HorrorA-Day: Mimic 2 - Hardshell

As Halloween draws ever closer, I have found at least one more shorts day in the season. I guess those few frosty mornings were just a tease. The consistently chilled weather is coming, it is right around the corner and soon enough I will be complaining about cold weather and I will be ready for the warmth of spring. But I am getting ahead of myself. This season has also allowed me to discover a few movies, some new, some old, some good, some bad, and there is still some time left. Hopefully, I will get back on a good role.



In 1997 Guillermo Del Toro made his English language debut with a little movie called Mimic. I was a quiet, unassuming little monster movie that saw Mira sorting take on giant cockroaches that could disguise themselves as human. It was a pretty good movie and gave us our first glimpse at the talents of Del Toro. As is the case with movies like this, there are always thoughts of sequels. These are not always good ideas.

In the case of Mimic, it took four years for a sequel to show up. It landed directly on home video in 2001 and is called Mimic 2: Hardshell. I have to say, the title alone makes me chuckle. Now the movie it contains in its brief 78-minutes is not a good one. It is a flashy in a bad way excursion into cockroach on human action. It is almost like the director, Jean de Segonzac, fell in love with a flashy video style and failed to realize the story was lacking. Or, perhaps that is why he over flashed it?

The story centers on a minor character from the first movie, a character I forgot was even there, Remi Pamps (Alix Korozmy). She is a school teacher and specializes in bugs (of course), and she is being stalked by a mimic. People are being killed and their faces being ripped off, and the murders lead the police to look right at her. The deaths all make her look at her failed romantic life and then the confrontation gets more direct. The big gets Remi tapped in the school building and goes after her. Military show up and bugs get killed, or squished, and for some reason here is a dirt filled suitcase filled with small mimic bugs. However, the suitcase gets dropped pretty quick.

The movie never really grabbed me. Korozmy never really takes command as the main character of the movie. She just didn't quite have the charisma. There is also the fact that the story seems half backed and incomplete. Some plot points either get dropped or ever mentioned at all. Before long I just stopped caring and just watched as we saw all manner of color filters, stutter motion, and trick shots as it tries to keep my attention.

Hardshell pales next to the surprisingly strong first film. As it stands, the details are already draining from my mind and I have no desire to revisit it.

Not Recommended.