Mosquito (1994)

A Masterpiece!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

I had absolutely no expectations to this movie, and I still ended up being disappointed."Mosquito" had quite horrible special effects, and I was baffled that the special effects team looked at their finished results and said "yeah, it's good, let's go with this". It was just awful!The characters in the movie were rigid as wood, and had no distinctive personalities. The actors and actresses had very little to work with in terms of script story and characters. Not even Gunnar Hansen could do anything to lift this up. But then again, haven't he only been riding on the success of the Leatherface character?There was absolutely nothing scary about this movie at all. In fact, it is quite hard to believe it was made in 1994.I endured 40 minutes of this ordeal before I gave up from utter boredom.

This is by far the 2nd best made for TV movie I have ever seen (behind Tremors 2). The acting sucks. YES IT DOES. But the effects aren't half bad! The 'paper' mosquito's appear when they attack the RV. I call them 'paper' mosquito's because they look like paper! The clay-mation mosquito's look OK, but they're out of place. But the Robotic mosquito's are GREAT! Such as the mosquito on top of the stove, and when the meteorologist is about to die at the end. I don't know why people say this movie has bad effects.Back to the acting. It's horrid. But only by some people. Gunnar Hansen delivers a fine performance while Ron Asherton is not so well. Not much more I can say.The plot is really...um...strange. The mosquito's grow big because they drink alien blood. Yah. Alien blood. Why not just be effected by a nuclear power plant or something? But an ALIEN? Hmmm....Only 4 people on screen die. But they're great. Blood gushes out. Great stuff. When that one dude gets stabbed in the eye by the mosquito's needle, thats awesome. When Junior's head goes KA-BOOM, that was cool. The gore makes you cringe. And thats a good thing.The music theme. Also horrid. In a bad way. When Rex is running away from the mosquito in the forest, the background music make it seem like its funny. Along when Earl goes down into the basement. It's like violins from a comedy movie. Over all, great movie. Watch it. No, really. Just watch it!

Though it is meant to be a horror it is more the comedy in my eyes, with lines like: "We have to take it with us." "I don't know where your taking it but that thing is not going in my car." "We have to study it" Those how love the bad late night Scifi movies will roll over laughing when they watch this horrible film. The scenes in which people are killed by the bird of prey sized mosquitoes are hilarious in their attempt to be mildly scary. Many who've watched with me say that the usual stereotypical white male and black male roles are reversed in this film.The white leading man tends to want to get far away from the bugs while the black geologist has more of a desire to discover what's going on with the radiation levels.

"Mosquito" is a basic, run-of-the-mill giant insect movie.**SPOILERS**A spaceship flying in outer space drops a load of chemical waste onto Earth, landing near a camper's community. This attracts a group of mosquitoes to the area to feed. While driving through the park, Megan, (Rachel Loiselle) a new Park Ranger and her boyfriend Ray, (Tim Lovelace) hit one of the mosquitoes, which is about the size of a small cow, and take it with them. The new camp where Megan works at is besieged by mosquitoes, so Hendricks, (Ron Asheton) one of the Park Rangers, is said to spray around the edges of the camp to keep the bugs off. This only attracts more mosquitoes, and they attack the people around the campsite. While stuck in a small town waiting for their car to be fixed, Ray and Megan meet Parks, (Steve Dixon) an Air Force meteor chaser, and offers them a ride out of town. While trying to find the Park, Megan, Ray, and Parks meet a group of bank robbers, led by Earl, (Gunnar Hansen). Now convinced they are dealing with giant, bloodthirsty mosquitoes, all of them have to trust their instincts and their gear to beat off the ravenous insects.The Good News: This is another one of those films that the filmmakers say is different from similar movies because they used a different killer insect. Doing this allows you to pretty much guess what's coming next, and that can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your point of view. If you consider it a blessing, your expectations for the film will be more than meet by the surprising amount of action and suspense in the story. There are plenty of mosquito attacks in the film, and they are all a joy to watch. They feature a few pretty suspenseful parts as well. A man runs away from an unseen mosquito and hides behind a tree. As he stands there catching his breath, he begins hearing their buzzing getting louder. He turns around, but they aren't there. Sighing with relief, he turns back in the original direction as a mosquito attacks, from above. Another great scene has Parks heading off by himself to check out a distress call and finding a campsite full of bloodless victims. The sight of so many drugged bodies in one place was something new. Even adding to the enjoyment is old Leatherface himself, as Gunnar Hansen has the main role in the film as a bank-robber caught up in the mix when he and his gang get lost in the same area as the mosquitoes. That also shows the films high level of action. The entire highway chase, where Parks, Megan, Ray and Hendricks capture Earl and his brother moments before the mosquitoes catch them, then flee as the mosquitoes chase them down the highway, repeatedly trying to break in and the humans inside fighting back. This is really action and gore packed, as is the rest of the film. It is a bit gorier than most similar films, and gore hounds will not be disappointed. What really sets the film apart from most of the similar types is the high amount of gun-play in the film. We have lots of shoot-outs with the mosquitoes, and all of them are quite imaginative. The best one is the scene where their camper has overturned and they have to escape into a sewage draining system, but it has four different access paths, so with each person donning a pathway, they fire at the incoming insects, shooting them down one at a time. There is a lot of high impact action in the film.The Bad News: The low budget of the film really shines through, and that hinders the film a lot more than it should. You can tell that the mosquitoes, while really disgusting looking, are only about two or three props used in the scenes. It hampers a film that its main character is so poorly executed. What also hurts it is the apparent cheesiness that permeates the film. It's the same feeling you get that you can't explain, but which you that it is a low-budget film. It has that look to it that simply screams it, but yet it's hard to explain that look. The cheesiness is practically dripping off the screen, with the performers to the events, practically everything says cheesy. I only have to mention that particular highway scene to prove what I mean. There are tons of examples, but that is the most accurate. Also, the film does have a few scenes ripped off from other films. The aforementioned sewage fight is lifted from "Aliens," the ending screams "Night of the Living Dead" so loud, it's a wonder George Romero never sued them for it, and several attacks also remind one of the "The Swarm." The Final Verdict: Even though we have seen this movie before with different insects and a different cast, this is still a pretty good film. It manages to keep you interested with enough action set pieces and attacks, and is something rare for a film like this to do that. The cheesiness will hinder some people from enjoying it, but it still is a good film to check out.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Nudity