B-


First of all: there are no actual "mutants" in this film. The creatures that are here are a mixture of 28 Days/Weeks Later's infected and The Descent's Crawlers, but all in all still looking very much human. It's your typical "disease gets out of control and turns people into flesh-craving zombie-alikes, wait, I mean mutants". The plot set-up is very much "recently seen already"...however this is not the film's focus. Unlike most similar films this one has little actual action and for most of the film little is seen of the mutants' hordes. There are no scenes in big cities and an abandoned hospital is the setting of the film for 90% of its short running time. In the end, it is a love story and the boundaries of love (or the lack thereof). Basically, there are two main characters, a married couple, the wife pregnant and apparently immune to the virus. Both are heading to some army base they have heard of that might or might not have a cure. On their way there, the husband becomes infected and slowly, but gradually turns into one of the monsters. However, love is strong and despite the suffering and the increased aggressive behavior (the whole transformation lasts about three days and includes falling off fingernails, vomiting a lot of blood, losing hair, having some wounds all over the body, vomiting some more blood, urinating blood, losing some teeth (as they are being replaced by new, sharper teeth) and vomiting blood again - yes, there is a lot of blood). the wife can't let the husband go. So far so good as it's not your typical zombie horror. Oh and did I mention the film is French?

However about halfway into the film we're introduced to a bunch of stock, cliché ridden and disposable characters whose only purpose here seems to have someone, well, at disposal as soon after their appearance large numbers of mutants attack the hospital and our female protagonist has to run for her life while her fully transformed husband is trying to break out of his cell where she put her, unable to put an end to his suffering. This action-heavy part of the film brings it down to a very standard and not even particularly exciting kind of a film. The shaky cam works well here, but the attacks are simply too quick and the director cuts away a lot. The quieter moments are the film's biggest strength, however they become very rare towards the end. It's not another great French horror flick as we have been seeing some lately, but it is a film with a lot of potential and an execution that started off well, but failed somewhere midway.

However, I'm pretty sure that due to its rather unusual nature, it'd definitely find some fans here.

Really enjoyed it myself. Very well-shot.

8/10 (B+)