Plot: After a plague turns most of France into a zombie (or, in this film “mutant”) wasteland, emergency room doctor, Sonia (Hélène de Fougerolles), and her paramedic lover, Marco (Francis Renaud), hole up in Sonia’s former hospital. Tragically, a scuffle with some infected “mutants” , leaves Marco infected- and Sonia, who appears to be immune from the virus that causes transformation, begins treating him in vain, hoping to somehow reverse the virus.
Review: I’m somewhat torn on this one. While I was thoroughly entertained by MUTANTS, I could not shake the fact that this whole serious, “don’t call them zombies”, thing has been done to death recently. Basically, this movie is 28 DAYS LATER “en francais”, and when all is said and done, does not really offer anything new to the genre.
Still, the fact remains that the film IS entertaining, and well made. Director David Morlet has made a good looking, slick film, and the opening sequence, set in a speeding ambulance, is amazing, and immediately drew me into the film. Really, the whole first half of the film is excellent, with stars Fougerolles, and Renaud, making an immediately likable, and convincing couple. Once he’s infected with the “mutant” virus, Renaud gets a couple of bravura sequences depicting his slow and agonizing transformation that really shook me up.
Sadly, the film really goes off the rails once other, more sinister survivors (including all the clichéd stock characters- from the psycho leader, and his horny girlfriend, to the stoic, bald badass- who, of course, turns out to have a heart of gold) show up at the hospital.. I couldn’t believe how blatantly a few sequences were stolen from the climax of 28 DAYS LATER, and the ending of the film was as predictable as can be.
Overall though, MUTANTS is not a bad film at all, just an incredibly derivative one. I was reasonably entertained by it, and the Fantasia audience seemed to enjoy it. If you’re a fan of the whole “zombie apocalypse” genre (and really- who isn’t?), you should check it out once the film hits DVD. It doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it entertains, which is more than can be said for a lot of recent zombie films.
Grade: 6.5/10