User reviews

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")

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.

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.

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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A virus has transformed the majority of humans into zombie-like creatures. An unlikely group tries to fight for survival in a military base.

Despite the recent influx of zombie and virus films from various countries, including France with the entertaining 'Le Horde,' here's another French take. 'Mutants,' refreshingly, stands in contrast to its counterparts as it takes a serious tone with the subject matter, expertly filmed by director David Morlet.

The film boasts impressive sets, cinematography, and art direction. It features cold, eerie lighting, desolate bunkers, and well-executed gore effects, all against the backdrop of a snowy wintertime setting.

Many scenes are filled with tension, enhanced by a pervasive sense of claustrophobia for added horror. While the sound design for the infected may be considered excessive, the acting is top-notch, with Helene de Frougerolles (bearing a resemblance to Asia Argento) carrying the film. In Louis-Paul Desanges and David Morlet's screenplay, everything is portrayed realistically, lending a gritty edge to the narrative.

There is, unfortunately, an excessive use of shaky camera work, a characteristic often associated with zombie and virus films. Calls for help on the radio, fortified bunkers, machetes, guns, human betrayal, love, and loss-all the clichés are present but handled with realism. Combined with the naturalistic acting and a chillingly crafted score, 'Mutants' manages to stand out in the oversaturated genre.

Aside from the '28 Days Later' rage-like infected, the film features a well-balanced, simmering survival element infused with emotion, creating a captivating atmosphere and continuous action. Although devoid of humor, it remains bloody and dramatically entertaining.

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.

Mutants (2009) is a French horror film that explores the familiar territory of a viral outbreak but with a unique twist. Instead of the typical zombie trope, the infected in this film undergo a grotesque transformation, retaining some cognitive function while becoming increasingly monstrous.

The film follows Sonia, an EMT, and her boyfriend, Marco, as they navigate the escalating crisis. The focus on Sonia's profession provides a grounded perspective, highlighting the challenges faced by healthcare workers during a pandemic. The film effectively captures the fear and uncertainty that would accompany such an event, as societal order breaks down and the threat of infection looms large.

One of the film's strengths lies in its depiction of the physical and psychological deterioration of the infected. The special effects, while not groundbreaking, are effective in conveying the horrifying nature of the transformation. The film also explores the emotional toll on the survivors, particularly the ethical dilemmas faced by healthcare professionals in the face of overwhelming odds.

However, Mutants suffers from some pacing issues and a somewhat predictable plot. The film occasionally relies on jump scares and familiar horror tropes, which may not surprise seasoned genre fans. Additionally, the character development could be deeper, with some characters feeling underdeveloped or stereotypical.

Despite these minor shortcomings, Mutants offers a decent entry into the horror genre. Its unique take on the infected, coupled with its grounded portrayal of the crisis, makes it a worthwhile watch for fans of the subgenre. The film effectively captures the fear and uncertainty that would accompany a real-world pandemic, reminding viewers of the fragility of human society in the face of unforeseen threats.

Zombie movies are pretty rare in French cinema, not to say non existent, so the fact that some people try to make such movies is good news. Unfortunately this one is pretty bad. It looks cheap (apparently the funding was low), the actors are not very good, I can't find any original idea, it just looks like a bunch of clichés pieced together, many things/scenes seem useless and/or absurd to me, the characters are too shallow, and no time is allotted to really develop their personality. The only good thing might be the decor, and maybe to a certain extent the makeup. The soundtrack doesn't really make sense, it's not consistent and doesn't go along well with the scenes. However bad this movie is, I hope French directors will keep trying to make zombie/horror movies, get sufficient funding for that, and will finally succeed in doing something good.

I watched Mutants around 2009/2010 on some horror festival and got it after its dvd release pronto into my collection. This French movie is a well done contribution to the zombie feast and beats easy 95 percent of all movies released in the field. You get good acting and some little twists to the genre. If you need stuff for your zombie craving stomach and brains - taste it.

Mutants starts off with some promise, a French take on 28 days later - complete with shaky cam action sequences - set in a desolate Alpine region. The cinematography is well-done with gorgeous establishing shots (usually a dead-giveaway, when missing, that you're watching a cheapo, low budget horror film), competent realistic sets and make-up, good use of atmospherics in the soundtrack. All in all a solid production.

But unfortunately, very little thought appears to have been given to the actual plot. The actions taken by the main characters make no sense given their circumstances, and it becomes very hard to remain invested in their fates when they take decisions that seem ridiculous. The pacing of the film is also off.

