Mimic

"For thousands of years, man has been evolution's greatest creation... until now."

1997 1h 45m EN

😐

6.1

MID

★6.1TMDB · 1,320

HorrorScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A disease carried by common cockroaches is killing Manhattan children. In an effort to stop the epidemic an entomologist, Susan Tyler, creates a mutant breed of insect that secretes a fluid to kill the roaches. This mutant breed was engineered to die after one generation, but three years later Susan finds out that the species has survived and evolved into a large, gruesome monster that can mimic human form.

“For thousands of years, man has been evolution's greatest creation... until now.”

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Cast

Mira Sorvino
Susan Tyler
Jeremy Northam
Peter Mann
Giancarlo Giannini
Manny
Charles S. Dutton
Leonard
Josh Brolin
Josh
Alexander Goodwin
Chuy
Alix Koromzay
Remy
F. Murray Abraham
Dr. Gates

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Guillermo del Toro
Writers: Matthew Robbins, Guillermo del Toro, Donald A. Wollheim
Languages: English, Italian, Mandarin
Countries: United States of America, Canada

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 85% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

29 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Italian, Mandarin.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Canada.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Mimic Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Guillermo del Toro, shot by Dan Laustsen. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Marco Beltrami. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Patrick Lussier shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Guillermo del Toro directs. Dan Laustsen behind the camera. Marco Beltrami scores. Patrick Lussier cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America, Canada. Dialogue in English, Italian, Mandarin.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 85% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
229 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Italian, Mandarin.
4International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Canada.
5Part of the "Mimic Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Guillermo del Toro, shot by Dan Laustsen. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Marco Beltrami. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Patrick Lussier shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Mira Sorvino and Jeremy Northam and Giancarlo Giannini carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "For thousands of years, man has been evolution's greatest creation... until now.".
11IMDB entry: tt0119675 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 17 themes, including "experiment", "insect", "mutation", "cockroach".

The technical file

Cinematography: Dan Laustsen
Original score: Marco Beltrami
Editing: Patrick Lussier
Production design: Carol Spier
Costume design: Marie-Sylvie Deveau
Makeup / hair: Donald Mowat
VFX supervisor: Brian Jennings
Sound: Lora Hirschberg
Stunt coordinator: Branko Racki
Runtime: 105 min · 1h 45m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $30,000,000
Box office: $25,480,490
Return: 85% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Mimic (1997)

Part of

Mimic Collection

Mimic 3 Movie Collection

Also by

Guillermo del Toro

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Kamurai2021-07-10
★ 8/10
Really good watch, will watch again, and do recommend. This is "the movie with bugs that look like people", there aren't a lot of unique ideas out there, so I like celebrating the ones I can point too. While the cast and acting was really good, what makes this is the concept, the atmospheric tension and the practical efforts for the monsters. This is about as close as you can get to being thrown into a termite hive without Rick Moranis or Hank Pym shrinking fools down. Sometimes it is fun to see a pre-apocalyptic story instead of one where the world is already ruined by calamity.
CinemaSerf2022-09-08
★ 6/10
This is quite an entertaining little sci-fi thriller about a worm that turned! "Tyler" (Mira Sorvino) is a distinguished scientist who created a bug that could kill cockroaches that were carriers for a deadly disease. Thing is, though, these super-bugs have started to get a bit out of control, and it isn't long before they decide that it's time to turn the tables on their creators - despite some supposedly limiting genetic engineering developed to inhibit precisely that! People are quite literally dropping like flies, so she and "Peter" (Jeremy Northam) have to come up with a solution before mankind gets gobbled up in a particularly gruesome manner. Sure, the acting and the dialogue are all pretty routine, but the visual effects have something of "The Fly" (1986) to them, as does the story and there is less frenetic panic in this that we see in many other films of this genre. Dare I say, there is even the merest hint of actual science. It is clearly sending us a message that however we may try to plan ahead for any eventuality, when survival of a species is at stake nature finds a way to get round even the most watertight of safety features. The ending smacks very much of sequel, but I doubt that will be able to develop the story much beyond the perfectly adequate conclusion offered here. It's fine to watch on the telly, but you are unlikely to recall it for long afterwards.