MOSQUITO MAN

A deadly epidemic is raging in the city, taking the lives of millions of people; the cause of everything seems to be linked to the bite of certain particular mosquitoes. To remedy the situation, a team of scientists is manipulating the DNA of a selected sample of mosquitoes in order to create an antigen capable of fighting the advance of the virus. A dangerous criminal, Ray Erikson, is brought to the laboratories to serve as a guinea pig for the antigen obtained, but during the transport everything does not go as planned and, shortly after accessing the laboratories, Ray Erikson manages to free himself and, in his attempt to escape, ends up a victim of an explosion that will subject his body to an excessive amount of antigen. Erikson survives the explosion but in a short time his body will undergo a rapid metamorphosis ready to generate a revolting creature half man and half mosquito, a creature ready to wander through the city's underbelly to satisfy its insatiable thirst for blood. The Nu Image, famous production company of cinematic, television, and direct-to-video films, has returned to the attack and after having "enchanted" us with films of medium-low quality distributed in our video stores all at rather recent times, it offers us its latest work, "Mosquitoman". But in reality, "Mosquitoman" (also known as "Mansquito") is only the last work arrived on our market (and with a considerable delay) of that package of films that Nu Image produced between 2004 and 2005, a package of films that included titles such as "Snakeman", "Sharkman", "Skeletonman" and "Metamorphosis". So, after having admired the majestic serpent deities, the fiercest man-sharks and the slimy parasites ready to nest inside the livestock, it is the turn to offer the scene to a flying creature half man and half mosquito, a bloodthirsty creature that can be tranquilly and ironically considered as the evolution of the dreaded tiger mosquito. Once again, what Nu Image offers us is an innocuous little theater of few pretensions that does not set any goal other than to entertain the viewer in front of the TV for about ninety minutes. A product, therefore, not too different in intentions from all the previous productions signed by the same production company. Yet, despite the obvious limits present throughout the entire running time, "Mosquitoman" manages to be a highly enjoyable product and capable of standing out significantly from all its "colleagues". What we have in our hands is an honest B-movie, a film made with few means, a handful of unoriginal ideas and even rich in somewhat "silly" sequences; the fact is that, however, it still manages to convince and fascinate the viewer who, letting himself be carried away by the naivety that is at the base of the project, will tend to overlook the flaws (which exist) to notice and appreciate the many positive aspects. The story certainly cannot represent the strong point of the film as it only generates a collage of situations already seen on more than one occasion: it starts with a story that closely resembles "Mimic" by Guillermo Del Toro (the epidemic that spreads, the genetically modified mosquitoes to fight the virus they themselves carry), it moves on to more classic situations typical of "The Fly" by Cronenberg to end, then, in more "police" situations that seem to have come straight from the archives of "Detective Stone". Nothing original, therefore, so a key role is played by the screenplay capable of maintaining, from start to finish, a high pace and capable of blending with great skill the police genre with the more classic monster-movies. Part of the film's success undoubtedly goes to the brilliant idea of wanting to evoke, more or less intentionally but nevertheless evident, the old B-movies typical of the 1980s decade, those films, that is, which, while staging naive stories with meager means, still managed, thanks to their carefreeness, to find a way to enchant and entertain the viewer. It is impossible, in fact, to watch "Mosquitoman" without the thought returning to light but pleasant films like "Alterazione Genetica" and "DNA: Formula Letale" that our L. Montefiori directed in 1990 (just to name a couple). To increase the nostalgic tone towards the 1980s contribute the tasty special effects made, for the most part, with nice rubber costumes and latex prosthetics rather than modern and always poorly accepted CGI effects; here then that the man-mosquito, ready to enter the scene from the first minutes of the film, will be made almost exclusively with genuine old-style tricks and only rarely with (botched) computer graphic effects. Horror fans who hide a weakness for gore and splatter will also have something to rejoice about, as "Mosquitoman", particularly in the memorable final sequence inside the hospital, will leave fertile ground for severed limbs, decapitated heads and torn bodies. In this latest work of Nu Image, the direction is in the hands of a veteran of horror cinema, Tibor Takács ("Don't Open That Gate", "Alone in That House"), who, while performing his task in a sober manner, directs everything with a somewhat overly accentuated television tone. Mediocre the acting department composed of little-known actors, many of whom come from television series, who are not always convincing and up to the task. In short, at the base of this "Mosquitoman" there are few pretensions, few original ideas but many elements that will make the joy of that viewer who is about to watch a film only to pass a hour and a half of his life serenely.