MIMIC TRILOGY (DVD Review) - 13/3/07

Having recently re-watched Guillermo Del Toro's "The Devil's Backbone" and "Hellboy" the Director's Cut; I decided to go back and watch another of his early films, in the form of "Mimic". As usual his sterling work really stands out and shines like a diamond in this turd of a 3-Disc Boxset....with constant grumblings being heard about it having been messed about with by the studio with cuts and re-shoots..... so a Special Edition can't be far off?

MIMIC: The original and best with a great cameo from F. Murray Abraham and leads Mira Sorvino and Jeremy Northam ably backing each other up as a plague threatens New York and they develop a cure that gets out of hand in more ways than one. A combination of suspense and horror with the Bug factor attached - Has you on the edge of your seat until the end. SPECIAL FEATURES: A great big fat nothing! Total bare-bones Vanilla disc waiting for it's turn in the Special Edition 2-Disc format spotlight and sooner rather than later thank-you very much!

MIMIC 2 - HARDSHELL: Aah - The law of diminishing returns sets the rot in early in this franchise attempt as the Producers wearyingly try to drag it out for another circuit run by getting back a minor character from the first film ("Remy" Alix Koromzay - in the lead this time round) using stock-photo footage and even a couple of scenes from the first film as the budget spirals down the pan with the script, FX and everything else in tow. By the time things get slowly to the boil and the excitement starts the film finishes. Even the DVD Cover is a rip-off of the original. Plot involves Bugs coming back again (What a surprise?) and mutating (Yawn). SPECIAL FEATURES: A quick 5-day runaround Behind-The-Scenes on various days across the film-shoot. A Behind The Sound featurette and some Deleted Scenes.

MIMIC 3 - SENTINEL: Relocates to filming in Romania for even less of a budget with consummate (But slumming) actors Lance Henriksen & Amanda Plummer attempting to pep up the proceedings in this dire re-tread of Hitchcock's "Rear Window" but now with Bugs? The first half of the film is talk-talk-talk and no action, meaningless babble, people with issues and general boredom - Before the last 15 minutes when they blow the entire Special Effects budget in a vain attempt to prop the film up before it also gets up and leaves. Plot consists of Bugs coming back again and being silly. SPECIAL FEATURES: A dull Behind-The-Scenes featurette with a Feature Commentary from the Director and some Cast Auditions.