Mutator

Mutator is a rather disappointing entry in the mutant monster on the loose genre. The creatures appear to be bipedal, muscular, slime-dripping cat creatures, but they're never shown very clearly. The only notable thing about this film is that one of its characters is (coincidentally) named Kevin Murphy, appropriate since Mystery Science Theater 3000's Tom Servo is voiced by an actor sharing that name.

Prolific character actor Brion James, so often the antagonist, gets to play the good guy for once in cheesy sci-fi horror Mutator - it's just a shame that his rare heroic performance is for such a z-grade stinker. James plays ex-genetic scientist David Allen, who goes undercover in the headquarters of Tigen Inc., to find out exactly what kind of monstrosities they have been cooking up in their labs. Also snooping around the vast corporate building are a trio of activists, Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz), Dan (Neil McCarthy) and Tina (Lindsay Orbach), who aim to free the animals being used in the experiments. Unfortunately for them, and the building's other occupants - corrupt boss Axelrod (Brian O'Shaughnessy), three security guards, a scientist, a receptionist, and publicity executive Taylor (Carolyn Ann Clark) - the Tigen HQ is also home to several large and very vicious escaped mutant cats.

It's not all that difficult to make an entertaining schlock horror out of something that daft: just chuck in plenty of rubbery monsters, an excess of blood and guts, and find a reason for the women to lose their clothes along the way... job done! Sadly, director John R. Bowey seems oblivious to these basic requirements of the genre: for the first hour and twelve minutes, he delivers just a couple of brief shots of the creatures' hairy claws, a few totally gore-free deaths, and zero nudity, the action primarily consisting of his characters wandering aimlessly through the badly lit, labyrinthine corridors of the Tigen building (which is wholly unconvincing as the headquarters of a powerful, high tech corporation, looking more like a derelict factory to me). All of this is boring and very repetitive (the animal activists get stuck in an elevator not once, but twice!).

When the cat creature is finally shown in all of its glory, it really is a disappointment, with a manky rubber puppet face that is funnier than it is scary; also adding to the very shoddy nature of the film is the generic synth/guitar music by Rene Veldsman. Poor Brian James does his best, giving a committed performance despite the film's many obvious drawbacks, but a bright new future as a leading man was clearly not meant to be. Bowey's directorial career also came to a screeching halt: he would never call the shots behind a camera again.

2/10. Tedious dreck enlivened only by an impressive full body burn stunt, and Tina having her face clawed by a cat beast (there's supposed to be several monsters on the prowl, but it's quite obvious that the budget only stretched to the one very shonky creature).

MUTATOR aka TIME OF THE BEAST (1989) & PROJECT: METALBEAST aka METALBEAST (1995).

Two *very* similar B-movies. A dubious choice for this double feature, perhaps. But I know I'm most definitely not the only one around here who would voluntarily watch rubbish like...

-----

I had no idea I already saw "Mutator" before, once upon a full moon, until I started watching it. Yes, it's that forgettable. Brion James plays an unlikely character (for his likes, at least): A friendly ex-scientist turned custodian who at the end, saves the day. The creature costume is mildly amusing (with some parts of it having developed more cat-like features and others still human). But the creature action is severely lacking in this tedious film. Only film to my knowledge to ever feature a Humanoid Cat-Beast Mutant.

Yes, "Time Of The Beast" (or if you want to call it "Mutator", fine) is a pretty bad movie, but actually, it's not bad enough. You can't even make fun of it, because it's just dull. The only thing you could watch it for, is seeing Brion James do nothing, really. And for the titular beast, of course, which doesn't do much either, except for killing people off-screen (except for one girl who gets her head smashed against a grid - nothing special).

Funny thing is, in the plot they mention 'the offspring' numerous times, indicating there's more than one cat-beast running around. Only you never get to see more than one. It's just the same guy in the same monster-suit appearing on screen every time.

But the most important thing still is that I forgot I'd already seen it. To my knowledge, this is the only time that ever happened to me. I was even confusing a few specific scenes of it, to be in "Metalbeast". It's like "Time Of The Beast" tries to make you forget it ever existed after you've seen it. An amnesia-inducing flick. That's a first one.

And where's that good bit of female nudity when you need some? Oh, right, yes, this was not a crappy slasher movie. Sorry, my bad. It's about some humanoid cat-beast thing, right? Well then, where's Natassja Kinski when you need her?

-----

Level of Appreciation: Subpar/Moderate

To me, there are two types of poor film. The first type are those that you fall asleep watching. Yet this is not one of those. This film is of the type that is supposed to be a horror and yet it makes you laugh and cringe at how bad it is. But here is the weird thing with poor horror's. You sit there, usually until the end laughing at how bad the "scary" bits are. And this film is the undisputed king of "tacky horror" - a genre that is supposed to be horror and yet turns out to be a comedy. Would I recommend this film? Not to a person who loves to be scared by a film. Not to those who would turn off a film because its so poor (and this film is by no means an exception) But to people who thought that The Exorcist was more of a comedy than a horror and who watch it because of this reason - this IS the ultimate movie for you.

Terrible in one sense - Sensational in another!!!