Horror movies always place characters in absurd, perhaps preposterous situations. A good horror movie has the protagonists react to their circumstances in a way that makes sense and the viewer can relate to. Unfortunately such movies are few and far between, and this is not one of them.

The world - or at least France - is in the grip of a highly contagious and deadly virus that turns victims into zombie-like flesh hungry mutants, our story concerns a handful of survivors. Original this most certainly is not. But what sets this apart to some extent from the glut of zombie/virus apocalypse movies is that it is set in the snow covered French mountains and the two main characters are a couple, the male getting infected. If you don't speak fluent French or like reading subtitles then I suggest you move on, however you will be missing out on a half decent shocker. The couple are Sonia, a doctor, she is also pregnant (though no bump), Marco her other half becomes infected as a result of being attacked by a mutant. She tells him he has three days left before he turns, his gradual transformation is pretty horrific to see. He starts to threaten her very existence, she has ample opportunities to kill him but hey, she's in love with the guy thus making this a very tragic and deadly love story. This, added with the cold scenery and remoteness, helps give this film a very bleak look and feeling. That's no bad thing provided the viewer is not after some light-heartedness. There is action, violence and gore right from the off but the often dim light, over use of shaky cam and a few cheap looking CGI do not help matters in my opinion. The French have made some incredible 21st Century horror movies, Mutants is hardly "fantastique" but I'd say as this sub-genre goes it is worth a watch. I picked up a copy dirt cheap on DVD, I may watch it again or I may not.

"Mutants" is a hopelessly tedious French rip-off of "28 Days Later".

Yes, it's set after the zombie outbreak, and these zombies run, I think. It has some violent moments, but nothing memorable or noteworthy. It's one of those movies that is only notable for what it lacks, which is pretty much everything. It has no characters. People run around and shoot things and die, but none of them connected as a protagonist, and none have any kind of personality or anything to help you tell them apart. It also doesn't really have a story, or a plot.

What plot there is is apparently something to do with a pregnant woman who cannot contract the zombifying virus. She's in a post-outbreak world that seems to entirely consist of the interiors of dull buildings. She has a husband.

Early in the movie, there was a black policewoman who pointed a gun at the people I suppose were the heroes. Prior to this I had assumed that she must have been the hero; she is much more interesting to look at than they are.

About the most I can say about "Mutants", aside from noting its debt to "28 Days Later", which is a true masterpiece by comparison, is the fact that the whole movie is blue. I mean everything in it looks blue. What was the point of that? Who has ever watched a movie and thought, "I would have liked this movie more if everything in it had been tinted blue". The horribly monotone visuals made me want to look away. The lack of any characters, or even actors with any charisma or presence, made me not care.

Since there have been more zombie movies than talk shows coming out during the past ten years, it's becoming very difficult for directors/scriptwriters to surprise the fans with something new and original. This French effort tries to achieve this through blending the zombie mayhem with a tale of true love. Like "Zombie Honeymoon" already tried back in 2004, "Mutants" revolves on a woman who loyally stands by the side of her man even though he's going through several phases of "zombification". In a completely desolate and daunt snowy landscape, ambulance drivers Marco and Sonia are ambushed by mutants (victims of a worldwide virus) and Marco gets infected. Sonia, who is strangely immune for the virus, takes him to an abandoned army facility and tries to delay the impact of the virus as long as possible. "Mutants" is slightly better than the aforementioned "Zombie Honeymoon", simply because the atmosphere is much grittier and the situation more hopeless. As a viewer, you also grow to care for Sonia a lot more than you would for the averagely stereotypical protagonist in any other random zombie movie, and it definitely helps that the gorgeous Hélène de Fougerolles gives away a wonderful performance. "Mutants" is also a very gruesome and gory flick, although without being exploitative. The gratuitous zombie kills/killings are kept to a modest amount, but the make-up effects are excessively nauseating. That's a positive comment, mind you! In all honesty, this is a very decent and admirable horror movie, yet for some reason I can't be overly enthusiastic about it. The wholesome felt very derivative and mundane, definitely not a film I'd bother to see again or even recommend to someone else.

