Mutant Hunt

source: Mutant Hunt

Moviecut—Mutant Hunt

Just look at the stuffily robotic cyborgs sporting black sunnies, and dripping gooey fluids down their faces. But still, it's brimming with low-budget charm thanks to director Tim (The Kindred) Kincaid's vision. The simple minded plot doesn't go beyond its junky set-pieces, but the script can throw out a few crazy ideas and an amusing line of dialogue here or there ("space shuttle sex massacre"). Towards the backend you can tell a bit a money went into the FX, especially the design of one particular mutant cyborg. It looks impressive for this type of film. Another highlight was the better than expected music score, which suitably overwhelms many scenes providing a persistent energy to a lot of the clumsy beat 'em up encounters and a dirt cheap atmosphere gives vibes of a decaying futuristic 21st century New York City. Also there are some nice distinctive shots too involving background lighting, and shadows as it's mainly set about at night. In the end, while on the cheap and light on narrative drive. 'Mutant Hunt' stuck to its strengths and was an entertainingly pleasant surprise. P.s And no the film never comes close to that amazing poster artwork.

Classic 80's imagery, lots of cheesy gore and quite possibly the worst fight scenes ever filmed. All in all, it was a laurf.

What can I say? This is one of my favorite 80's sci-fi wrecks (notably, it seems to have been at least partially filmed at the Brooklyn Army Terminal). It is hilariously bad. Have some friends over, pass out some stiff drinks, and enjoy some laughs at this insane mashup of nonsense, violence, and puerile absurdity. A technical failure in practically every respect, in my opinion it veers completely into the lane of unintentional comedy, which makes it well worth watching to fans of B-movies.

Mutant Hunt is a movie I've wanted to see ever since learning of its existence - admit it, the title is irresistible - only, of course, to be disappointed by what a turd it inevitably turned out to be. From Tim Kincaid and the team behind Breeders, this follow-up fails to live up to the already low expectations aroused by that tacky but fun exercise in sci-fi cheesecake. Where Breeders was dopey, decently paced, and filled with quality nudity, Mutant Hunt is dopey, dull, and just barely weird enough to keep it from being a total waste of time. The script is lame, the fights are drab, the heroes have all the charisma of musclebound Ben Steins, and after the goofy energy of the opening scenes, Mutant Hunt sags into an apparent indifference to itself, droning along and tugging at the poor viewer's patience until the 76 minutes feel more like 120. Saving this one from utter abomination, thankfully, are the unintentional humor and gooey effects attendant upon the pack of cheap, zombie-like titular creatures, who are actually lumbering Terminatoresque cyborgs on dope that supposedly makes them sex maniacs, though this aspect of their villainy is never really exploited. They're slimy and fairly disgusting to look at, which is nice, but I did find myself wishing the plot and porno-level budget had given them more in the way of havoc to wreak.

The film was created on next to no budget by an infamous director/writer/producer of adult *. Watching the fashion and mustaches on the male cast that last thing might not be that much of a surprise but what surprises me the most is the ego of the production team. If you have no money and hardly any skills in filmmaking then you might get away with creating a sleazy slasher at most. This film takes it inspiration from epic films like Bladerunner but fails fails in nearly every department, fails HARD. Awful settings, uninspired wardrobes (except for Domina's), no logical plot, weird fight scenes, laughable "inventions" and utterly useless cyborgs that look like failed EBM musicians and act like stiff zombies. Bladerunner had its following of low-budget cyberpunk copycats and a lot of them actually succeeded with delivering a somewhat engaging story (Robotrix for instance) so this film can't really get away with it just because of finances. If I were to cut it some slacks then it has to be the effect and gore. I am especially thinking about the decaying cyborgs that are skillfully done with both stop-motion and makeup.

Recently, I started browsing through the used movies bin at a local video store. You know the type, every movie marked down from $4 to $2. This is usually where you find old work out videos and videos that came with 80's toys (I think I found a Barbie Adventure in one of these once). Anyway this is where I discovered Mutant Hunt. The tagline on the box had me sold, "It's the 21st century New York and It's open season on cyborgs". The god awfulness of this tagline pretty much describes the god awfulness of the film. But that's actually the most entertaining feature of the film. Mutant Hunt is by no means a good movie, or even a decent film. The script is terrible, the editing bites, and the camera work is abismal. However, if you want a film that you can repeatedly make fun of over and over again, this is your flick. My friend and I watched this film and made jokes throughout the entire thing, MST3K Style. One of our ongoing jokes was that Cyborgs are weak against wood and karate chops because that seemed to be the only thing that really had an effect on them. I do have to give props to who ever was on the robot design, the cyborgs, normally just guys wearing sunglasses and are dripping fluid, generally look pretty terrible. However at one point, one of the cyborgs gets its skin torn off and we see the robotic endoskeleton. Its movements and looks were pretty good and you can see where 95% of the budget for this film went to. Overall the film has some decent oneliners (including the phrase "space shuttle sex massacre" and one character who calls the cyborgs Jellyheads) but the true enjoyment of this film is really just making fun of it. This is the only redemption of the film. Jellyhead.

Some claim this is a BLADE RUNNER ripoff but I know the truth. In the distant future, failed filmmaker Ridley Scott built a time machine and decided to go back in time to film MUTANT HUNT, what many in this future consider the greatest film of all-time, before it is actually made. His plan worked and BLADE RUNNER hit in 82 while MUTANT HUNT's legacy was muted because it was seen a ripoff. Seriously, what can one say about this classic? It is indicative of a cinematic time long gone, the era of cheapo sci-fi flicks shot in abandoned warehouses (the future!) on a 5-day shooting schedule (see also: Ray, Fred Olen). I'm glad to know that in the future cyborgs will be modeled after the band Devo. Tim Kincaid directs this as flatly as possible. I love the fight in Riker's apartment where the girls just sit and stand there. I also love the bit where the robot begins to severe its left hand. When the filmmakers cut to the hand hanging in the cuff, it is a right hand! And who can ever forget the couple making out in the alley? Awesome. To the film's credit, Ed French's cyborg puppet head is pretty impressive and actually emotes better than 3/4 of the cast. After watching this 75 minute insanity fest, the only natural thing to ask is, "What Kincaid film should I watch next?"

If you watch this to see a great movie, you are sadly mistaken. I know from experience that if you see Tim Kincaid's name on the box, you aren't going to find anything close. Still, this would definitely be a treat to schlock fans of the dumbest movies ever made, and, in their case, I'm surprised a group of these loveable weirdos haven't crowned this one as a cult classic yet. I would like to point out, though, that this movie is not as gory as the box makes it out to be. There are only a few good splattery moments (my favorite being the cyborg hacking his own hand off). Otherwise, this is only a horror movie by the most technical standards, meaning that it's as much of a horror movie as "C.H.U.D. 2". "Mutant Hunt" is more along the lines of a brainless sci-fi actioner. Is "Mutant Hunt" enjoyable? Yes, depending on how cheezy you like your movies, which this is to the max. By the way, TROMA FANS, ATTENTION: The guy playing the main hero in this is Rick Gianasi of "Sgt. Kabukiman, N.Y.P.D." infamy.