MUTANTS - On DemandMarch 23, 2010
IFC
On Demand Weekly provides new reviews of hot movies on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: Mutants.
Zombie films are a diverse and storied genre. Many credit a single, brilliant film: George Romero’s 1968 satire Night of the Living Dead for biting the neck of the horror genre and spreading the disease across entertainment into B-movies and effective societal commentaries alike. Hundreds of films in the diverse genre include: Romero’s gruesome sequels from 1985’s Day of the Dead to2009’s Survival of the Dead (he’s still crankin’ ‘em out!) 80’s camp (Night of the Creeps), video game remakes (Resident Evil (2002) and ongoing international efforts (Spain’s Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971), (Italy’s Zombi 2 (1979), Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive (1992), Japan’s Versus (2000), Greece’s Evil (2005), etc.)
During our last decade, the zombie movie (encompassing any plot that renders humans infectious cannibalistic attack machines) reached an apotheosis. Zach Snyder’s 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake, Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later (2002), and perhaps the best of them all, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s superior comedy Shaun of the Dead (2004) infected critics and audiences and paved the way for the existence of smaller, “artier” affairs like the Norwegian Sundance entry Dead Snow (2009) and American studio pics like Zombieland (2009). A zom-com nowadays is just as legitimate a storytelling device as a rom-com (for filmmakers and financiers.)
Along comes French director David Morlet’s directorial debut: Mutants. Similarly to 28 Days Later, his film shows us a world where a horrible virus has struck mankind (turning the majority into the aforementioned zombie-types) and we follow a few uninfected inhabitants as they desperately try to make it past pockets of blood-hungry mutants to a safe-haven army base. The mutants in question are the result of the virus, which transfers it’s effects in standard fashion via blood - but the film marks its territory (it’s right in the title) by showing us the ensuing effects as the victim mutates over the course of days.
Symptoms include Rogaine-resistant, Flowbee-set-on-random hair loss, Exorcist-style blood vomiting, no real need for teeth anymore and the resulting suicidal depression one would imagine those symptoms might foster – oh, and victims end up looking and acting like one of Peter Jackson’s orcs (not exactly a confidence-booster either).
These details are brought to us via the two main characters, Sonia and Marco, two doctors driving an ambulance who happen to be in love (mais oui!) Together they have survived, until now, when they become engaged in a shoot-em-up and Marco takes one to the gut. Luckily, Sonia has the tools to stabilize him but if we’ve learned one thing from Reservoir Dogs, it’s that getting shot in the stomach is bad (even in a non-apocalyptic setting). So it seems ludicrous when Marco is up and moving in what seems to be a day. He’s either Jack Bauer’s brie-eating cousin or something is seriously off – but wait – he’s almost healed. This is how we discover he’s got the virus.
Sonia then proceeds, for the rest of the film, to be one of the most loyal females to ever grace the screen. Even when Marco’s essentially become Gollum and looks at her like she’s a medium-rare cheeseburger and then tries to eat her, she’s still there for him, comforting, selfless – and this is the story of the film. Primarily set in a creepy old hospital, other characters arrive and present obstacles with their selfishness, but it’s all about her trying to get a message to the army base so they can come and save her man as he deteriorates horribly over several days.
Mutants is a lower-budget film, shot mainly in the forest and a handful of empty locations so one cannot expect the production value of Dawn of the Dead. As a feature debut it’s stylishly executed and one doesn’t demand the level of originality or experienced chops of 28 Days Later. It has some interesting plot surprises and good performances so unless one is a “hater” for anything resembling something they’ve seen before, they should be fairly satisfied with the overall production.
One thing this film lacks, however, that is normally present in any of the variants mentioned above – is sheer entertainment value. It takes itself so seriously that it forgets to have fun in a genre that is at least somewhat innately humorous (especially with this title!) To have no levity in a film such as this is (pardon me) a killer. I can’t believe they didn’t have fun behind the camera on this one, but either it just didn’t translate or the director was so French that he just couldn’t allow the audience to gain pleasure from the experience.
If you’ve seen a few zombie movies and like the genre, you’ll have no problem, ahem, digesting this film. But if this is your baptism of blood and it wasn’t any fun and you think maybe the genre’s not for you, don’t give up. There are hundreds more where this came from (and they keep multiplying!)
Sean McPhillips is a new contributing writer to On Demand Weekly. He is a former vice president of acquisitions for Miramax Films (During Harvey's reign). He is a current writer/director for NY-based Secret Hideout Films.
