Mutants

France. A country know for real bad movies that only the French appreciate. But a sudden change a few years ago with Haute Tension has put that country on the horror map. And the holy three, Martyrs, Frontiere(s) and Inside has made an impact that France became the leader into the brutal gore scene. Men could only expect that it would always be like that. So France delivered us Mutants. It won't be much acclaimed as the holy three. The reason is that the others had some creepy brutal suspense. Here you can see things going typical for flesh eating mutants. Not that the movie is bad but the storyline is so simple , as always with that kind of movies. Being trapped, contamination, being bitten by a mutant, changing in a mutant, mutant appears before lover,...but before you out there are killing me, the effects really match up to French norms. And that makes the movie. If you adore gore watch it, if you like cannibals too otherwise just forget it.

When a deadly virus spreads out through France in the summertime, the great part of the population is mow down. The last hope of the survivors is the military station called Noah, a hidden sanctuary where scientists are researching the cure. Dr. Sonia (Hélène de Fougerolles), her beloved boyfriend Marco (Francis Renaud) and the military Perez (Marie-Sohna Conde) seek Noah driving an ambulance in a lonely road through the woods, but they run out of gas. There is an incident with a zombie with a shootout and Perez dies and Marco is hit in the stomach and contaminated by the zombie's blood. Sonia heads to an apartment complex and she lodges with Marco in the desert place; while healing his wound, Sonia tries to contact Noah. But sooner Sonia finds out that the location is indeed inhabited and she is in danger.

"Mutants" has the same premise of most of zombie movies, i.e., an outbreak of a virus that transforms most of the population into zombies. However, the difference in this gore movie is the dramatic plot with the love and fear of Sonia for Marco, and the claustrophobic situation that the lead actress is involved. Further, the high-level of the performances of Hélène de Fougerolles and Francis Renaud also make the difference, unusual in the horror genre. The awesome landscape with snow and the make-up are also stunning. The conclusion is a cliché for a possible sequel. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Mutações" ("Mutations")

French horror has a renaissance. Some of the movies that came out in the last few years have been really nice, so I thought I should check out the latest addition to the genre.

A virus has spread through the population. Victims mutate and become cannibals. There is only one hope, a military station called NOAH. Sonia, a medic and her friend Marco have to stop at an abandoned housing complex in the middle of the forest because Marco has a gunshot wound and their car is out of gas…

Mutants feels like a movie that is cut'n'pasted from different zombie movies. The characters are shallow, the plot unmotivated. A friend of mine often says "the trailer is better than the movie will be". That is the case with Mutants as well. A few exciting scenes, and unfortunately, that's it…

Opinion: 4/10 – Nothing new, kinda slow paced, maybe something for the hardcore Zombie-Fan

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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.

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.