Mimic 3 opens with an establishing shot of the New Jersey shore overlooking Manhattan. It seems this story will occur in a New Jersey city, but once we see the depressing building courtyard, I immediately thought, "Hey, New Jersey sure looks a lot like Eastern Europe." And sure enough, the end credits reveal the film was shot in Bucharest, Romania.

That's okay, except that it looks like Eastern Europe, not New Jersey.

The story is very "small." All the action occurs in one apartment and the couryard it overlooks. (Oh yeah, we also see some people in the other apartment windows.) Only a few actors, and a couple of Judas Priest bugs. I suppose some find the film "clautrophobic" or "grungy" but I just found it small and cheap.

The whole film is an hour and 12 minutes long. That's a movie? (Claims to be 76 minutes, but four minutes are end credits).

The story is a Rear Window ripoff, except that Mimic 3 acknowledges it. The sickly character (who can't leave his room) says, "I saw the movie," implicitly refering to Rear WIndow. Essentially, the sickly character sees Judas Priest bugs killing people in the courtyard, but at first no one believes him. In the end, the bugs come to his apartment, and there's some more violence.

No-name actors, aside from supporting roles for Lance Henricksen and Amanda Plummer, who probably each shot their scenes in a couple of days.

I don't see how anyone can understand this film unless they've first seen Mimic, since the back story isn't much explained. Newcomers to the Mimic series may wonder where all those giant bugs came from.

This is an okay film for hardcore horror fans and horror completists, but more mainstream viewers who only occassionally watch horror may want to pass on this.

Review copyright by Thomas M. Sipos

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