Mosquito (film)

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{{Infobox film

| name = Mosquito

| image = Mosquito (1995) poster.jpg

| alt = A silhouette of a mosquito with a pair of human eyes superimposed over it, and with light illuminating it from behind. The title of the film "MOSQUITO" is shown at the top. The film's credits are shown at the bottom.

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Gary Jones

| producer =

| writer = Tom Chaney
Steve Hodge
Gary Jones

| narrator =

| starring = Gunnar Hansen
Ron Asheton
Steve Dixon
Josh Becker

| music =

| cinematography = Tom Chaney

| editing =

| distributor = Hemdale Communications, Inc.

| released = {{Film date|1995|5|20|ref1=}}

| runtime = 93 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $200,000 (estimated)

| gross = $986,314{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

}}

Mosquito (also known as Blood Fever) is a 1995 American science-fiction horror film directed by Gary Jones. The film features actor Gunnar Hansen, who portrayed the character Leatherface in the 1974 horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, along with Ron Asheton, lead guitarist for the band the Stooges. The film has earned a cult following since its release.

Plot

An alien spacecraft crashes down in a U.S. national park. A mosquito sucks the blood of the craft's deceased extraterrestrial pilot, causing the insect to mutate to an abnormally large size. While driving to a summer camp in the park, lovers Megan and Ray accidentally hit the mosquito. They get out of the vehicle, and Ray finds its severed proboscis in his car's radiator. Meanwhile, a park ranger named Hendricks is ordered by the park chief to spray gaseous mosquito repellent.

Afterwards, three bank robbers, Earl, Junior, and Rex, stop in the park. Rex walks to an outhouse, where he encounters a giant mosquito. He runs from it, calling for help, and is accidentally shot by Junior. Earl kills the mosquito with a shotgun. Later, two park rangers are fishing when they are attacked by mosquitoes. One of the rangers has his eye gouged out by a mosquito; the other ranger falls off the boat into the water, and after swimming back to land, is killed when a mosquito stabs him with its proboscis.

That night, a couple is having sex in a tent. When the man leaves the tent to urinate, one of the mosquitoes enters the tent and impales the woman through one of her buttocks; her lover is then attacked. The next morning, Ray meets a meteorologist named Parks, who drives Ray and Megan to the park. Parks is searching for a meteorite that reportedly landed in the park. Parks' radiation monitor begins detecting radioactivity, and they track the source to the boat containing the dead fishing ranger. They drive to the park to notify the police, where they find the park's rangers and visitors to have all been killed.

They find the carcass of a mosquito, and Megan determines it to be of the species Aedes aegypti. A surviving Hendricks informs the others that the park's electrical and communication systems were destroyed in the attack. The group plan to drive to a city for help, and they take a nearby RV, escaping a swarm of approaching mosquitoes. After night falls, they stumble across Earl and Junior. The criminals unsuccessfully attempt to hijack the RV, and they are tied up and brought along.

A swarm of mosquitoes proceed to chase the RV. As the mosquitoes attack through the windows, Megan accidentally opens a side door and hangs precariously from it, before being saved by Ray. Earl breaks free from his restraints, uses a hatchet to save Junior from a mosquito, and threatens to kill Megan. She stabs Earl with a severed proboscis as another wave of mosquitoes assault the RV, causing it to crash. As the group crawls through a pipe to evade the swarm, Junior is impaled by a mosquito, causing his eyes to bulge and explode.

The mosquitoes follow them into the pipe, and the group sets some of their clothes on fire to deter the insects. While hiding safely in the pipe system, they conclude that the "meteorite" and the mosquitoes are connected. They return outside the next morning and split up; Ray, Earl, and Hendricks investigate a nearby farmhouse while Megan and Parks search for the "meteorite". After regrouping, they board up the farmhouse. After sunset, Parks reveals that he fought in the Vietnam War, and Hendricks reveals that he did as well. The mosquitoes begin to infiltrate the farmhouse, and Earl defends himself with a chainsaw.

