John’s Horror Corner: Mosquito (1994), the gory goofy giant insect B-movie for the entomologists out there.

MY CALL: Just plain B-movie fun with silly but decent looking creature effects, a hokey premise, and abundant gross effects. MORE MOVIES LIKE Mosquito: For more insectoid, arachnid and invertebrate horror try The Nest (1988), Slugs (1988), The Bay (2012), Arachnophobia (1990), Ticks (1993), The Fly (1986) and Mimic (1997). The Mist (2007) and The Thing (1982) get a bit more tentacular but have some buggy appeal, and The Thaw (2009), Blue Monkey (1987) and Things (1989) uses totally made up arthropod-like creatures. Also, one shouldn’t overlook the sci-fi action Starship Troopers (1997).

After a space ship drops an escape pod down to Earth, mosquitoes feed on the dead alien passenger’s blood and grow into giant, bloodsucking monsters that massacre a group of campers.

Director Gary Jones (Boogeyman 3, Spiders) delivers the kind of B-movie fun that can only come from goofy giant insects and gross special effects. We enjoy horror fan favorite Gunnar Hansen (Texas Chainsaw 3-D, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Demon Lover) alluding to his chainsaw days, unreasonable entomological knowledge from a random character who identifies the species as Aedes aegypti (a well-studied species), comically blood-drained corpses, and a generally clunky script.

And despite it’s bad movie aura, the creature effects team went to great efforts to reproduce a few somewhat accurate aspects of mosquito morphology (e.g., the unsheathing labium and some of the dorsal thoracic plates covered in setae). A nice surprise for the occasional entomologist horror fan. That said, this film is far from scientifically accurate. LOL.

This may be a cheap direct-to-video flick, but there are some redeeming special effects. We can all relate to having a big bug splatter across our car’s windshield, right? How about a giant five-foot long bug… and it’s loaded with gooey rubber guts! The mosquitoes are basically rubber monsters, but I appreciate the effort and the practical effects a lot. Sometimes they’re depicted using stop-motion, which I also enjoyed—even if a bit clunky. But what’s most important is that we see a lot of them, and they’re always fun to watch! This isn’t your typical “just the claw for the first 60 minutes” creature feature.

They feed on a fisherman after proboscis-stabbing him in the eye, a naked chick stabbing her in the butt, and a guy’s eyes pop out and explode during a feeding attack! Clumsy action, but a joy to watch.

Not just funny because it’s bad, this film brings silly deliberate comedy as park rangers use insecticide foggers on campers and general hokiness. The tone is a lot like Leprechaun (1993) and most monster scenes will provoke a giggle or grin.

I don’t know how I managed to skip this when I was in high school… or college… or basically the last 20 years!