Mosquito Man



AKA: Mansquito

The Gillan Virus, a mosquito borne disease sweeping the globe, is currently so bad that it makes West Nile look like a head cold. Dr. Jennifer Allen is currently working at a high tech lab looking for a cure, and she thinks she’s found it by using a radioactive material to alter the bugs biology so that the virus can’t be spread. The initial results are promising, but the only problem is that they haven’t yet had a chance to do any human testing.

Enter Ray Erikson, a convicted serial killer who has been sent to the lab after agreeing to scientific testing in order to reduce his prison sentence. Except when Ray gets there he decides that instead of being a guinea pig now would be the perfect time to stage an escape attempt. But unfortunately for old Ray things don’t go according to plan, and instead of escaping he winds up with a hostage, barricaded in the lab. The resulting gun battle causes the experimental tank to explode, and Ray gets covered in all the radioactive bug-goop. He manages to get away during the ensuing chaos, but his victory is short-lived when he realizes he’s starting to quickly turn into a giant bug…One with a strong desire for blood. So now it’s up to Dr. Allen and her detective boyfriend to try to stop the blood-sucking menace before the situation gets any worse.


Hint: But of course, it gets worse.

Hey, look! I found another movie directed by Tibor Takács! That’s the same guy who did The Gate, I, Madman, and The Gate II and I liked those (well, I liked two of those). Surely that’s a good sig—…. Oh, what’s that you say? After that last one he moved on to TV projects and this is actually a Made-for-TV movie he did for the SyFy channel? Well that’s…a bummer. I’m starting to think that maybe it might be a good idea for me to start doing a modicum of research about the movies I’m about to watch before I watch them. You know, for my own sanity…

But disappointment aside, this one isn’t actually all that bad for Made-for-TV fare. Sure, it’s still decidedly mediocre, but it does have a few points in its favor.



For starters, it has a decent cast with the likes of Corin Nemec as Lieutenant Tom Randall, and Musetta Vander as Dr. Allen. They’re not going to knock anyone’s socks off with their acting ability or anything, cause this just ain’t that kind of movie. But they are perfectly capable and believable in their roles, and pleasing to look at to boot. The side characters however are…not quite so capable. But most of them are regulated to slaughter fodder anyway, so that’s really not all that surprising.



The gore hounds should also be pretty happy with this one, because the movie seems to have had a fairly decent blood budget, judging by its liberal use throughout the picture. People are getting gouged constantly, there’s blood spray, disembodied limbs galore, and one poor schmuck gets part of his head sliced off. Hell, there’s even an explosion (cool). It’s really a surprisingly messy movie all things considered, and while the vast majority of it is contained to one particular scene, the violence is spaced out throughout the film, guaranteeing you’re not going to go too long without some amount of blood showing up on screen.



Then there’s the bug costume, which actually looks pretty slick. Yeah, it’s just a guy wearing a giant rubber suit, but you know what, it’s a good rubber suit. It’s not nearly as impressive as what you’re going to see in something like The Fly, but for a TV movie it’s pretty damn good. The design is creepy and imposing, they make sure it’s constantly covered in some kind of slimy substance to make it look extra icky, and it has moving parts in it’s face, so it actually looks kinda life-like instead of just being a dull, static mask. So while it may not be perfect, it’s still pretty impressive.



On the downside though, there are two major flaws. The first is that the story is just disappointingly predictable. The movie is clearly aping a dozen or so ideas from other monster movies, most notably The Fly, so there really isn’t anything new to see here. I doubt anyone familiar with movies like these won’t be able to predict just about all the plot beats well before they’re introduced, let alone before they ever happen. And to top it off most of the accompanying dialogue is almost as cringingly bad. Although that does mean that there are a couple of very amusing, extra stupid standouts, like the Mosquito Man’s girlfriend watching him writhing around during his transformation scene, crying and begging at him not to transform instead of, you know, running the hell away as the dude turns into a giant bug…and then just laying there while saying “no” , but still making no effort to get away before he eats her. I’m not the kind of person who likes calling people “born victims”, but this chick…


It wouldn’t surprise me if her picture was featured on the Wikipedia entry.

And the final nail in the movie’s “meh” coffin is the film’s horrible, horrible special effects. The practical effects? They’re fine. Good even. But things like the ‘transformation scene’ and the scenes where the Mosquito Man is flying were all done with CGI. And since this was a Made-for-TV movie from 2005 you know it’s really, really crappy CGI. I’ll admit that some of it’s not too bad, at least when it’s used really quickly or in moderation. But the vast majority of it is… It’s just awful. I can almost guarantee you will cringe your way through 95% of it. It’s the kind of stuff you want to show all those pretentious visual effects nerds when they start whining about some of the “embarrassing” special effects they saw in any of today’s recent blockbusters. Like, oh you sweet summer child, you have no appreciation for what truly “crappy” really looks like.


“oH mY GaWd! THaT eXplOsIoN wAs So fAkE!”
Shut your damn mouth, Todd. You have no idea what I’ve suffered through.

So yeah, Mosquito Man, or “Mansquito” as the movie cringingly states towards the film’s climax (I’m almost embarrassed for whoever came out with that), is just…okay. The plot may be predictable and dumb, and the special effects may be painful, but it looks decent enough, the acting is good and it’s excellently paced so that you’re never bored. In fact, predictable though it may be, it actually kinda feels like a nod to the ridiculous monster movies of yore, and if you look at it that way, and can appreciate those films, then you’ll probably have some fun with this one. It’s certainly not the worst thing SyFy has put out (not even close). But if you’re looking for a more “serious” monster movie, then you’re definitely going to want to look elsewhere. Especially if you’re any kind of bug aficionado, because the glaring inaccuracies (only the female mosquitoes drink blood) are really going to irk you.

Mosquito Man is available on a variety of streaming services.

Mosquito Man is also available on DVD, but good luck finding it. Based on some of the listed prices I’m guessing it’s out of print.

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