Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Mimic: Sentinel (2003) Directed by J.T. Petty

"Well, F***."  Garbageman.

Synopsis of what has gone before: a roach borne disease was killing the children of Manhattan.  Deeming it impossible to control the bugs with conventional methods, a genetically engineered roach uber predator was bred; the Judas Bug.  It worked.  But years later, it was discovered that the bugs had evolved to mimic their only predator, and favorite prey; Man.  They have been stopped from breeding out of control through two movies; the very good Guillermo Del Toro Mimic, and the very bad Jean de Segonzac Mimic 2: Hardshell.

Now, we have a straight to DVD offering from J.T. Petty.

Marvin Montrose (Karl Geary) is one of the last kids infected by the Roach disease, and now he suffers from hypersensitivity to most allergens.  He lives in a controlled environment, almost a bubble boy.  Living a life permanently grounded, Marvin is messed up.  He is geeky, awkward, and entertains himself spying on the neighbors with a telephoto lens.  When he sees the local drug dealer, Desmond (Keith Robinson) attacked, he and his tramp in training sister (unaffected) Rosy (Alexis Dziena) call the police.  Well, no trace is located, but the Detective, Gary Dumars (John Kapelos) does find something of interest; Momma Montrose, Simone (Amanda Plummer).  While he doesn't believe the geeky freaky son, or the perpetually high daughter, he does score with the desperate mother (doesn't she play desperate well?  Such an actress!)

One of the people he spies on is Garbageman (Lance Henriksen).  That is Marvin and Rosy's name for him.  He seems very interested in the nocturnal goings on in the area as well.  And of course, people keep dying.

The Analysis

What you have here is a very interesting concept; take a successful horror movie, (Mimic, in this case) and combine it with a classic movie (Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window) and see what you get.  Well, I'll tell you what you get.

First, The Good.

They completely ignored the second movie.  They took what they wanted from the original, and those were the bugs and the disease that brought them into being.  They also used the bugs wisely, keeping them in the shadows, half seen, blurry silhouettes in the back ground shots, a vague menace.  It is not until very late in the movie that you see them up close and personal. 

There are some good actors in this; Lance Henriksen has the art of understatement down pat.  He acts less, and delivers more.  Ingrid Bergman did that too.  Amanda Plummer is great as a low rent mom of a certain age.  As noted before, few people can play desperate as well as Plummer.

Now, The Bad.

So much depended on the character of Marvin Montrose.  Like Jeff Jefferies, played by James Stewart, the whole movie hinged on him.  Here is the problem.  Jefferies had a broken leg; he was a regular person in extraordinary circumstances.  That was why he was a bored voyeur.  Marvin has lived with this condition his whole life and Karl Geary obviously thought long and hard about how messed up a human being could get, living a life like that.  And he played the heck out of it.  Marvin is nervous, diffident, and socially awkward, with cripplingly low self esteem and horrendous posture.  Geary plays him so well as a neurotic cripple that you cannot make yourself like him.  "Are the bugs going to eat the poor bubble boy in apartment 43?  Well, it might be a blessing if they did, poor thing.  It's not like you could call that living.  And it would be such a burden off his poor mother.  Maybe then she could ride herd on that little tramp she's rearing before she gets totally ruined, with the meth teeth, and the STDs."  You can hear the neighbors talking!

The special effects are pretty darn good; it delivers a decent amount of gore without resorting the "Buckets of Blood" method of many horror sequels.  Low on T&A, also unusual for the genre, and the story does not suck.  Alas, however, the overall performance does.  And really, I will hang this one pretty much on Karl Geary and Alexis Dziena not connecting with the audience and making us care.  Two Stars, maybe a half, but rounded to two.

Recommended: No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age