This film essentially begins with an ambulance carrying a sick patient somewhere in France after an extremely deadly viral epidemic has swept through Europe and follows a couple by the name of "Sonia" (Hélène de Fougerolles) and "Marco" (Francis Renaud) who are trying to find sanctuary at a military base called Noah which is apparently some distance away. Sonia appears to have a background in medicine and along with Marco they are being escorted by a security guard named "Perez" (Marie-Sohna Condé). As fate would have it, they eventually run out of gas and upon stopping at an abandoned building Marco is attacked by an infected person. Although Perez manages to kill the infected person she also accidentally shoots Marco and some of his assailant's blood splatters into his wound in the process. Not long afterward Marco gradually changes into one of the monsters they sought to avoid. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this is not a zombie film-at least not in the technical sense as those infected with this virus do not die from it but rather change into vicious creatures after a few days' time. The overall effect, however, is essentially the same as these creatures are just as crazed and cannibalistic as any zombie ever imagined. Not only that, but they are extremely fast which adds to the suspense and overall excitement. Unfortunately, there are also a number of rather slow scenes added into the mix which, although intended to showcase the slow impact of the virus and bolster the romantic connection between Sonia and Marco, fails to a certain degree due to the lack of adequate character development. And it's this flaw, in my opinion, which prevents it from being a first-rate film for this particular sub-genre. Even so, while it may not be an outstanding film, it was certainly better than many of the low-budget projects of this type which have greatly increased in number in the last 10 years and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

So, I think that line above means, "Run of the mill" in french. As this film is exactly that. It's a nice heaping pile of been there done that unfortunately doesn't really excel in any one area that a truly satisfying horror film should.

Mutants starts promisingly enough with a nice bloody car crash, and then a nice bloody fire-fight with some nice bloody results. Then the survivors go to this hospital where there is more scenes of bloody stuff. And then there's some more shmucks getting in on the action...blood. But to be a bit more precise, there's a cannibalistic infection on the loose, and it's transferable by, you guessed it, blood. A bite does the trick. Anyways, we have a heroine as our lead, and a bunch of carefree characters causing trouble, and of course we have our incredibly Ork-like mutants running, growling and drooling (blood) all over the damn place. That's basically it.

I like zombie/infected/rabid mutant type flicks, I really do. But I also like them to be...what's the word? Fun? Yeah, that fits...but that's not the word. Scary? That's good too, but that ain't it. Hmmm...entertaining? Yeah, that's good. Entertaining. This movie wasn't very entertaining. With a strange combination of using quick cuts and fast pacing during the action, and slow plodding shots during any other scene, it's comes off a bit...off. The action scenes, like I said, were bloody, and that's basically all this movie has going for it. As the emotional factor was barely there, and what was there was cliché.

On the plus side, it's got some nice production values. The blood looks great, the Ork-like mutants are solid, the camera is crisp, the scenery is beautiful, blah blah blah! Combine all those nice things with a bloody mutant flick with a decent amount of bullets flying around, and you got yourself a seemingly cool sounding movie. But with so many of these films out there, there's gotta be some sort of hierarchy. Unfortunately for us, it doesn't rank that high on the list.

If you're expecting anything but a nice lil infected film, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. This does not become another solid French outing, but instead jumps into the pile of pigs whose snorts sound like they're saying 'you almost had something there, buddy'.....yep.

In a world devastated by a pandemic virus, a couple on the run tries to find the only safe place to take refuge: the secret military base "Noah". Cornered by the bloodthirsty creature, Marco and Sonia, who is pregnant, will have to fight for survival.

I liked the diversity of the approach, centered on a dystopian future with a pandemic and a zombie apocalypse (everything I love most in cinema). However, the focus is on a pregnant wife who must fight against her worst enemy: the man she loves is infected, and the implications that this generates, as well as the attacks from humans. A little dramatic, a little bloody, for now it drags on, for now it's tense, but it's entertaining within what it has to offer, simple and efficient... Nice, dark and simple...

In its very first minute, Mutants reminds us that in order to survive the inevitable zombie apocalypse, it is best not to get too attached to anyone or anything.

And of course, the problem is that it is very easy to say that, but much harder to put theory into practice. The difficulty with zombies, besides the fact that they are the tireless, ravenous living dead is that they are monsters with the faces of our loved ones. Random zombies are a problem, but one that can be solved with ruthless application of violence. From Romero's Night of the Living Dead to Robert Kirkland's Walking Dead the most difficult zombies haven't been the faceless hordes, but the zombies that we knew when they were human, our sons, daughters, parents and lovers.

