The original Mimic which was released in 1997, was a moderate theatrical success for Dimension Films. I'm assuming that there was enough interest (and dollars) within the franchise to spawn two sequels, because here we are. The premise was somewhat interesting and they had a promising new director at the time of the original in Guillermo del Toro, hot off the success of his critically acclaimed indie flick Cronos. In continuing the trend of exploiting young talent, Dimension gave the responsibility of writing and directing the third Mimic film to J.T. Petty, director of Soft For Digging, a 6,000 student film that impressed the hell out of me at last years Philly Film Festival. The result, is Mimic: Sentinel, a direct to video cräppenfest that for some reason is making the film festival circuit - first stop, Philadelphia PA. It may be above and beyond a lot of the other direct to video fare that we have to deal with in comparison but unfortunately not by much.

From what I understand, the second Mimic isn't even accounted for within the timetable of Mimic: Sentinel. I guess this is a good thing, because I've never seen the second in the series. From what I do remember about the original, the story centers around geneteticaly mutated roaches that are designed to rid the streets of a more dangerous disease carrying roach only to then die themselves. Are ya with me so far? Well, in any event, things go wrong, and these genetically mutated roaches grow into abnormal size roaches and are able to "mimic" humans, plus they're also thirsty for blood. I'm hoping that this makes sense to SOMEONE out there, please?

Mimic: Sentinel takes place almost entirely in on apartment complex and the surrounding city block. Marvin (Karl Geary) is a young man confined to his room, like the boy in the plastic bubble. His disease isn't as severe, as people can come and go as they please into his room, he just can't go out. He's highly susceptible to impurities, like perfume or cigarette smoke and is highly asthmatic as well. He spends most of his time taking pictures of his neighbors, spying on them a la Rear Window style. Nearly every aspect of this film can be seen as a direct take on the Rear Window story. It's not nearly as annoying as one would expect either, it's actually handled quite well and never comes across as pretentious or over comical. There's only one self-referential horror quip that I counted so props for sparing us in that department.

Marvin suspects that something fishy is going on down below (pardon that pun!) and has his perky and very excitable sister (the super cute Alexis Dziena) and a neighbor girl (Rebecca Mader) investigate for him. What they don't realize is that the neighborhood has been taken under siege by at least one mimic (it's never clear as to how many mimics there actually are) and once said mimic gets all mimicky on the apt complex, things don't look good for its inhabitants.

Once things get rolling there's a fair amount of action in Mimic: Sentinel and the computer effects while mostly cheap and unconvincing don't detract too much because of the low light situation they're viewed under. There are a few gore effects, but nothing that I'd say would put Mimic above a PG 13 or a very soft R depending on the mood of the MPAA on that particular day. The scenes in which the Mimic pounds away on its victims, while fairly ruthless flash by so quick, it's pretty hard to determine exactly what's going on.

Performances are OK, but mostly uneventful. Of note are the brief appearances of Amanda Plummer as "mom" and Lance Henriksen as The Garbage Man a neighbor who could either be friend or foe to the young kids trying to defeat the nasty mimics. These folks pretty much sleepwalk through their roles and didn't really have enough screen time to lead me to believe that they were there for anything more than a quick couple of bucks and a credit.

J.T. Petty once again proves he certainly does have an eye for the camera, and given the right material, could probably make an impressive scare flick. I don't know how much input the studio had in this one, but I'd be willing to wager that Petty didn't have complete free reign. Last I heard Mimic: Sentinel is going straight to video, which is a real shame. Not because it's such a great flick, but simply because Petty deserves much better than this. Despite it all, Petty is still one to keep an eye out for, and I look forward to what he has in store for us next.

Thumbs Down - For J.T. Petty or Mimic completists only.