Mutants

Sonia (a nurse/doctor) and her husband Marco have survived a mutation outbreak and are now on the run. Finding a place to take refuge, Marco gets infected with some contaminated blood, and is desperate to find a cue. As the infection takes days to mutate, Sonia is in a desperate race against time to help the love of her life, and ultimately face up to the possibility that she may lose him.

We have all had our fair share of standard Zombie/Infected films. Everybody seems to want to be the next George A. Romero, and unfortunately its a case of "seen one, seen them all". Then comes along David Morlet's "Mutants". A film about an apocalyptic outbreak, with plenty of flesh eating mutants, but this film serves so much more of a purpose than others that have come before it. To me, the story of the apocalypse was a side story, as the real focus was on the controversial use of "Euthanasia" ... such a debate has been raging over this topic, and the subtle way that David Morlet uses this topic, was superb. Is it OK to end the life of someone who has no more quality in theirs? Is it OK to put someone to sleep, forever? The question is constantly asked throughout the duration of the film, and shows the impact and heartbreak that even the thought can produce. The fact that this infection takes days to mutate and not instant, gives the viewer a false sense of a positive outcome. It shows that sometimes hope can be cruel, and we go along with the two characters, as things just go from bad to worse. Combining this strong psychological element with superb, isolated, cinematography, a strong soundtrack, above average acting, with gore and blood to add, this movie stands out as a very unique addition, to a very tired sub genre. Highly impressive!

I have to admit I started watching it with high expectations, since I've read some reviews saying that it is a bit different from other zombie movies. It was not. It wasn't bad, but in the end it was just a rather low budget zombie movie with the same clichés that we know so well. The specific variation is virus infestation.

The film starts with three people in an ambulance, a woman who is a nurse, her husband or boyfriend and a black soldier woman who goes all crazy Rambo and has to be put down. There are some interesting scenes that hint at a bigger, smarter plan from the movie makers, but it doesn't come to fruition. All we get is this woman who runs away from all kind of creeps (and some zombies) until the film ends.

The idea is that the virus makes people very violent and meat hungry, but it also changes them, transforming them into something else. I kept hoping that the title would refer to some sort of human zombie combination, hunted by humans and zombie alike, destined to become a breed of antihero of its own. But, even if the movie did, as I said, hint at some more interesting ideas, it didn't go as far as actually explore them.

Bottom line: In my mind this films keeps oscillating under and above the average line, like a leaky boat that you don't know if it will sink or not. I am very tempted to rate it as a failure, but then again I must not punish the film makers for the crazy ideas and expectations I had in my head. So I will rate it as average, after all, but I don't really recommend it.

I'm gonna call this a good zombie film. Yes, it's a virus but the results are the pretty much the same, sick people who wanna eat ya. Lots of blood in this film but what makes it special is the romance. Marco has neither looks nor personality but his gal stands by him (almost) to the end. It's a gross, fun film with lots of snow (if ya like snow you're gonna love this movie) and I found it highly entertaining. Great art? No. Much fun? Yes.

Now, if you love snow but want more than just entertainment, if ya want a little art, Let The Right One In, is a must see film. Some blood, romance too and a great take on Renfield.

The world - or at least France - is in the grip of a highly contagious and deadly virus that turns victims into zombie-like flesh hungry mutants, our story concerns a handful of survivors. Original this most certainly is not. But what sets this apart to some extent from the glut of zombie/virus apocalypse movies is that it is set in the snow covered French mountains and the two main characters are a couple, the male getting infected. If you don't speak fluent French or like reading subtitles then I suggest you move on, however you will be missing out on a half decent shocker. The couple are Sonia, a doctor, she is also pregnant (though no bump), Marco her other half becomes infected as a result of being attacked by a mutant. She tells him he has three days left before he turns, his gradual transformation is pretty horrific to see. He starts to threaten her very existence, she has ample opportunities to kill him but hey, she's in love with the guy thus making this a very tragic and deadly love story. This, added with the cold scenery and remoteness, helps give this film a very bleak look and feeling. That's no bad thing provided the viewer is not after some light-heartedness. There is action, violence and gore right from the off but the often dim light, over use of shaky cam and a few cheap looking CGI do not help matters in my opinion. The French have made some incredible 21st Century horror movies, Mutants is hardly "fantastique" but I'd say as this sub-genre goes it is worth a watch. I picked up a copy dirt cheap on DVD, I may watch it again or I may not.

A french horror movie that plays more like a psychological horror than a full on horror movie. The director made a short, that is setting up the mood for this film. He even uses one actor from the short and if I'm not completely mistaken, you could say, that it continues exactly where the short movie stopped/ended.

As a psychological film it really works. It doesn't have that much scares though and it might not be bloody enough for some people. While it's not pitch perfect, it's a nice watch. So if you want a horror movie with a little brain (no pun intended), then you can certainly give this a try.