Mimic 3: Sentinel

A young man who must remain in an environmentally controlled apartment discovers that the Judas Breed bugs are back in this second sequel the film Mimic. My review will probably be the mirror opposite of most of the reviews here because, frankly, I was completely underwhelmed by the original Mimic film. (I think it was all the glowing reviews I read before I saw it.) I missed the second film entirely. This film, however, I enjoyed. If only because of the residual power of Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window," which is where they lifted the structure of this film, I found myself entertained throughout. And newcomer Rebecca Mader wasn't so bad either! (Check her out in the much more interesting "21 Eyes.") Not a great film, but definitely worth a look. It makes me want to see Petty's first film -- "Soft for Digging."

`Rear Window with giant roaches.' That concept alone puts it above Mimic 2. It's different . . . it has potential . . . overall I'd say I liked the buildup (when convenient dilemmas were not advancing the plot), but damn, did Petty ever blow the payoff. I appreciate the slow paced plot versus fast/hard hitting shock fests, unfortunately, JT didn't really capitalize on it so in effect . . . the film can get boring, stale, and it (like the characters) don't have much of a personality. This would have been great if in the writing we had some Quentin Tarantino or Kevin Smith-esque dialogue. What do these characters do? Who are they? What does Marvin think/feel in his freetime (which he has lots and lots of?) All we ever see him doing is staring through the camera, which okay, we know what he does but that doesn't mean we know him nor should we care. We learn as much about the people Marvin spies on as we do Marvin, himself.

Folks, that's a problem.

Everyone in this film lives and dies for the sole purpose of serving the plot in typical horror fashion. I'm being overly harsh on this film than I would for most other horror sequels solely because it wants to be Rear Window. Rear Window may have been about a man with nothing better to do at the moment than become a voyeur; however, there was far more to him than looking through a camera. If you're going to deliberately mimic Hitchcock (no pun), they need to do it on more than just a surface level.

Compare Mimic Sentinel to its predecessors and it's not too bad, compare Mimic 3 to its Hitchcockian inspiration and it's pretty pathetic (and Rear Window is a far cry from my favorite of Hitch's work.)

After seeing Mimic 3's payoff, I'm not so disappointed in Rear Window's anymore. Rear Window intended the finale to be simple and somewhat underwhelming, but at the same time Hitchcock maintains his steady buildup even thought the film is technically paying off. Mimic Sentinel opts for all the bells and whistles, explosions and blood – after all, this is a half century later right? The action comes at the expense of an unwelcomed plot `twist' which was not necessary and comes across as gratuitous (even if Lance Henriksen is involved.) I prefer simple and underwhelming . . . screw the extras.

Once again, despite harsh comments above, in light of typical horror sequels this is about as average in execution as you get. I tend to bump it above average for the sole fact that it at least had a clever idea at the conception stage, which is more than most sequels/remakes have going for them.

Marvin Montrose (Karl Geary) is a sickly 24-year-old man, confined to a bubble apartment room due to his severe allergies and asthma . He lives in a suburb with his mother (Amanda Plummer) and sister (Alexis Dziena) , at an apartment where he watches the neighbours in James Stewarts's Rear Window style . He finds out that the Judas Breed monster cockroaches that horrorized society are back with a revenge and are preying on the inhabitants of his apartment complex . So with the help of his sister Rosy and her best friend Carmen (Rebecca Mader) , they'll have to destroy the monster roaches and protect themselves . Our protagonists are stalked by fast-evolving insects now lurking in the slums and bowery , mimicking and preying upon their sometime predator , human beings . Seems like they've learned to mimic humans and lurk around the streets like men in overcoats , waiting to catch victims for them . As there appear the ubiquitous cockroaches , formerly the results of arrogant experiments and they come back to haunt them .This time, nothing can stop it! For thousands of years, man has been evolution's greatest creation... until now. This summer, brace yourself for the ultimate battle between man and nature. A Bold Experiment. A Deadly Mistake! . Terror has been reinvented! The all-new suspense-filled thriller! The plan Judas Breed worked until the bugs evolved to mimic their next prey.....humans! . We protect ourselves by destroying our enemies but evolution has a way of keeping things alive.Evolution has a way of keeping things alive.They thought the terror was over...Nothing will stop them...

