MUTANT (1984)

MUTANT (1984)

Tagline: Mankind's Deadliest Threat Will Not Come From The Skies.

(Horror, Sci-Fi, This Is A Bad Town…For Such A Pretty Face) [R]

Note: This movie was originally released under the title NIGHT SHADOWS. 

Nothing human can have this in its veins and live.

In this one, a big company that produces a number of things has branched out into the chemical-making arena. Toxic waste from the chemical plant is turning an entire town's residence into bloodthirsty mutant zombies. Meanwhile two brothers Mike and Josh have also managed to piss off the town's bullies, just for trying to pass through. Can Mike, Josh, Josh’s new friend Holly and the Sheriff survive hordes of toxic mutants and “Southern Hospitality?”

First off, this movie is a slow burn for the first 45 minutes or so. It’s mainly just Mike and Josh dealing with town a-holes after they are run off the road. However, after that, the movie gets going, and the atmospherics kick in. The score is pretty unsettling and we also get some pretty gnarly moments. 

Acting wise this movie is really helped out by Wings Hauser (Josh) who is a strong lead and can act. His other big horror flick was RUBBER, but he is probably better known for playing Greg Foster on TV’s “The Young And The Restless”. We also get a good performance out of Bo Hopkins who plays Sheriff Stewart. Hopkins is best known for AMERICAN GRAFFITI. I also liked Lee Montgomery as Mike. He plays a bit of a hothead in this but isn’t as dumb as his brother. Montgomery was in several horror flicks including BEN, DEAD OF NIGHT, and THE MIDNIGHT HOUR among others. I also think that Jody Medford stood out as Holly in this movie, but seems to have stopped acting right after this was made. I wasn’t able to find out anything else about her after this film. 

One thing to note about this movie is that it happens in the south so it’s got an abnormal amount of confederate flags in it. In today’s world, that is a bit disturbing, but nothing in the film is racist. It’s just a movie happening in a small town in the south. Apparently, the actual “mutants” in the movie were supposed to be something other than “zombie” looking characters, but I am guessing the budget only allowed for that. There are some decent practical effects in this movie, but there are also some really bad ones like what we get with most of the zombies. This thing actually feels a lot like the kid’s movie at the end of SUPER 8 (“The Case”). That is how cheesy the zombies look. Having said that we are still served up a pretty solid horror flick that I really didn’t expect. 

Once this thing starts clicking on all cylinders it feels like the walls are closing in on our heroes and the helplessness is crawling on your chest like a sneaky cat. I don’t want to overplay my hand and say this movie will blow you away. It definitely feels like they could have made some improvements and quite frankly the whole side story with Josh and Mike and these idiots in the town seems like kind of a waste, but the ending does at least bring that part of it full circle. 

Overall there is at least one section I would have left out of this one, but for something with a bit of ’80s cheese that is off the beaten path, MUTANT is an interesting flick worth an October-Horror marathon. 

I give this one a 4 out of 7 in spite of some of the clear budget issues.

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