CUFF Review: 'Mutant Blast' Is a Bad Movie and a Great Troma Release

Directed by Fernando Alle

Starring Pedro Barão Dias, Maria Leite and Joaquim Guerreiro

BY Jeremy CurryPublished Apr 24, 2019

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A soldier and her superhuman muscular man navigate a zombie mutant-filled city after a scientific experiment to create many superhuman soldiers goes awry. On their journey, Maria the soldier (Maria Leite) meets Pedro, a schlubby guy with a massive hangover and a bit of a lazy, carefree attitude. Together, they attempt to stay safe and avoid these monstrous experimental failures, until a nuclear attack changes everything. This includes the introduction of some new wacky characters.
 
This is a Troma production, a film company known for gross-out humour and visuals, and for typical horror or suspenseful scripts going right off the rails. Mutant Blast is no different.
 
Zombie movies, shows and games have been such a popular genre that every new iteration is met with the feeling they will be full of the same old tropes. Mutant Blast gets the whole zombie thing out of the way in the first act. Yes, there are zombie-like creatures walking around slowly and stiffly, getting their brains blown open.
 
But the film goes on a journey of many different kinds of creatures — zombies, superhuman muscle-men, mutants, a man with a rat for a hand, a backwards Darth Vader-type villain… The list goes on. Of course, it is campy, and of course, the jokes are corny, but this is exactly the type of movie you want to see in a theatre at midnight. Some scenes even seem like Star Wars homages, including a goofy creature looking around making noise, cut with a scene wipe.
 
Overall, this would be fun to see with a group of like-minded blood splatter freaks. Watching it alone is a different story. The shift in moods during the film is kind of awkward, and makes for a joke of forced jokes and awkward chemistry between characters. But we're not talking Casablanca here, we've got a guy with a rat for a hand!
 

 
(Troma)

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