The zombies being offered in Mutants are viral mutants similar to the ones in Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, but where Boyle's film gave us a transformation that was almost simultaneous with infection, Mutants offers a much crueler plight. It imagines a delay between infection to full viral mutation of about four days. The cruelty of a long and painful transformation (in this case strongly reminiscent of Cronenberg's The Fly) is that it offers the illusion that a cure is possible. In this case, the main character, Sonia, is a medical professional. (It is unclear if she is a doctor or a nurse.) Sonia's identity is vested in her belief that any disease can be cured, that her infected lover Marco can be saved and she has secrets that help convince her that a cure is possible, even likely.

This is heresy for zombie affliction afficionados, where the only true cure for infection is immediate amputation, but by flirting with heresy, Mutants asks some compelling questions. In the process, it offers an eloquent elegy to the moral quandary of euthanasia.

At what point is medical treatment crueler than death? At what point has your loved one become so consumed by disease that all that they were and all that they could be have been replaced by the disease? Where does humanity end and death begin? Bad enough to be faced with those impossible questions, but Morlet ups the ante on Sonia by reminding us that the inevitable zombie apocalypse is not just about the zombies, it is also about the apocalypse - the end of everything. The end of easy transportation, the end of gas, the end of warmth, the end of light, the end of communication, the end of parts, the end of bullets, the end of civility, the end of love and the end of trust.

The film is not perfect. It uses a but too much of the shock-cam technique currently in vogue. There are also a couple of steps in the mutation that make little sense. Mutant zombies losing their hair makes sense, but losing their teeth? Really? The reason that the zombie apocalypse is inevitable has everything to do with our voracious and insatiable appetite that will eventually overcome and overwhelm our ability to feed it. The zombie apocalypse is the contrast between the death of our ability to feed the hunger and the dark monstrous face of that hunger lying just behind the mask of civility.

David Morel reminds us in Mutants not just of that inevitability, but also that when the end comes it will be both painful and beautiful, and that the barrier between life and death, love and hate, civilization and chaos is not a barrier that is crossed in an instant. It is one that is crossed so slowly and the hair, the blood, the fluids and all the mess of life and living shed in the crossing are so distracting that by the time you know that you have passed the tipping point, it is too late to turn back.

When I bought this movie from Amazon I hadn't heard about it before, and I came upon it by sheer luck as I was browsing through a search of zombie movies. So I read the description and thought it sounded alright.

Now, the term zombies was used, although I think that term is relative. Because the creatures in this movie aren't really zombies as per the typical zombie term. They are showing some level of intelligence and they are quite fast and agile, running around at high speeds. For me, that doesn't really work and doesn't qualify as a typical zombie. No. For me, zombies are slow, shambling, brain-dead undead beings, husks of their former selves.

Putting that aside, zombies or not, "Mutants" isn't a bad movie. It was shot in a very nice location, and there is a sense of isolation brooding in the movie. And the movie is good in building up a slowly growing sense of dread, as the events occur.

And mind you that the movie is in French, if that might discourage you. I didn't catch up on that fact before I got the DVD and checked the backside of the cover. I don't mind foreign movies at all, just a friendly heads up if you got a thing against movies in other languages.

I wasn't familiar with anyone in this movie, and that worked out well for me, because then there was no associating the actors/actresses with other of their previous roles. And the people in the movie actually did good jobs with their given roles.

"Mutants" had a good special effects crew on it, and the mutants (or zombies, as you prefer) did look good. However, I don't fully understand how Marco's face could have changed that much in so little time. But hey, who am I to understand how this disease works? There is a lot of good action scenes in "Mutants", and they are well executed. And the movie also holds a good amount of character building and lets you get to feel for the characters.

All in all, "Mutants" is a good thriller, however I was sort of disappointed as I was expecting more of a typical zombie movie. "Mutants" isn't a bad movie at all, just don't watch it with the expectations of a Romero zombie movie, "Mutants" is more in the likes of "28 Days (or Weeks) Later".

It's not that Mutants is the goriest thing I've ever seen (though it is pretty damn gory), it's just that it is so consistently gory, without pause, with thick, syrupy blood constantly splashing around in just about every frame of it, with no humor or character development or even conversation for that matter, that it just left me dizzy and queasy. It's so relentlessly gory that it's hard to even be scared by the things jumping out at you while you're still recovering from gagging and grimacing. The lighting is well done; the entire movie seems to appear through a light blue filter. I want to say that the acting is good but there isn't much acting beyond crazed zombies akin to those from 28 Days Later flailing around aimlessly and biting and eating human flesh, and screaming and running and fighting and some arguing. The notion of the relationship between the woman and her infected man gives this a new spin but otherwise this is just a pile of bits and pieces taken from other zombie apocalypse movies piled together into 90 minutes of blood splatter.