MosquitoMan - Una nuova razza di predatori

Once in a while a movie comes by that is so campy and fun that it forever finds a place in your heart. This could almost be one of those movies if the production wasn't so lackluster and straight-forward. The idea is delightfully insane, but where does it really go from there? The whole movie bathes in a rather unpleasant Eurotrash-atmosphere, probably because most of the dirty work was outsourced to Bulgaria to cut costs. Their cheap labour actually looks semi-professional, which is the absolute worst thing you can have in a movie about a killer half man/half mosquito. Corin Nemec plays the hero in this movie, to which I can only say that I'm glad he's working. It beats infomercials, not by much though. "Mansquito" is in many ways frustrating, because it could have gone so much more over the top. There are a couple of good action scenes though, and it does have the merit of an insanely high body count, so I guess I still kinda like it.

Creepy looking convict gets some genetic engineering stuff on his hand and rapidly morphs into an even creepier looking creature. Mansquito is outrageous, but actually gets in a few scares on you. Watching that thing drink is pretty gross, what with blood being the implied soft drink of choice.

He starts finding victims immediately, some at random, others for revenge. He takes particular interest in seeking out a female doctor at the genetic engineering lab, who herself may be contaminated with the stuff. You suspect this because she starts liking sugar and raw meat. Plus, she gets a bad case of "red-eye."

Enter the stock plot coincidences. The aforementioned doctor is romantically involved with the only cop who seems able to figure out the horrible truth about the rampaging mansquito. A predictable finale that you see coming for about half the movie is delayed for the usual routine of an unending stream of trigger-happy cops taking turns futilely shooting at the armor-plated beast, with the obvious results. You won't believe the venue they choose for this high-body-count carnage.

Not bad, for a Sci Fi channel low rent quickie. A few scares, a few laughs, and good fun. Just remember to turn your brain off before viewing this.

I am a horror fan. That means I like to be scared and I also enjoy horror flicks that bring me to laugh (like really bad ones) or that make a reasonable effort while failing. This one doesn't even try.

I stopped looking at it after the man transformed into a giant mosquito. In a minute or so, what was a man transformed into a fleshy insect, something that seems to haunt the nightmares of every person that dreamed of seeing a decent movie. Meanwhile there is a girl that begs the transforming man to stop transforming. After he obviously doesn't, she begins to beg the fleshy insect that used to be a man not to hurt her. It works just as well as the first attempt.

If I'd had more time I would have seen the whole movie and probably really be upset by it. I mean, they took every possible animal or plant and made a movie about it attacking humans, humans transforming into it, then attacking humans, etc. But mosquitoes?! They are really deadly, I agree, but not when people transform into them! No, this is a really bad movie. Stay away from it.

And I apologize for bringing The Fly into this. After all, at its time it was close to original in both idea and effects. Not the mention Jeff Goldblum that made the movie a good one.

A convict is scheduled to be used in tests involving the west Nile virus, but escapes and is bitten by a mutant mosquito, transforming him into a hideous insectile humanoid. It's up to cops to track him down as he makes his way through a city, sucking his victims dry. This is one of those "Made for Sci-fi channel" films, which, lets face it, more often than not turn out to be stinking cesspools (See Dinocroc, King Snake, Boa vs. Python, etc.) or, putting it more kindly, on the "lower end of the horror spectrum". However, "Mansquito" actually manages to transcend most of the other films sci-fi produces. It's got decent enough acting, plenty of nasty gore scenes, cool creature effects, but lots of problems too. To start, the plot is carp. I'll admit that. It's got lots of 1-D characters whose sole purpose is to be killed off in horrible gruesome ways by the monster. The science behind the creature is non-existent. It's also very, very predictable. Director Tibor Takács—who was responsible for 1987's effects-laden cult hit, "The Gate", and the really cool "I, Madman"—has since done some not-so-great low-budget horror films like Killer Rats (2003), but he redeems himself somewhat with "Mansquito". He gives the film a fun feel and never lets the pace drop. He also gives us just what we paid for—gore and a slimy, ugly monster. At first the gore is rather tame, but it really picks up towards the end, check out the "SWAT team dismemberment" for some real nasty stuff! As I said before, the creature effects are really cool. The effects are handled by Tony Garner, who also worked on "Seed of Chucky". Thankfully the monster isn't CG most of the time, just a good old man-in-a-suit (Except for shots of the creature running or flying, in which the makers implored so truly awful CG).

If you're looking for a fresh, original sci-fi film, look elsewhere, 'cause "Mansquito" is anything but that. However, it IS a fun, gory monster movie for a boring, rainy Saturday afternoon.

6/10.

Great Scott! But it's starting to seem that the Sci-Fi Channel produces these things like link sausage, one after after another after another and all pretty much the same.

Take a cliché hero from column A, a heroine from column B, inject giant mutant X (insect, spider, snake etc), mix will with lots of faceless police/soldiers/general public with a collective I.Q. five points under room temperature as monster fodder and boil in pot until rank.

The only thing they left out of this one (other than an interesting story) was the evil rich guy who wants to exploit the monster of the week.

Oh... and by the way, male mosquitoes don't drink blood, only female mosquitoes do.