Mosquitoman

SciFi has been doing a little better with their films lately. I enjoyed Frankenfish, this, and Species III. THey are making some ones better than Raptor Island...Ugh, I shudder to think of that crap. Anyway, this is Mansquito. SciFi usually uses bad CGI effects, but in this they managed to have GOOD effects! GO figure! The effects really impressed me, some CGI, but not much at all. THe Mansquito looked real good, and there were some nice gore effects. Hopefully there will be more gore in the DVD release hehe. ANyway, this film is not too original, but it is entertaining. Very entertaining. Good way to waste 2 hours of your time. Def. one good monster/killer bug film. Recommended if you want to have some good fun. 7/10

Mansquito(or Mosquito Man) was a little better than I expected, but that's not saying much. It is surprisingly not bad on a visual front, with good photography and nice locations, and the music at times was spookily atmospheric. Plus the ending was the best part of the film, very effective. What let Mansquito down though was a fair number of things. I have seen worse special effects, but they are still rather cheap and not very well-utilised with the mosquitoes not menacing enough. The script is of the cheesy and stilted kind and the story apart from some spark at the end never really engaged me, coming across as dull, predictable and especially with the male mosquitoes ridiculous. I probably would have had a stronger impression of Mansquito if the beginning had been promising, but viewing so many obvious mistakes in one scene really hindered that. The characters didn't come across as very likable either, not as stereotypical as I have seen characters other movies of the genre before but annoying and underdeveloped, and the acting is really quite poor. Overall, could've been much worse, but Mansquito bugged me too much for me to properly enjoy it. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Some decent special effects and acting make this a pretty good movie. I have been absolutely disgusted with 90% of the SciFi channel movies, like most sci fi fans on this board. Mansquito is the first one I have been able to watch for a long time. Not great, but entertaining, and with a title like Mansquito, a nice surprise. I actually tuned in to see how bad it was. Let's just say Mansquito benefits from diminished expectations.

I don't like sci fi movies in which you don't see the monster until the end. Mansquito shows the monster a lot and it is pretty ugly. The female lead gets pretty nasty too as she is in the first stages of becoming Womansquito. There are some pretty gory and violent combat scenes between police and the monster. Overall pretty satisfying.

I hope SciFi keeps improving because their movies have been terrible. Mansquito is a worthy effort. 5/10 If you're like me, you have a basic

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.

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.