Rami Ungar The Writer

The New Mutants. The last film in the Fox X-Men movies and promising in the trailer to be a horror film set in a comic book universe. Originally supposed to be the second to last, but its release date was pushed back several times over the past two years. Released this weekend after the latest delay due to COVID-19. I went today to see it, the first movie I’ve seen in a theater in months.

Let me tell you how it ranked as an X-Men movie, a superhero film, and a horror film.

The New Mutants takes place at a facility for young mutants whose abilities have led to deaths: Dani Moonstar, whose abilities are as yet unclarified; Rahne Sinclair, who transforms into a wolf; Sam Guthrie, who can fly at jet speeds; Illyana Rasputin, who has sorcery powers (lucky girl); and Bobby de Costa, who can manifest solar energy. They are watched over by Dr. Reyes, a mutant with barrier abilities who says she’s helping the teens get their powers under control. However, as odd events occur around the facility, it becomes apparent that not all is as it seems. They’ll have to band together to find the truth and defeat the evil menacing them.

I’ll start my review by saying this: while this may be advertised as a horror film in a comic book universe, that’s not true. At some level during the creation of this film, someone (probably 20th Century Studios’ execs) didn’t want the film to lean too far into the horror elements. Despite proving time and time again that comic book/superhero movies have the ability to tell mature stories, they’re still considered films for children and families, and too much horror will alienate families from theaters. That’s why, in general, there are very few horror films in comic book/superhero universes (and not all of them good).

Which is why, as a horror film, The New Mutants sucks. While the trailer promised us plenty of horror, there’s very little attempt to actually scare us. No atmosphere, tension or jump scares, and what scary imagery we get is done mainly through CGI. And as you know, if you’re not careful about it or rely too much on the CGI, it actually makes the film less scary. It’d be more accurate to call The New Mutants a comic book film with a couple of horror elements.

And as far as X-Men and superhero films go, this is average at best. The character building needed for a superhero film is minimal at best (and is most lacking in Bobby de Costa’s character), the one action sequence is not as spectacular as it could be, and the final showdown ends anticlimactically. It’s not as bad as the worse of the X-Men films or of superhero films in general, but it still leaves a lot to be desired.

Was there anything I liked? Well, Rahne and Dani, played by Maisie Williams and Blu Hunt respectively, have a romantic relationship that’s pretty cute to watch. It’s nice to see two broken people fall genuinely in love without their own fears or toxic personality traits getting in the way. And I think this counts as the first superhero film with openly LGBT superheroes, let alone LGBT superheroes in a relationship. Props.

While the characters don’t have that much development, their actors do a great job bringing those characters to life. The setting, while cliche, is constructed very well. And the CGI for the superpowers is done very well.

All told though, The New Mutants is a film confused about what it wants to be, and it shows in how poor this film was. On a scale of 1 to 5, I’m giving this one a 2.5. All told, not worth the wait for it to come out, let alone the trip to the theater.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. If anyone needs me, I’ll be working on a list of horror films to watch this Halloween season and probably watching a good superhero film, namely Black Panther (rest in peace, Chadwick Boseman). Until next time, pleasant nightmares!