MOVIE REVIEW: Mutants

TITLE: Mutants
YEAR: 2009
DIRECTOR: David Morlet
RATING: R

Basically French zombies, that's Mutants.
It's a French film, in French, with subtitles, but the subtitles aren't a problem as the dialogue is light, and really, aside from the dialogue, the film doesn't feel overtly French or foreign.

Mutants starts out in earnest, as we're thrown into the middle of our protagonists' (a husband and wife/couple) journey to survive a zombie apocalypse. It seems they've hooked up with a military woman, who's leading them into the mountains, in search of a supposed military base or stronghold. The tension between the couple and their militant companion is high, and quickly comes to a head when they stop in search of fuel.

From there they make their way to a large building, some kind of medical facility, most likely a mental hospital, and have to deal with the impact of the virus firsthand, and personally, until more survivors show up and complicate things further.

It all builds from the brief and chaotic first act, and the slower and more measured second act, to a fairly solid finish. With plenty of obstacles for our main French paramedic woman to try and overcome, both human, mutated, and military.

Overall, Mutants is a quality and fairly original zombie survival story worth checking out, that only lacks that extra oomph to make it a classic or special entry into the genre, both in terms of pace, and creativity. It's also focused mainly on using the virus as an analogy for cancer or illness, with it's themes of health care (paramedics, their ambulance, their hospital destination), and depiction of a loved ones transformation into a mutant, and it's similarities to that debilitating disease.

TYPE OF ZOMBIE, OR ACTUAL ZOMBIES?: Not true zombies, but a virus that mutates humans into flesh sniffing feral cannibals.

GORE: The gore here can be strong and brutal, but not overpowering.

EFFECTS: Are convincing and very good, and blend well with the real world feel of the movie.

STRAIGHT REVIEW: MILDLY RECOMMENDED

ZOMBIE FAN REVIEW: RECOMMENDED