The zombie genre is one of my favourites(The Walking Dead is my favourite TV series ever and love films like Dawn Of The Dead and Shaun Of The Dead)as is the zombie/virus sub genre(my favourite British film is 28 Days Later)so this French spin on the genre was a superb one.This film follows a more 28 Days Later plot than the dead back to life plot where a nasty infection turns people into ravenous monsters but unlike any zombie/virus film I've seen before it makes the person infected go through a much longer transformation process than say 28 Days Later or World War Z(the infected transform in about ten seconds in them)with the infected going through a horrifying four days or so before full blown mutant/zombie mode happens.We follow Sonia a medical person of some sort(never explained what she does)who has to care for her boyfriend Marco who gets infected with the virus that has swept the world(well I think the whole world)and has to watch him go through a nasty transformation which includes his hair falling out,yanking his teeth out(yeah yuk I know),vomiting incessantly(more like exploding out)and having moments of what's to come like having vivid dreams of being a zombie,raging at Sonia and shouting horribly.As she seems immune(she is attacked a few times but never transforms)she tries to make a cure but it doesn't work and seems to speed up Marco's transformation so she locks him up for her safety.Just after a group arrives and their leader threatens Sonia with a gun and demands the keys to the ambulance she and Marco travelled in(to the big building they are staying in)but she makes out its out of petrol.As a horde of mutant/zombies gather outside she tries to make contact with the helicopter base in hopes of being rescued and makes contact(telling them that she is pregnant also)but just after the infected storm the building plus Marco is now a full blown mutant.Can Sonia survive,will the nasty group that invaded help or will she suffer at the hands of both humans and ex humans.This was a different take on this popular horror genre and though its no classic and some of it is ultra gory I thoroughly enjoyed it and unlike other people reviewing it saying it dragged it never did for me,the whole point of the slow part in the middle was to show the painful process in how a infected person transforms and how hard it is to see someone you love become something entirely different.The acting by the two main actors was sublime and you really feel for both Sonia watching the love of her life slowly transform into a monster and Marco who goes through four days(or how many days it was)of a agonising process that will see him suffer in every imaginable way possible and though the infection in 28 Days Later or World War Z is quick and nasty this would be much worse for someone to feel all this and to lose hair,teeth and vomit like that and then become a zombie would be worse than anything you could imagine,both give wonderful performances that deserves more plaudits than they got.The others are good but are pretty wasted even if the man who was the gang leader played a nasty and selfish person very well(got his comeuppance though later)plus the cop lady at the start was very good in a small role.Action or exciting wise it comes a bit at the start and much at the finale and the final scenes are terrific and worth the build up before hand with hordes of infected like a scene from 28 Days Later or a action packed sequence from The Walking Dead who storm the big building and take down the gang one by one with the gang leader Frank selfishly locking his supposed lover out from him so she dies a nasty death(shown in a Walking Dead point of view type with blood splattering the camera)before evil Frank got what was coming to him just after(my goodness he deserved that).Other great moments include Marco's many moments of madness which seen him go through a nasty bout of vomiting(don't watch if you don't like seeing people being sick),chasing after Sonia butt naked covered in blood and a gory scene of him pulling his teeth out(not nice guys trust me).Another scene I liked was one of the gang members(bald guy)facing off with the mutants before being ripped apart.I really enjoyed this French horror film and though its neither a classic horror film or zombie film its certainly worth a watch with for a film of this type top quality acting,gore galore,a group of nasty bad guys,beautiful imagery(snow filled mountains)winter setting which is great for a zombie film and a new spin on this extremely popular genre.

A virus has spread across France, wiping out most of the population. Paramedic Sonia and her boyfriend Marco try to survive as they head toward the hope of safety at a military base.I'm starting to think that filmmakers are trying to do too much with the zombie sub-genre. Mutants tries to inject a little romance into the equation but I never really bought Sonia and Marco as a couple so I didn't get into their relationship, and the "trouble" they ran into didn't really have an impact on me. What I did like about this plot device were a few scenes where Sonia's frustration came through, like "I regret taking on this extra hassle of my boyfriend and his addictions." Their connection also played out nicely toward the end of the film.Mutants starts off promising in its first few minutes, then slows to a crawl and doesn't pick up again until the final 25-30 minutes. The gore is minimal but nicely done when it's there and I liked the setting and cinematography. I'd kind of like to know why the mutants' noses apparently grow shut after infection - that's the thing that bothered me the most (probably not what the filmmaker was going for). As zombie movies go, you could do worse but you could definitely do better.ff

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".

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.