Written by: Sam Santiago
When most people talk about 90s horror, the conversation usually goes exactly where you'd expect it to. "Scream", "The Craft", "The Crow", "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Sure, they're all classics in their own right, but here's the thing: those films were only a small part of what made the decade so special. Just so we're clear, in this new column, none of those aforementioned films will be discussed. Sorry, ya weirdos, but they've been talked about TO DEATH.
Long before streaming algorithms told us what to watch, horror fans discovered movies the old-fashioned way. We wandered through video store aisles, judging films by their cover art and renting whatever looked like it might melt our brains for 90 minutes. Other times, you stayed up late trying to see what was on late-night TV while the folks were asleep, and you'd find some amazingly shocking and life-changing movies on Cable. Sometimes you struck gold. Other times, you got something even better, films that are seared into your brain like a bad memory...or in this case, an amazing memory.
You got 1994s, "MOSQUITO".
"MOSQUITO" is one of those films that perfectly captures everything that made direct-to-video horror so much fun. We're not pulling punches when we say this flick is weird, it's over-the-top, it's packed with practical effects, and it feels like it was made by people who wanted to entertain horror fans. So naturally, we fell in love the first time we stumbled across it one late night while watching the USA Network on cable. The film actually had it's premier in July 1995. We distinctly remember seeing it in 1996 or 1997 on TV first before we rented the hell out of the VHS tape.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
The premise is wonderfully ridiculous. An alien spacecraft crashes in the woods. Mosquitoes feed on the extraterrestrial blood. The insects mutate into giant flying monsters and begin feasting on anything unfortunate enough to cross their path. That's the entire setup, and it's perfect. No trauma-induced terror here. No crappy stories based on childhood trauma, or the loss of a loved one, or whatever modern horror trope you see today. NUH UH, NOT UP IN HERE! No complicated mythology. No twenty-minute exposition dump. No attempts to explain every little detail. Just giant killer mosquitoes and a body count. People were getting sucked up like a bad Thailand brothel. We couldn't ask for more...maybe a sequel...but that's besides the point.
WATCH THE ORIGINAL TRAILER FOR "MOSQUITO" BELOW
OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: After an alien spaceship crashes in a secluded park, hungry mosquitoes swarm around the dying aliens. Megan (Rachel Loiselle), a rookie park ranger, and her boyfriend, Ray (Tim Lovelace), are camping in the same park when they make a terrifying discovery: the mosquitoes have undergone a genetic mutation and transformed into enormous, deadly creatures. Megan and Ray team up with a clumsy park ranger (Ron Asheton) and a mysterious survivalist (Gunnar Hansen) to defeat the insects.
(Official synopsis used from Director Gary Jones website, Mosquito Productions)
What makes "Mosquito" stand out isn't its story. It's the energy behind it. The film embraces its absurd premise with both arms and never once apologizes for it. Watching "Mosquito" today feels like discovering some forgotten cousin of "Evil Dead". The characters are constantly fighting for survival against impossible odds. The gore is plentiful. The practical effects are front and center. The whole thing has that chaotic, independent-horror spirit that made low-budget genre filmmaking so exciting in the 90s.
THE MAN WITH THE CHAINSAW
Then there's Gunnar Hansen. Yes, Leatherface himself from Tobe Hooper's 1974 classic "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." With Hansen on board, that's probably all the convincing you need. And because the universe occasionally rewards good behavior, "Mosquito" eventually puts an absolutely massive chainsaw into Hansen's hands. Not a normal chainsaw. Not a practical chainsaw. A chainsaw so absurdly oversized that it looks like it was specifically designed to battle giant insects or be made specifically for the giant of a man Hansen was. (Gunnar sadly passed away on November 7, 2015)
It's truly a glorious bit of movie madness that sticks with you and makes you cackle in delight. It's the kind of moment that could only happen in a movie like this.
THE MONSTERS TRULY DO SUCK
The practical effects deserve a lot of credit, too. This was a time before every creature feature relied on questionable CGI. The giant mosquitoes feel like something taken out of "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids." They're messy, slimy, and all too real. You can tell some major effort went into bringing these creatures to life, and that craftsmanship still shines through decades later.
Another cool aspect of this film is that the director, Gary Jones, was actually Special Effects Supervisor and Creature & Makeup Effects Supervisor on the production. The dude wore a lot of hats and you can tell this was a serious passion project for the director at the time. Hell, he ended up naming is production company Mosquito Entertainment.
Maybe that's why films like "Mosquito" continue to find new audiences. They remind us of a different era. An era when horror was allowed to be strange. An era when filmmakers could take a completely ridiculous concept and turn it into something memorable through creativity, enthusiasm, and a healthy amount of fake blood. A time when randomness and being in the wrong place and the wrong time was all that was needed for a great creature feature. That's really what this series is all about. Not the films everybody remembers. The films hiding behind them. The movie behind the movie if you will (For you "SWINGERS" fans, you get the deal.)
You know what we mean, movies sitting on the lower shelf of the video store while everyone fought over the latest blockbuster release. The forgotten creature features, sci-fi oddities, and direct-to-video nightmares that helped shape horror fandom for an entire generation. Because for every "Scream", there was a Mosquito. Now, don't get us wrong, as we come to our conclusion here. Ghostface is our boy, and Wes Craven brought back the "Slasher" genre with its release. We just love this flick so much and "Mosquito" sticks with us because of all the above reasons and more.
WHERE TO WATCH
There really isn't a bad time to watch a flick like "Mosquito" and now, thanks to modern tech and companies that know 90s horror is big business, you can get your hands on this movie to add to your collection as Synapse Films released it a few years back for it's 20th anniversary.
Synapse gave the cult creature feature its first high definition release and loaded it with special features including a commentary track, a making-of documentary, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes footage, and reversible cover art, we had to have it, naturally.
As a side note, Mosquito has quietly become one of those cult creature features that horror fans seem to rediscover every few years. Between the practical effects, Gunnar Hansen wielding a chainsaw, Ron Asheton from The Stooges, and giant mutant mosquitoes the size of vultures, it's exactly the kind of 1990s video store gem that feels right at home on Shudder. We still prefer physical media but hey, you do you, boo.
FINAL WORD
At the end of the day, "Mosquito" is exactly the kind of movie this column was created to celebrate. Sure, it's not going to show up on many "Greatest Horror Films of All Time" lists. It's never going to get the same level of attention as "Scream" or "The Blair Witch Project." That's fine. Those films have had their flowers. This column is about the movies that horror fans discovered by accident while wandering through the video store or flipping channels late at night.
The movies that felt like they belonged to us...because, for a short time, they did and with every re-watch, we miss those days more and more.
Maybe that's why "Mosquito" still works all these years later. There isn't an ounce of cynicism in it. Nobody involved was trying to launch a cinematic universe or set up six sequels. They had a crazy idea about giant bloodsucking insects, gathered some talented people together, covered everything in gore, and let the madness unfold.
We miss horror movies that weren't afraid to be fun. Most of all, we miss the feeling of discovering a movie like "Mosquito" completely by accident and immediately wanting to tell every horror fan we knew about it. So if you've never seen this one, fix that immediately.
Fire up Shudder or track down that gorgeous Synapse Blu-ray and give it a watch. We have a feeling you'll be wondering where this movie has been hiding your entire life. Because for every horror classic that everybody remembers, there's a movie like "Mosquito" waiting in the shadows, giant stinger and all.
Next week, we take a look at the 1995 film "THE PROPHECY" with Christopher Walken and a very young, pre Aragon and that pesky ring, Vigo Mortensen as Satan. Don't miss it and we'll see ya back in the video store next time!
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