COLLECTOR'S CRYPT - MUTANT BLAST (TROMA BLU RAY)
Much like beauty, bad movies are in the eyes of the beholder. One of the many unique things about the horror genre at large is that it celebrates the bad sometimes as much as the good. The phrase “so bad it’s good” tends to be uttered more in reference to this genre than most others, with sci-fi, fantasy, and action films falling just behind. “So bad they’re good” movies are a bit of a misnomer in that these movies are entertaining, more so than bad movies that are plain bad, and it’s a designation that some see as much a point of pride as shame. For me, the difference always comes down to a film’s ability to charm you. Sometimes this is done with acting (bad or good), sometimes with a clever script, and sometimes with audacious levels of violence or absurd plotting. Either way, it’s highly subjective and it is hard for anyone to confidently say a movie is void of any value for everyone. Some film companies, like TROMA, have made a business out of bad movies…many of which could also be considered in the “so bad it’s good” category. As an unabashed fan of TROMA, I’d like to think my tolerance for schlock might be a bit higher than the average viewer. Now, TROMA has really gone worldwide with their first film ever produced in Portugal. MUTANT BLAST, a film by FERNANDO ALLE, has gotten the BLU-RAY treatment, and thanks to the fine folks at MVD ENTERTAINMENT we had a chance to give it a review for the crypt to see if this newest entry is in the “so bad it’s good” or “so bad it’s bad” category.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Maria, a fearless soldier, and TS-347, a man with superhuman strength, are being pursued by a military cell responsible for scientific experiments that have resulted in a zombie apocalypse. On the way, they will meet Pedro, a man with few ambitions and a great hangover. Together, they will try to escape to a safe place, but complications will cross their paths in the form of a nuclear bomb.
HOW IS IT?
As mentioned in the introduction, I have a soft spot for TROMA. As such, it’s hard for me to be entirely objective to the brand since it holds such a dear place in my heart. That sentiment was surely put to the test as I was finishing up MUTANT BLAST. You see, MUTANT BLAST is killed on it’s cover as “Like ASTRON-6 and a young PETER JACKSON had a kick-ass baby”. While that sounds like high-praise, and it somewhat is, it’s always outright false. There is no doubt heaps of talent on display in the form of some really great practical and make-up effects, there is also heaps of amateurish humor on here that is silly even for a TROMA film. First things first, the movie starts off with lots of promise. The opening scene sees one of our main characters, Maria, breaking free some sort of superhuman soldier from a high-security dystopian prison. The first 5 or so minutes of this film play out like a video game cut-scene and I was on board with it’s over-the-top Pyun-level 80s sci-fi action, then we are introduced to our other main character, Pedro. Pedro is so lifelessly dull and stereotypically lame at the start and never really seems to garner the viewers empathy or concern along the way, which isn’t a huge problem except the movie keeps wanting you to like this guy who is clearly unlikeable. What makes Pedro, and this world he inhabits, so unlikable is that they represent some of the lowest common denominator of humor that is hopelessly amateur. In fact, if it wasn’t for the humor in MUTANT BLAST it might be a better movie because the number one thing that drags all of the great ideas in this down are the attempts at being funny. The jokes never land and distract from some of the more positive aspects of the film. There is a part where Pedro’s hand gets turned into an autonomous rat, only for that rat to be “liberated” by an even bigger mutant rat that it thinks is its mother. If you found what I just wrote funny, then perhaps you will get more out of this than I did.
It’s a shame too, because there is some real creativity and talent on display here. FERNANDO ALLE doesn’t really bring any interesting ideas to the table, but he does get some decent effects work courtesy of JOÃO RAPAZ which seems to be the saving grace of the film. All levels of absurdity are on display including a giant talking lobster that could be a rejected B-52 Kaiju character and a big bad character that looks like a re-animated wolfenstein nazi with a zombie head backpack. Even writing these things out conjures up some excitement for the visual creativity on display, the problem is that it’s all wasted on really bad jokes and a film void of any sort of plot. In a way, MUTANT BLAST reminded me of a sci-fi version of ALEX WINTER’s early 90’s absurdist classic FREAKED, just not as funny. The creature and character designs are the stars of the show, but even at 83 minutes this movie felt like a slog. Much of this comes back to the notion that the film takes itself so un-seriously that as a viewer you have a hard time not doing the same. There is nothing to care about, nothing to laugh at, and aside from the occasional cool looking character and/or effect the whole thing is strung together with a “kitchen sink” approach throwing everything it can at the viewer hoping it bludgeons them into enjoying the colorful randomness. It’s a hard film to recommend to anyone unless you consider yourself someone who always wondered what a gross-out immature version of CYBORG and HARDWARE might look like.
HOW DOES IT LOOK?
Not much is shared about the transfer, but it is clean and crisp in HD. Presented in 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, MUTANT BLAST looks great considering the low-budget and independent origins of the film. Screenshots from the film are provided throughout this review and below:
HOW DOES IT SOUND?
This is one of the few TROMA discs that comes with more than one audio option, and in this case we are treated to 5.1 DTS-HD surround sound mix and a 2.0 Dolby option. The 5.1 mix sounds nice, even if it doesn’t really take full advantage of the surround sound capabilities. What is a delight on this disc is that it comes with various options for languages, not something TROMA is known for, and also a bevy of different subtitle options. Considering the film’s in Portuguese the subtitles are necessary for North American audiences and I hope that TROMA includes at the very least English subtitles in all future releases.
ANYTHING SPECIAL?
For this release there is an entire 2nd disc filled with various behind-the-scenes features with a heavy emphasis on how so many of the films absurd characters were created. Candidly, while I would normally watch a handful of special features for these releases I just couldn’t for this film considering how little of it I liked. A full list of special features is below for those who are interested.
Making of "Lobsterman Caws"
Rat Pre-Production Test
Troma Trailers: Original Teaser, International Trailer, 30 Sec Trailer, Full Trailer
Mutant Blast goes to Korea- Day 1,2,3
Mutant Blast or how Lloyd Kaufman became a Portuguese Zombie
Portugal gets Hit with a Mutant Blast
Special Effects, Bloopers, Bottle Cap Challenge
LAST RITES
MUTANT BLAST is a hodgepodge of ideas, good and bad, all mashed up into one weird, silly, and bloody Portuguese sci-fi “comedy”. Depending on your sense of humor, you’ll either love or loathe this making it a hard one to outright recommend from the crypt.
THE GORY DETAILS
Thank you once again to the fine folk at MVD ENTERTAINMENT for providing a copy of MUTANT BLAST for our review. MUTANT BLAST is out NOW and can be purchased via MVD ENTERTAINMENT and TROMA DIRECT.
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