Mimic (1997) on Netflix
Cockroaches spread a disease killing Manhattan's children. Entomologist Susan Tyler engineers an insect to destroy the roaches, designed to die within a generation. Three years on, people vanish.
- Netflix2.2/5
- IMDb6.0/1060,727 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes64%
Trailer
Plot summary
A disease carried by ordinary cockroaches is killing children across Manhattan, and no cure can be found. The CDC official Peter Mann brings in the entomologist Susan Tyler, who builds the Judas breed by crossing a mantis with a termite; it releases an enzyme that speeds the roaches' metabolism so they starve. Every specimen she releases is female and has a six-month lifespan, so the breed should die within one generation. The cockroaches vanish and the children recover. Three years later, mutilated bodies turn up, and the people who live in the tunnels beneath Manhattan speak of giant insects that take human form. Peter and Susan are sent back to investigate.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Mimic (1997)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Harvey Weinstein thought the film was not scary enough, stormed onto the Toronto set to instruct Guillermo del Toro on "how to direct a movie", and then tried to have him fired. Star Mira Sorvino intervened, Weinstein backed down, and del Toro finished the shoot.
- Del Toro wrote the shoe-shiner Manny for Federico Luppi, star of his debut Cronos, but Luppi's English pronunciation was not good enough and the role went to Giancarlo Giannini. Del Toro later said what he missed most about Spanish-language work was directing Luppi.
- Mimic began as a 30-minute short, one of three meant to be screened together. It was stretched into a feature, as was Impostor; the third, Alien Love Triangle, stayed a short and has never been released publicly.
- The South Korean director Bong Joon-ho has named Mimic as one of the inspirations for his own creature film, The Host, released in 2006.
- Mimic gave Norman Reedus his first role in a major studio film. He shot it after the independent picture Floating and before Six Ways to Sunday, both released the same year.
