Plot
An alien spaceship crashes into a swamp where a swam of
mosquitoes begin to feed on the alien corpses. This causes them to grow to
enormous size and the corpses can no longer control their appetites. Thirsty for blood, they set out to find the nearest human
population to satisfy their needs.
Review
When I first saw Mosquito a couple
of years ago, I wasn't impressed. It reeked of clichés, seemed too cheesy and I
generally hated it. However once I'd started to look back over some of my
earlier reviews, I've had a burning desire to re-watch some of the films I'd
hammered to pieces. Mosquito was one of the first flicks I watched again
and my opinion of it has drastically altered. It's actually rather entertaining
in hindsight. Maybe my critical skills have been devalued so much by the
constant slew of awful Sci-Fi Channel originals that something as poor as this
gets a high mark simply because it's not as bad as them. Or maybe it's because
it's just dumb fun where the script is light-hearted, the tone is rather cheesy
and the mosquitoes actually look convincing as a threat. Don't worry I'm not
going soft on you, it's just that Mosquito isn't as bad as I remembered
it to be.
Think of it as a modern throwback to the old science fiction films of the 50s
where radiation and atomic testing mutated all manner of creatures from wasps to
ants. Drain the colour from it, get rid of a few of the pop culture references
and add in some more nonsense science and Mosquito could easily have
emerged from this era. At least there's no pretentious preaching about atomic
testing in this one. The mosquitoes are created by good ol' alien blood. Any
modern monster film which doesn't resort to genetic-engineering-gone-wrong is
alright by my book. Monster movies are only as good as their monsters though
and thankfully, the visual effects in Mosquito are relatively strong
overall. The mosquitoes themselves are a product of a by-gone era - big
prosthetic puppets which have little movement save for their wings and in which
characters have to hold them to their chests to make it look like they're
interacting with it. Some old school stop motion is used in the flying scenes but for the
close-ups, it's all real and helps the film's cheesy tone because of it.
When they are blown up, they explode in a shower of gooey effects. We also get a
lot of mosquito P.O.V. shots as they home in on their victims. There's also
some really cool make-up effects used on the victims of the mosquitoes. With
bulbous eyes and dried, rubbery skin, the decomposing bodies look suitably
devoid of any blood.
Gunnar Hansen
(Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) stars but his performance
is pretty awful. He's a writer by trade, not an actor and it shows. However his
inclusion does lead the film to it's greatest moment. Faced with the mosquito
hordes trying to break into the boarded up house the survivors are trapped
inside, Hansen's character picks up a chainsaw and shrugs, saying that "I
haven't handled one of these things in twenty years....feels good." He then
proceeds to use the chainsaw on the mosquitoes with knowing winks to his genre
past. At least he's game for a laugh. The rest of the cast are the same. They're
pretty diabolical but at least they're out to have a good time. The attempts at
humour in the script fail at almost every opportunity and some characters,
including the park ranger, are so annoying that it's impossible to root for
them. The script hardly gives us time to root for anyone and most of the
characters disappear for massive stretches of the film. It's only in the final
third when the survivors band together in the house, that matters take a turn
for the better and more in line with Night of the Living Dead....only
with mosquitoes obviously! Throughout the film, the tone is lighthearted and it
wears it's camp on it's sleeve like a badge of honour. There's a big body count,
lots of attack scenes, nudity, gore and plenty of explosions.
Verdict
Mosquito is a
highly entertaining giant insect film which delivers what you'd expect from such
a genre flick. These mosquitoes don't suck! You can tell that the director has a
love for the old 50s films and sends them up in gooey 90s style.
