Get ready for the most deaths-by-rat since the Black Plague. (Too soon?) The Mutation is your next must-see cheesy horror creature feature.

After a deadly experiment goes wrong, a mutated rat growing at a rapid pace slaughters everyone on his path!

The Mutation Review

First off, this movie does NOT make you wait. If you’re tired of “slow burn” horror where things are just sort of vaguely ominous for the first half of the movie before anything really happens… The Mutation is the film for you. I’m not even talking “action starting in the first act.” I’m talking getting your first creature sighting AND kill within the first five minutes. 

Now, let’s talk about that creature, shall we? No sub-par CGI here (for now… more on that later). We’re talking practical effects here people! Are those “practical effects” simply a man in a costume? You bet! Is that costume clearly intended to be a werewolf but modified to be a rat for the premise of this film? Sure looks like it! Do both of those things make this movie incredibly watchable? Abso-freakin-lutely!

But I fear I’ve gotten ahead of myself. Let’s talk about how this giant mutated killer rat came to be. As you might correctly guess, The Mutation is a classic science-gone-wrong film. The giant killer rat grew as a result of a series of experiments in someone’s home laboratory — a continuation of research shut down by official channels. (Dun dun dun!)

Now, normally in these sorts of films, you find out the killer mutation is a result of experiments intended to make the animal more aggressive and deadly. (Usually, the military wants a cool new living weapon.) But not in The Mutation. No, this unexpected transformation happens after medical-research-gone-awry. Specifically, the giant killer rat was supposed to help find a cure for  — wait for it — Alzheimer’s disease.

I mean, come on. You didn’t see that coming, right?

The Mutation (2021)

Frankly, this movie has Sharknado energy, and deserves to rise to that level of cult-classic cheesy horror. Inexplicably powerful creature, somehow resistant to attack? Check. An elaborate coverup to prevent the public from knowing about the giant evil rat? Check. Objectively bad decisions, an ill-timed romance, and a series of brutal deaths? Check, check, check!

Lastly — laughably terrible CGI? Well, I don’t want to give any spoilers here. But let’s just say the giant rat isn’t always a practical effect. This killer’s energy simply can’t be contained to one medium. 

If you’re the kind of person who loves dumb-creature-attack-horror, The Mutation will easily become one of your new favorites.