History Film / Mimic

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler: Subverted: Two kids are horribly slaughtered by warrior bugs when they find and try to mess around with a cocoon.]]

** Insecta is a class, not a phylum.

'''''Mimic''''' (1997) is an American sci-fi/{{horror}} film by GuillermoDelToro, inspired by a short story of the same name by Donald A. Wollheim.

* TheyCanLookLikeUs: The giant mantis/termite hybrids may not have a perfect disguise, but if you're in poor lighting and not paying attention, they look a ''lot'' like a tall man in a trenchcoat.

** Termites have kings ''and'' queens, but the giant roaches seem to have the former without the benefit of the (much more important) latter.

'''''Mimic''''' (1997) is an American sci-fi /{{horror}} film by GuillermoDelToro, inspired by a short story of the same name by Donald A. Wollheim.

'''''Mimic''''' (1997) is an American sci-fi / {{horror}} / slasher film by GuillermoDelToro, inspired by a short story of the same name by Donald A. Wollheim.

* TheDeterminator: The human-sized Judas Breed. In the second movie, the resident jock brandishes a blade torn from a paper cutter and a leg severed from a bug, suggesting they should attempt to fight their way to safety with improvised weapons, only to embarrassingly upstaged by the resident geek pointing out that, yeah, he's strong enough to chop off a bug's head - that just means it will die of thirst in about a week. Humans like themselves will be long dead as the reflex action of the bug's body will have shredded them. In the first movie, a bug takes [[MoreDakka a full clip from a semiauto pistol]] ''after'' being '''[[WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody sliced in half by a sliding door]]''' and '''''still''''' manages to scurry out of sight after maiming the shooter. In short, the bugs can only be killed by the equivalent of being [[NoKillLikeOverkill crushed to paste]] - like being hit by speeding subway trains or incinerated with high explosives.

Although del Toro was unhappy with the film as released, it includes several examples of his most characteristic hallmarks. "I have a sort of a fetish for insects, clockwork, monsters, dark places, and unborn things," said del Toro, and this is evident in Mimic, where at times all are combined in long, brooding shots of dark, cluttered, muddy chaotic spaces. According to Alfonso Cuaron, del Toro's friend and colleague, "with Guillermo the shots are almost mathematical ? everything is planned.? That feature is evident too in Mimic, in the photography, most notably in the brooding shots described above and especially in the set design.

** Justified with the survivor kid at the end; he [[spoiler:figures out how to mimic the bugs' clicking communication with his spoons, so the bugs accept him as one of them.]]

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler: Subverted: Two kids are horribly slaughtered by warrior bugs when they find and try to mess around with a cocoon.]] Played straight with the survivor kid at the end.

** Insects cannot grow as large as humans, their body structure just doesn't work at that size.
*** This is HandWaved by a character - he outright states that bugs ''shouldn't'' be able to grow that size because they don't have lungs... but these ones evolved lungs...
*** Still doesn't get around the molting problem, or the lack of an efficient vascular system to distribute oxygen from the lungs.

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler: Subverted: two kids are horribly slaughtered.]] Played straight with the survivor kid at the end.

* TheDanza: Josh Brolin

* ExecutiveMeddling: ... we're sorry.
** WordOfGod says del Toro agreed to do this film on three conditions: no guns, no big explosions, no happy ending. Guess what the final film has.

* FauxSymbolism: The roaches are called the Judas Breed, and there's some Christian imagery scattered across the first movie -- but it doesn't amount to much in terms of meaning, and is probably there because del Toro likes creepy religious imagery (see ''{{Cronos}}'').

''{{Mimic}}'' was followed by two {{Direct To Video}} sequels, ''Mimic 2'' (2001) and ''Mimic 3: Sentinel'' (2003). In 2011, a "Director's Cut" was released on Blu-Ray.

* RecycledINSPACE: ''{{Mimic}} 3'' is ''RearWindow'' [-WITH GIANT GENETICALLY ENGINEERED HUMAN-MIMICKING BUGS!-]

''{{Mimic}}'' (1997) is an American sci-fi / {{horror}} / slasher film by GuillermoDelToro, inspired by a short story of the same name by Donald A. Wollheim.

* TheDeterminator: The human-sized Judas Breed. In the second movie, the resident jock brandishes a blade torn from a paper cutter and a leg severed from a bug, suggesting they should attempt to fight their way to safety with improvised weapons, only to embarrassingly upstaged by the resident geek pointing out that, yeah, he's strong enough to chop off a bug's head - that just means it will die of thirst in about a week. Humans like themselves will be long dead as the reflex action of the bug's body will have shredded them. In the first movie, a bug takes [[MoreDakka a full clip from a semiauto pistol]] ''after'' being '''[[CleanCut sliced in half by a sliding door]]''' and '''''still''''' manages to scurry out of sight after maiming the shooter. In short, the bugs can only be killed by the equivalent of being [[NoKillLikeOverkill crushed to paste]] - like being hit by speeding subway trains or incinerated with high explosives.

* [=~Recycled IN SPACE!~=]: ''{{Mimic}} 3'' is ''RearWindow'' [-WITH GIANT GENETICALLY ENGINEERED HUMAN-MIMICKING BUGS!-]

* TheDanza: Josh Brolin, who plays Josh in the first movie.