mutants

If you're a fan of foreign horror, you've got to love IFC. Over the course of the past year or so, they've become ardent supporters of fright films from around the globe, bringing numerous movies to America that probably would have never seen the light of a projector's bulb in domestic theaters otherwise.

Their latest, the French horror offering Mutants, is set to debut on their Video-On-Demand service on February 10th. In preparation, they've released an official trailer that you can check out after the jump.

The clip looks good--very reminiscent of 28 Days Later with its vicious and bloody monsters running amok. It doesn't appear to be particularly original--I think we may need a moratorium on pandemics as plot devices--but I don't think it's necessary to reinvent the wheel when making a movie of this nature in the first place. Give us some gore, a reasonably compelling story, and characters who don't act like total morons and I'll probably be happy.

Here's the official plot synopsis, courtesy of IFC:

"A world devastated by a pandemic virus that turns human beings into primitive and bloodthirsty creatures, Marco and Sonia set off to find a secret base to escape from the 'mutants.' When the latter attack them, Marco is contaminated, too. Little by little, he undergoes the same changes. Sonia, who is expecting a baby, is then forced to fight her worst enemy, the man she loves."

Click the handy "read more" button to watch the clip.

Oof, the first retail day of November certainly is a post-Halloween hangover as far as horror is concerned. This may be the weakest lineup I've seen all year.

Best of the New Releases: Dark Mirror
Earlier this year IFC picked up Dark Mirror as part of it's Midnight Slate roster, so if you missed it during its run On-Demand, now is your chance to catch up on this thriller about a woman (Lisa Vidal) who discovers that the mirrors in her house reflect a different reality than what she sees around her. It's not an outstanding movie, but it's interesting, and, perhaps most importantly, it is leaps and bounds better than all of the other straight-to-video movies out this week.

Dread (UK/US): I'm going to act like I don't know how Clive Barker's original short story played out, as I didn't know when going into the film, but that still leaves this adaptation a bit too long-winded for its own good. Stephen (Jackson Rathbone) and Quaid (Shaun Evans) team up for a college project on what people fear most, and sure enough, this little social experiment of theirs goes too far. It's an interesting premise, eventually carried out to a foreseeable but intense climax, shot moodily throughout by first-time director Anthony DiBlasi, but the redundant dorm-worthy moralizing delivered by our fairly obvious villain and a tacked-own ain't-that-wicked twist only make it more apparent that Dread was a story perhaps better deserving of, say, a "Masters of Horror" episode rather than a feature-length treatment.

Watch video after the jump

After a long flight on my part and a far longer drive for both of us, Scott Weinberg and I have finally arrived in Montréal for the FanTasia International Film Festival (their thirteenth, our first). The genre-heavy festival lasts for nearly three weeks; alas, we've but one to spare, so without much further ado, here's a look at what I've seen already and what I hope to see before Scott tips his own hand with a title or two to recommend.

Of the features playing, I can highly recommend Michael Paul Stephenson's Troll 2 doc, Best Worst Movie; the Aussie revenge thriller, The Horseman (not to be confused with the barely-seen Dennis Quaid vehicle,Horsemen); and Paul Solet's beautifully bloody baby horror, Grace. Those looking for something a bit stranger might end up being a bit more fond of Black and The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle than I was, though I also seemed more easily pleased by the Nazi zombies of Dead Snow than most, so I guess it all balances out. My enthusiasm for the ultra-kitschy likes of Alien Trespass and Lesbian Vampire Killers, not to mention the admittedly boundary-pushing Deadgirl, is all a bit less than what's already been mentioned, so let's just leave those at that.