Blu-ray Review: Mutant Hunt

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews, Top Story

We are so far in the future that futuristic movies can easily be described in the past tense. Mutant Hunt gave us a vision of a tomorrow that takes place in 1992. Which means we’re living in the 30th anniversary of Tim Kincaid’s vision of New York City. How close were we to his reality? Not too close since none of us are having to deal with killer mutant cyborgs. Manhattan had become a lot safer since the movie was shot in the mid-80s. The movie did predict the Apple Watch, but that didn’t happen for a few more years.

What is happening in the future of 1992? Cyborgs with uniform haircuts are getting juiced up to become dangerously altered by Z (Bill Peterson). Now they can be extra goonish. Dr. Paul Haynes (Mark Umile) and his sister Darla (Mary Fahey) get wrapped up in this ugliness. She escapes the angry cyborgs and races downtown to the walk-up apartment of Matt Riker (Sgt.Kabukiman‘s Rick Gianasi) for protection. Riker has to go into immediate attack mood when he fights a pack of cyborgs while only wearing a pair of tightie whities. He agrees to help Darla. She believes the cyborgs are getting juiced up with a street drug called Euphoron that gives them the desire to become thrill killers. You can tell which cyborgs are using the drug because their faces are mutating. They have to go down to a local dance club to get the inside scoop as to what’s truly happening and who do they need to stop. The main dancer at the club is also a bounty hunter (Taunie Vrenon).

Mutant Hunt is the kind of a cross section of Ed Wood and Liquid Sky. It has that downtown New York hip cool vibe that’s playing off science fiction movies of the ’50s. The costumes are a throwback to Plan Nine From Out Space, but the attitude is firmly in the ’80s. There’s a great graphic effect of a computer map that predicts Google Maps. The special effects are goofy and gross. The actors all take pauses between their lines which makes me wonder if the director wanted this effect for how we’ll talk in 1992. This is one of those films you can watch and wonder why we missed out on this future. Something Kincaid didn’t predict that would happen in 1992 was that his movie Robot Holocaust would be part of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 experiment. Mutant Hunt a perfect lazy afternoon flick when you need a kitsch break.

The video is 1.33:1 full frame. This was originally released straight to VHS by Wizard Video so that’s the way people saw the film back in 1987. The audio is DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo. You’ll hear all the ’80s soundtrack and the stilted dialogue.

Commentary Track with film historian Elizabeth Purchell. Purchell is a fan of the film and the director so there’s no mocking the action. Purchell points out that director Tim Kincaid had directed adult features before getting into R-rated cinema. We get to find out a lot about Tim Kincaid’s life and career.

Mutant Maker (18:21) gets secrets told by special effects artist Ed French. Ed has won an Emmy and been nominated for an Oscar. Before Mutant Hunt, he did the make up effects for Smithereens and Sleep Away Camp. The only job he turned down was Troma’s Toxic Avenger. The negotiations stalled. He had worked with on Bad Girls Dormitory with director Tim Kincaid and producer Cynthia DePaula. This was their second collaboration. He talks about the makeup design for the cyborgs. We get the inside scoop on the damaged cyborg.

If You Want Me To Box A Kangaroo (55:41) catches up with actor Dr. J. Buzz Von Ornsteiner. He remembers being a mutant cyborg in 1985. He was wanting to be an actor back then. He lived in a bad section of Manhattan and was a student at NYU. His acting teachers were Sandy Dennis and the actor who played the grandfather on The Cosby Show. His big first acting gig was because he could pull off a loincloth on stage. He was an extra in Turk 182. This was how he got hooked up with Tim and Cynthia that were making Mutant Hunt. If his name sound familiar, Dr Buzz is a licensed forensic psychologist who appears on Reelz channel’s CopyCat Killers show.

Long Arm of the Hunt (24:17) talks with actor Mark Legan. He played Beta Cyborg. He divides his life pre and post Mutant Hunt. He grew up a monster kid watching horror-chiller-theater shows on TV. He got the part because he was tall and willing to have the Cyborg haircut. Legan has been a writer for decades and has done scripts for Chesapeake Shores.

Vinegar Syndrome presents Mutant Hunt. Directed by Tim Kincaid. Screenplay by Tim Kincaid. Starring Rick Gianasi, Mary Fahey, Ron Reynaldi, Taunie Vrenon, Bill Peterson, Mark Umile and Stormy Spill. Rating: Unrated. Running Time: 77 minutes. Release date: September 27, 2022.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.