The movie begins by introducing us to our giant nemeses, the mosquitoes. A UFO comes crashing down in the night and lands in a swamp. I remember thinking to myself, "Ugh, I am so sick of the complicated origin stories in these modern monster flicks. Why can't they take a hint from the 50s, say it was radiation, and leave it at that?" Then, to my amazement, the movie responded to my unspoken request with enthusiasm. One minute after the credits were finished, we were presented with our villainous beasts: mosquitoes drank the blood of dead aliens and turned into four foot long monsters.

Then we meet our heroes, Ray and Megan, as they drive through the woods. Awkward expository dialogue tells us that Megan is a scientist (she has no specialty; she's one of those generic monster movie scientists). They hit a giant mosquito and smear it all over the road. Ray examines their damaged radiator while Megan pokes the dead bug with a stick. Megan wants to take the smushed bug with them. This will prove to be a recurring theme with her. "We can't just leave it here!" she says.

We then meet some other main characters, Hendrix, the park ranger, and Earl, the bank robber, along with assorted cannon fodder. Parks, our final main character, is introduced very oddly. He comes bursting out of the bushes, bristling with scientific equipment, most notably a Geiger counter, and he peers into the trees around him and says, "I'll find you, yeah." Then he dashes away.

At this point I tuned out for fifteen minutes or so and didn't tune back in until the obligatory character development was over and the feeding began. Ray and Megan hitch a ride with Parks. Parks also happens to be a scientist, making Megan rather superfluous since monster movies really only need one scientist. He says he's a meteorologist who studies meteors; presumably he means he's a meteoriticist who studies meteorites. He's looking for one that landed nearby. The audience knows that this is really an alien spaceship, of course. His primary means of searching is to wave his Geiger counter around.

Then the three discover a dead fisherman floating down a river in his boat. He has been attacked by the mosquitoes and drained of his blood. Evidently our mosquitoes also suck out a person's bones, too, as he looks like nothing so much as a floppy plastic Halloween mask attached to some empty clothes. Megan wants to take the body with them. "We can't just leave him here!" she cries.

Looking for help, Parks, Ray, and Megan find themselves at a campground. The place is literally carpeted with bodies. These bodies bear little resemblance to the dead fisherman, though. The dead bodies are very obviously extras splashed with red paint. I could swear I saw some twitching going on.

The three find Hendrix, who survived by hiding under an overturned rowboat. Given the feats of strength performed by the mosquitoes later on, this will come to seem rather contrived. The mosquitoes come back to attack, and our four heroes flee in a camper.

They meet Earl and his brother Junior, who try to kill them and steal their camper. Once the bank robbers are defeated, however, Megan insists that they take them along. "We can't just leave them here!" she cries. This will prove a singularly unfortunate choice, since Earl and Junior once again try to kill them at the same time as the mosquitoes are attacking.

And what an attack it is. The special effects here vary greatly. In some shots the mosquitoes are animated by stop motion. When they attack a person, however, they are clearly rubber models. The actors shake and thrash to make them look convincing, but I couldn't help but be reminded of Bela Lugosi and the giant octopus in "Bride of the Monster." And whenever the mosquitoes are required to swarm, they seem to be cardboard cutouts.

The camper crashes, and everyone but Junior manages to take refuge in the sewer. Here the heroes discover that the mosquitoes are afraid of fire. Shotgun blasts don't bother them at all, however. The heroes burn their clothes to protect themselves.

Since the mosquitoes only attack at night, or when atmospheric conditions are sufficiently creepy, our heroes spend the day seeking refuge. They find it in an abandoned farmhouse. As night approaches, they barricade themselves inside the house very ineffectively, making sure to leave plenty of holes for mosquitoes to poke their heads through. When nighttime finally comes, the mosquitoes break through their pitiful barricades, accompanied by what seem to be flying spotlights. It looks pretty cool, but it makes the viewer wonder if those mosquitoes are wearing miners' hats.

Then they discover that the mosquitoes' nest is located in the basement of the farmhouse. There's no particular reason for this to be; after all, the downed UFO is nowhere near the farmhouse, and mosquitoes usually prefer standing water for their eggs. But it does allow the movie to end with an explosion.

At this point, Parks decides that they have to rid the world of this menace once and for all. I thought to myself, "Oh, please. What's he going to do, MacGyver a bomb out of his Geiger counter?" Once again, the movie met and exceeded all expectations. Rather than a Geiger counter, though, Parks uses a radio, since that allows for a red digital readout.

Anyway, Ray and Megan escape to the roof, Hendrix falls into the basement, Earl makes a Heroic Sacrifice to save Hendrix, and Parks gyrates spastically. The house blows up in an explosion all out of proportion to the gas leaks that cause it. I mean, we're talking a fireball four stories high. Ray and Megan survive, and so does Parks, who hid in a conveniently empty refrigerator, which survived without a scratch despite being at the epicenter of the blast.

This movie loses points by passing up on the chance to reference the mother of all giant mutant insect movies. As the mosquito swarm approaches Parks, Ray, Megan, and Hendrix at the campground, Hendrix begins to freak out. The camera zooms into his face, and it looks like he might be clever and scream "THEM!" Instead, he says something stupid like, "They're coming!"

Rating: three turkeys.

Scene to watch for: When the camper crashes, several characters suffer debilitating injuries. Earl gets stabbed in the stomach, and Ray sprains his ankle. They heal up like magic.

Best line: Hendrix: "Hey, Doc, that's science fiction." Parks: "You are living in science fact."

Things that make you go "Huh?": The alien tentacle/mosquito connection.