When an alien ship crash lands near a forest marsh, the local mosquito population mutates and becomes giant, dog-sized bloodsuckers that attack camp-goers with an extreme intent to kill. A group of park rangers, scientists, and bandits must find their nest and destroy the mosquitos before they spread to the city.
So Mosquito has been on my Shudder watchlist for a while now; the other night I thought eh, why not give it a try? I was anything but disappointed! Usually with these types of movies, I can tell they’re going to be bad and will mentally check out halfway through the movie, sometimes not even finishing it. Not here! From the beginning, I was wooed by the bad-but-actually-good acting and SUPERB creature effects.
Seriously. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I definitely was not prepared for the level of quality mosquito monsters here. They’re huge and menacing. They’re literally dripping with gross alien fluids with blood pumping through their bodies. They’re scary! I distinctly remember thinking of what it would be like to film with them, and how easy it would be to forget they’re fake. Kudos to those actors!
Then, the deaths are on par with the mosquitos. Check out this death scene here.
Yup. Amazing work brought to you by a mix of stop motion and puppetry — practical effects, just as nature intended.
Besides incredible effects, Mosquito also has some stars among its cast, most notably Gunnar Hansen as Earl, the lead bank robber, and Ron Asheton as Hendricks the Park Ranger.
Now, no movie is perfect and there are some gripes I have with it. For those not thinking a 90s movie about giant mosquitos could be campy, I’ve got bad news for you. With lines such as “You… are living… in science fact!” and “Damnnnn straight,” there’s bound to be some laughably bad story/acting to accompany it. For me, it was a plus. Then, there is one animation of a group of mosquitos flying in to attack the cast, and it just doesn’t compare to the amazing effects we had grown accustomed to up until this point (it does return it its original awesomeness shortly thereafter though).
Despite Mosquito not taking itself too seriously, it’s a memorable B-movie with extraordinary effects and matching skill in keeping the audience entertained. For a movie I swore would suck, I am so delighted to have seen it. I can assure you that I was even quoting the film for a long while after. Mosquito is fun and deceptively scary, especially if you have a thing for creepy crawlers.
Oh, and one girl gets stabbed in the butt, so there’s that.
What did you think of Mosquito? Let us know in the comments!