Ray tears off a mosquito's wings to save Hendricks, and Megan sets one of the mosquitoes on fire using a stove. In the house's basement, Parks and Hendricks discover a colossal nest of mosquito eggs. The group rigs the house to explode by breaking its gas line and opening up the windows, and Ray and Megan escape to the roof by taking turns in a dumbwaiter. Upon Hendricks' turn, the dumbwaiter breaks and falls lethally to the basement. Ray and Megan jump from the roof, and the house explodes with Earl, Parks, Hendricks's dead body and the mosquitoes inside. After sunrise, Ray and Megan find Parks alive, having protected himself from the explosion by hiding in a refrigerator.

Cast

File:Gunnar Hansen, Cinema Wasteland 2009.jpg is featured as the character Earl.]]

Tim Lovelace as Ray, Megan's Boyfriend
Rachel Loiselle as Park Ranger Megan
Steve Dixon as Parks, USAF Meteor Chaser
Ron Asheton as Park Ranger Hendricks
Gunnar Hansen as Earl, The Bank Robber
Mike Hard as Junior, Earl's Brother
Kenny Mugwump as Rex, Earl's Cousin
John Reneaud as Park Ranger Tony
Josh Becker as Steve, The Camper
Margaret Gomoll as Mary, The Camper
Guy Sanville as Chief F.B. Morrow
Joel Hale as Jack, The Fisherman
Howard Brusseau Jr. as Pa Jones
Patricia Kay Jones as Ma Jones
Ken Laplace as Police Investigator
Steve Hodge as Alan Smithee, Channel 3 News Reporter
Patrick Butler as Willis Cabins Motel Proprietor
Suzanne Bussard as Volleyball Girl
Rebecca Jones as Girl In Sandbox
Victoria Swanwick as Little Girl On Beach

Production

Director Gary Jones originally planned for the film to revolve around group of criminals, beginning with a large bank heist and ending with a violent shootout, but this was deemed too expensive.{{cite web|url=http://www.goodbadflicks.com/exploring-mosquito-episode-211/|title=Exploring 'Mosquito' (Episode 221)|date=23 November 2015|last=Trachenburg|first=Cecil|location=GoodBadFlicks|access-date=13 July 2016}}{{unreliable source|date=July 2024}}{{verification needed|date=July 2024}} The script was subsequently rewritten by Tom Chaney, and the film's original title was Skeeters. Upon learning that a film named Skeeter, which had a similar concept about killer mosquitoes, was already recently produced, the title was changed to Blood Fever. During post-production, the film was renamed Nightswarm—appearing as such in the April 1994 issue of Fangoria{{cite magazine|last=Kauza|first=Mary|date=April 1994|title="Nightswarm"—More Bugs for Fewer Bucks|magazine=Fangoria|publisher=Starlog Group, Inc.|issue=131|pages=32–33|issn=0164-2111}}—before its title was later finally changed to Mosquito. The film was shot entirely in Michigan, near the city of Detroit.{{cite news |last=Klein |first=James |date=13 December 2015 |title=Mosquito (1995) |url=http://unratedfilm.com/2015/12/mosquito-1995/ |publisher=UnratedFilm |access-date=20 July 2016 }}

The effects for the film's mosquitoes were created through a mix of stop-motion animation and puppetry, and some shots, such as when the swarm of mosquitoes is shown to be converging on the farmhouse, were generated using traditional cel animation.{{cite web |url=http://www.theaterofguts.com/2014/02/mosquito-1995-directed-by-gary-jones.html |title=Mosquito (1995) |date=4 February 2014 |location=Theater of Guts |access-date=14 July 2016 }}{{cite news |last=N. |first=Eric |date=4 June 2008 |title=Guilty Pleasures: Mosquito |url=http://www.bloodygoodhorror.com/bgh/guilty-pleasures-mosquito |publisher=Bloody Good Horror |access-date=14 July 2016 }} The mosquito that explodes when shot by Earl was a rubber puppet that contained the film crew's leftovers from their lunch break, in order to simulate the insect's internal organs and fluids. The film's original special effects artist supposedly left the set during production to smoke cigarettes and never returned.{{cite news |last=William |first=Paul |date=14 February 2016 |title=Film Review: Mosquito (1995) |url=http://horrornews.net/105600/film-review-mosquito-1995-movie/ |publisher=Horrornews.net |access-date=15 July 2016 }}

The scene in which the RV crashes onto its side was created using a scale model of the vehicle; the spacecraft in the film's opening scene was also a model, and was filmed using a forced perspective technique. The most expensive shot in the film was stock footage of a mosquito being born, shown in the opening scene. The footage was purchased for $1,500.

