The quick pitch: A couple of brothers find themselves stranded in a small Southern town where the residents are slowly being turned into zombie-like creatures. Predictably, there’s also a grumpy sheriff, a final girl, and a fight-for-your-life showdown.
First, pay no attention to the video/poster artwork you’ll find all over the internet for Mutant. In fact, pay no attention to the name “Mutant”. Both might lead you to believe you’ve stumbled on some type of alien-related sci-fi/horror movie. Instead, this Mutant is a low-budget zombie film set in small town America.
Considering I’m not even sure I had ever heard of Mutant before last night, I’m pleasantly surprised. Overall, it’s a decent little zombie movie. It’s not overly imaginative and follows most of the zombie tropes we’ve all come to expect (with the exception of the leaky palms), but Mutant actually has nice atmosphere that can be rare in this type of low-budget 80s horror movie. There were several moments that I’d describe as creepy. Mutant also includes plenty of action as our final girl (and guy) end up battling a horde of zombies. I admit that II was a little worried at the start when I noticed the names Bo Hopkins and Wings Hauser. It might not be fair, but when I see those names, I automatically start to negatively prejudge a movie. Not to worry - Hopkins and Hauser end up being one of Mutant’s real strengths. They’re both (surprisingly) good. I know that Hopkins, in particular, was quite an actor. However, in a low-budget film like this, he was as capable as anyone of phoning it in.
Mutant is one of those cases where the good (acting, atmosphere, snappy direction, and a nice final fight scene) and bad (lack of imagination, gaping plot holes, and cheap zombie make-up) pretty well cancel each other out and I end up with a wishy-washy 5/10.
5/10
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