MUTANTS

Onscreen text opens the film, advising us that most of France was wiped out one summer by a mysterious virus. The only hope for the last surviving members of the population is a military station called Noah.

The only problem with reaching the station is that the virus has turned its victims into zombies.

Then we meet doctor Sonia (Helene de Fougerolles), her boyfriend Marco (Francis Renaud), soldier Perez (Marie-Sohna Conde) and her ailing colleague. They're racing along the barren French motorways in a blood-soaked ambulance.

Pulling over, they toss Perez's dying pal onto the asphalt and Perez shoots him twice in the head.

Then it's back to their frantic journey across France in search of Noah, disinfecting the ambulance on Perez's instruction in case of any potential infection.

As the trio embark on their hunt for sanctuary and civilisation, Sonia and Marco become increasingly distrusting towards the volatile Perez - but know they need her if they stand a chance of survival. Quite why they need her, why people are being so hostile, they don't know - only Perez seems to know this.

So when the threesome take a detour to a seemingly abandoned warehouse for supplies, Marco is baffled when Perez refuses to let them assist an injured boy found in there. A shoot-out ensues, resulting in Marco being spattered in the injured lad's blood. Perez also shoots Marco in the stomach. In response, Sonia blasts Perez first in the neck and then in the face.

With Perez and the young lad dead, Marco and Sonia flee back into the ambulance and continue their search for Noah. But Marco is losing a lot of blood in the meantime. Luckily, there a few convenient plot points they can consider: Sonia is a doctor; the streets are empty so they can house up wherever they please for recuperation - including a derelict hospital; the ambulance they're driving has the equipment to keep going Marco going for a while with transfusions...

At this point, MUTANTS slows down a little to focus more on Sonia's care for the depleting Marco. She watches over him in various hideouts as first his hair and then his teeth begin to fall out. The scene where he begins vomiting blood is a rather striking one too.

All the while, Sonia is convinced that there must be something she can do to cure her lover from his terrible affliction.

Attempts to appeal for support from Noah over the radio prove to be fruitless, and the relentless snow works against our hapless pair venturing far. Of course, Marco is in little shape to go anywhere anyway. But Sonia, her heart full of love and her hospital full of drugs, is determined to give him better days.

Here is where much of MUTANTS' tension lies. Not with the impressively rapid-fire zombie attacks or satisfyingly grim gore FX, nor Nicolas Massart's sublime cinematography or the films ambient score. But with Sonia's desperate attempts at saving the distressed Marco from the inevitable, even touching upon the seldom-touched theme of euthanasia as events spiral downward.

Although the script is bare and the initial premise is reminiscent of too many other films (THE CRAZIES; 28 DAYS LATER...), these are the only real negatives this otherwise entertaining and suspenseful film generates.

Beautifully shot, benefiting from stunning snowy landscapes and extremely committed performances from the central cast, MUTANTS is a strong entry into the pantheon of latter-day zombie flicks. It helps that it's righteously gory too.

The pounding electronic score could easily come from any number of 80s undead films, and is enormous fun for this reason. It does a great job of adding further tension to the already breakneck pace and taut editing, but is wisely held back during the claustrophobic mid-section which marks this film out as something genuinely different.

MUTANTS is a most welcome surprise - an excellent little zombie film that successfully breathes fresh life into an ailing genre. It only falls at the last hurdle, with a foreseen conclusion that leaves events open for sequel exploitation.

The film is presented uncut in an excellent anamorphic 1.78:1 transfer. Although the film's palette is deliberately cool, playing on icy blues and greys and reserving warmer colours for when blood splatters across the screen, it is well controlled on Momentum Pictures' DVD. Detail is fine, images are sharp and texture is extremely clean in this superior video offering.

Audio is proffered in French 5.1 and is very good indeed, offering intelligent balance of thumping music, dialogue and screams. Optional English subtitles are easy to read and well written.

A very basic disc opens with a static main menu page. From there there's a scene-selection menu offering access to the main feature via 12 chapters.

The only extra on the DVD that relates directly to MUTANTS is a trailer. This is a vague 100-second affair that shouldn't be viewed by epileptics.

It would've been nice for this disc to have included director David Morlet's earlier short film that MUTANTS takes off from.

The disc is defaulted to open with trailers for ZOMBIE VIRUS ON MULBERRY STREET, ZOMBIE TRANSFUSION (these two are breathless and noisy, as if in competition against each other - TRANSFUSION wins) and the recent remake of Romero's THE CRAZIES.

Intelligent, superbly shot and edited, and very gory - MUTANTS is a highly accomplished film and deserves a better DVD than this. Regardless, it is out on UK DVD now - uncut - and is well worth your time.

Review by Stu Willis