Release

Mosquito was intended to have a wide theatrical release in November 1994 but their distributors, Hemdale Communications, were forced to file for bankruptcy before the release date.{{cite web|url=http://www.goodbadflicks.com/exploring-mosquito-episode-211/|title=Exploring 'Mosquito' (Episode 221)|date=23 November 2015|last=Trachenburg|first=Cecil|location=GoodBadFlicks|access-date=13 July 2016}}{{unreliable source|date=July 2024}}{{verification needed|date=July 2024}} It was released on home video on May 20, 1995.{{cite web |title=Mosquito (1995) Release |url=https://gonewiththetwins.com/new/mosquito-1995/ |website=Gonewiththetwins.com|date=21 May 1995 }} The film was released in the VHS and LaserDisc formats, and in 1999 was released on DVD.This film was released on the DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in 2004.{{cite web|title=Mosquito (1995) - Gary Jones|url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/mosquito-v152164/releases|website=AllMovie.com|publisher=AllMovie|accessdate=19 July 2016}} Copies of the DVD were at one time considered rare, and reached asking prices of $400 on websites like eBay and Amazon.com.{{cite news |last=Jackson |first=Gordon |date=17 October 2013 |title=All The Most Revolting Mosquitoes from Science Fiction and Fantasy |url=http://io9.gizmodo.com/all-the-most-revolting-mosquitoes-from-science-fiction-1446904551 |publisher=io9 |access-date=14 July 2016 }} After its release, the film was often shown on the USA Network and on the Sci-Fi Channel. Synapse Films reissued the film on DVD and released a Blu-ray edition on October 13, 2015 for the film's 20th anniversary.{{cite news |last=Gallmann |first=Brett |date=21 November 2015 |title=Horror Reviews - Mosquito (1995) |url=http://www.oh-the-horror.com/page.php?id=1804 |publisher=Oh, the Horror! |access-date=12 July 2016 }}{{cite web|title=Mosquito (1995) - Gary Jones|url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/mosquito-v152164/releases|website=AllMovie.com|publisher=AllMovie|accessdate=19 July 2016}}

The film was nominated for the category of Best Horror Film at the 21st Saturn Awards.

Reception

Mosquito received generally negative reviews at the time of its release, but has since grown a cult following.{{cite news |last=Molgaard |first=Matt |date=June 30, 2016 |title=Mosquito (1995) Review |url=http://horrorfreaknews.com/mosquito-1995-review |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820131450/http://horrorfreaknews.com/mosquito-1995-review |url-status=usurped |archive-date=August 20, 2016 |publisher=HorrorFreak News |access-date=July 12, 2016 }} The film holds a rating of 60% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 5.2/10 based on 5 reviews.{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mosquito/|title=Mosquito (1994)|website=Rotten Tomatoes |location=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=12 July 2016}} Brett Gallmann of the website Oh, The Horror! praised the film's special effects and called it "what the platonic ideal for what cable-TV monster movies should be".

Felix Vasquez Jr. of Cinema Crazed gave the film a mostly positive review, writing that "Mosquito is a classically bad monster movie with a low budget, and a neat idea. It delivers giant mosquitoes sucking on humans regardless of its limitations, and amounts to a very memorable guilty pleasure."{{cite web|last1=Vasquez|first1=Felix|title=Mosquito (1995) » Cinema Crazed|url=http://cinema-crazed.com/blog/2014/10/07/mosquito-1995/|website=Cinema Crazed.com|date=7 October 2014 |publisher=Felix Vasquez|accessdate=19 July 2016}} TV Guide awarded the film 2 out of 4 stars, calling it "a simplistic but energetic B-movie."{{cite web|title=Mosquito - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings|url=http://www.tvguide.com/movies/mosquito/review/130687/|website=TV Guide.com|publisher=TV Guide|accessdate=19 July 2016}} Entertainment Weekly gave the film a positive B+ rating and called it "the best of the recent spate of mutant insect movies" and "a giant-creature film made by giant-creature fanatics".{{cite magazine |last1=Taylor |first1=J.R. |title=Mosquito (1995) Review |url=https://ew.com/article/1995/06/02/mosquito/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly}}