handful of sets and very few ideas in which to throw by. At a slim running time of 77 minutes, it's not going to take a brain surgeon to work out how much of the film is based on this one set. Surely what this guy does is just a bit illegal too? Taking photos of the hotties across the street getting undressed and such like might sound like a dream but I'm sure you'll be charged with voyeurism or worse. All the film seems to do is show this guy taking photos of people and moaning to his mum and sister. I'll give it a few props in that because we've spent so much time behind the lens of this guy's camera, perving on the neighbours, you feel like you're as helpless as Marvin. There are very few scenes set outside the room early on so whatever Marvin sees, the viewer sees. You're watching the film from his point. It does work in that it gives us a great perspective on the film but unfortunately it means it holds back on everything you'll have come to watch this film for. By that I mean the killer insect people - the Judas Breed. The insects eventually decide to show up but how much you'll actually see varies from nothing to just a little. The bugs have been really scaled back here both in quantity and quality. They look pretty cheap and nasty but are mainly confined to the shadows. In the other films, the Judas Breed represented a threat to humanity and you always felt that there were sufficient numbers of them and they were tough enough to pose a challenge. Here you don't. It's all very low key - the human race isn't being saved, it's some seedy guy, his junkie sister and his hot crush from across the street.

And what, pray tell, is Lance Henriksen doing slumming around once in a really third rate horror flick? The man has a great voice and a great screen presence so why the hell is he wasting his time on drivel like this? I know all actors need to get paid but surely one decent flick would pay more than a handful of these shabby efforts which do little other than harm credibility? I don't know whether his character's name is a sort of running in-joke regarding his career. "Garbage Man" has never had more relevance.

Final Verdict: Mimic 3: Sentinel has so little to offer anyone who has seen the other films, it's a wonder they gave it the green light. Devoid of anything remotely interesting and running at a pathetically short 77 minutes including credits, you'll wonder what the entire point to the film was when it was over. Hold on....how stupid we are! The point is that the film is over. You've paid your money. And some fat cat producer is now taking a dump and wiping his ass on dollar bills because of it.

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