This was the movie that introduced me to Guillermo Del Toro and I remember thinking that it was a cut above most horror films of 1997. Obviously he has went on to do much bigger and critically acclaimed movies, but this still stands up well after all those years. What is it with him and bugs though?
The shadow play and the slow build up to revealing the genetically evolved cockroaches is well done throughout and the tension is palpable. As creature features go it up there with the best of them.
It's not a patch on Devils Backbone, Pans Labyrinth or the Hellboy movies, but I'll take this over Cronos and Blade 2 any day of the week. Worth a fiver anyway.

if you love monster movies, you'll love this! Its originality in the monsters are awesome, and the psychological horror makes you afraid of all those back-alleys again (yet this becomes less and less nearer the end of the movie when you see more and more of the cockroaches...
yes thats right! cockroaches!!