It can sometimes be easy to dismiss Troma Entertainment. Their output is spotty at best, with their greatest achievements derived from the films they produce in-house. The majority of their recent releases have all been films they have acquired. With the exception of the upcoming Shakespeare’s Shitstorm, Troma spends small amounts of money buying these little pictures to release on their streaming platform, Troma Now, or on physical media. Their most recent release, Mutant Blast (2018), is definitely a standout for numerous reasons.
Maria (Maria Leite) is a fearless soldier who teams up with TS-347, a man who is in possession of superhuman strength. Both are being tracked by a military cell that has developed certain scientific experiments that have turned most of the population into zombies. They meet up with a guy named Pedro (Pedro Barao Dias), a man with nothing on his mind other than this killer hangover. Together they will try to navigate through the apocalypse, which turns out to be far more difficult than they could have ever imagined.
Seeing that Mutant Blast has been compared to Astron-6 and early Peter Jackson really piqued my interest. Most of the time, when praise like that is thrown at a film, it pales in comparison. I’m happy to announce that I agree with the sentiment and the film is much better than I expected. Surprisingly, the film goes to great lengths to keep character at the forefront, but there’s never a shortage of nasty stuff. There’s a bit of silly-looking CGI gore, but the movie shines when it features the brilliant practical effects. Torn off limbs, spraying blood, crushed skulls, and more are shown in delightfully graphic detail.
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Even more surprising is just how loaded the two-disc Special Edition is. Usually, these Troma editions tend to pack their discs full of Toma-related goodies. However, Mutant Blast really goes all out and deep dives into the making of the film with features like pre-production tests, trailers, bloopers, effects, and, of course, Lloyd Kaufman detailing his involvement in the Portuguese production.
It’s one of the more memorable films coming out of the Troma camp in recent years. There’s just enough humor, heart, and gore to satisfy everyone for ninety minutes. Where else can you see giant lobster humanoids battling it out with dolphin creatures? Troma, of course. So be sure to take your chance on Mutant Blast. You’re guaranteed to have a killer time.
Check out the trailer here!