This heart-pounding picture with grim , relentless dark horror , it is full of suspense , thrills , mystery , grisly attacks , and lots of gore . This is a run-of-the-mill monster-feast , regularly paced and full of frightening scenes , though mediocre . It's packed with overwhelming body count , loathing scenes , grotesque killing , and rivers of red blood . Ordinary and far-fetched script by director J.T. Petty himself , based on the short story "Mimic" by Donald A. Wollheim , adding former writers as Matthew Robbins and Guillermo del Toro , screenwriters Matt Greenberg and John Sayles are uncredited but collaborated in the original Mimic . An inferior and absurd third following , going on the much better original when two scientists upset the balance of nature as they cure a plague , only to have their insectoid concoction unleashed in New York City . The movie delivers the goods with hair-rising chills and noisy scares when the giant cockroaches show up savagely stalking and attacking its preys , including children . Director displays disturbing scenes , but he is working with all too conventional and corny material , victims and survivors here are as predictable as the plot , which is boring and tiring outside its many guckily terrific moments . It stars Karl Geary as a young man enclosed in a plastic bubble, as he must defend an apartment complex from the mutant Judas Breed insects . He is accompanied by a passable support cast , such as : Alexis Dziena as his sister, Rebecca Mader as her best friend , Amanda Plummer as mummy , Keith Robinson as a drug dealer , John Kapelos as a Police Officer and the always great Lance Henriksen in a mysterious role .

This is a below averag eand low-budgeted amusement juvenile , including habitual characters and scientific plot , but entertaining enough and extremely claustrophobic . It's remarkable for FX recreation the ferocious and carnivorous beast developing a bloodthirsty hunger for human eating . The actors give vigorous physical acting dodging the giant bugs, being recreated by means of decent make-up , adding the prolific computer generator , as usual . The mutant cockroaches , themselves, of course, are the real stars, and they're really terrifying and astounding , as well as quite convincing . If you like squishy giant bug movies , this third sequel is for you . Resulting to be a stylish but still rubbishy and quite strange horror movie , derivative of the first/second part and every giant bug picture from ¨Them ¡¨, The Fly¨, and ¨Alien¨ saga .

The picture displays a dark and sinister cinematography , being badly designed and photographed in TV style . As well as a thrilling and intriguing musical score . The motion picture was poor and lousily directed by J.T. Petty . He delivers the terror movie goods in embarrassing sense of style , and it contains some flaws and gaps . Director disowned the film after constant clashes with Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein from Dimension Films , who would frequently visit the set and make unreasonable demands about what should be shot, deviating away from the script . J.T. Petty is a writer and director who has made a few films with no much successes , such as : Gone: VR 360 , Hellbenders, The Burrowers , Soft for Digging , S&man and this Mimic 3: the sentinal . The picture will appeal to horror buffs only ; it also makes a so-so addition to the terror genre .

Mimic trilogy is formed by : the original ¨Mimic¨ by Guillermo del Toro with Mira Sorvino , F. Murray Abraham , Charles S. Dutton , Jeremy Northam . It is a smart , worthy , hip adrenaline rush movie , it is a triumph of style , well realized by Guillermo Del Toro . ¨Mimic 2¨ with Alix Koromzay , John Polito , Bruno Campos , Will Estes , Edward Albert , Paul Schulze , Michael Tucci ; and ¨Mimic 3¨ The sentinel , with Karl Geary , Lance Henriksen , Amanda Plummer , Rebecca Mader , and John Kapelos .

I'll have to say, this third sequel was quite good for it's simplicity. Instead of scaring you with the actual Judas Breed man-size insects -created in the first- it relies on it's plot to creep you out, while taking a totally different approach to the evil of this bizarre 'cure' for a childhood disease. After 'Mimic 2' I felt quite wary about this movie, having never even heard one was being made. It's just that this plot intrigues me so much, I don't seem to care if it's a bad approach or acting (as in part 2; NOT this one -part 3). I felt pretty good about this movie and it SIMPLY was entertaining, as well as scary in it's own rite.

7/10 - thank you

This is a horror film, or at least intended to be, so I'd like to point out something good - but the only thing I can come up with is that it ONLY lasted about 77 minutes!

First off, it's VERY easy to see where the writer got the inspiration for his lead character in this film - a man with no life, sitting all day in front of a window, observing people living across the street, and suddently he observes something suspecious... Wow, who called Hitchcock, cause this writer obviously saw "Rear Window (1954)" ..but anyway, all films these days are inspired by others somehow..

Secondly, the role of Rosey, "Dziena, Alexis" (qv), is acted out so annoyingly, you grow an instant dislike to her. Never saw her before, don't know if she was meant to play an annoying character and then did a hell of a job, or if she is just THAT plain annoying..

Third, I have NO idea what Amanda Plummer and Lance Henriksen is doing in this film - they must have been desprately out of cash or totally unable to see how horrible this film was.

The only horror you stumble across in this film is how terrible it is carried out.

A definate 1/10, only because a "0" won't affect the overall evaluation!