The New Mutants

What should be appreciated is the attempt at genre-bending, however if you're going for a horror spectacle (and the trailers are very misleading in this regard), you'll be disappointed. Not that there aren't horror themes, it’s just that the whole thing comes across as completely mediocre without a shred of invention. The story and the comedic concept itself may be fine, but the film tempts you with something that ultimately falls woefully short of the 50% mark. As such, this attempt at an X-Men horror crossover got stuck somewhere in the middle of its journey. A great idea in brutally mediocre execution. (09/08/2020)

A long-awaited movie – meaning that I had been looking forward to it, knowing how good it would be. This story draws from the X-Men Universe but does not feature the X-Men as characters. Unlike other mutant movies, this one introduces new, interesting characters (The New Mutants surprisingly references Logan – a few seconds of film shots were used). It has a pleasant horror atmosphere like the original A Nightmare on Elm Street. Until the impressive ending, no useless digital effects are used. It is a high-quality, captivating chamber story that is independent of the main series. I think it could be longer. If the studio hadn’t screwed up the plans of the creators and infected the audience with distrust, any upcoming sequels would have been worth watching. Such a shame! Especially with Dani and Rahne’s potential. (09/03/2020)

This is a fairly well-made mutant spin-off, though its delayed release promised nothing better than average despite trying for a while to be more of a psychological horror movie; either the studio talked Boone out of it or I’m just too much of a hardened viewer. The climax is an orgy of tricks reminiscent of a bout of fantasy fisticuffs on acid. I was distracted the whole time, wondering if the lesbian relationship storyline could still be categorized as LGBT or if it was in fact bordering on zoophilia. Roughly comparable to the last X-Men farewell film, Dark Phoenix. (11/15/2020)

This potentially interesting horror comic-book film turned out to be such an eviscerated nothing. The New Mutants would like to lean on the characters, but the creators are virtually uninvolved with them. They'd like to differentiate themselves from other X-Men movies by setting them in the horror genre, but the scary scenes are more or less stripped down here. And while it looks pretty nice and the bunch of heroes are quite likeable despite their shallowness, it's not enough for a good movie. After years of waiting, a film that does practically nothing to impress has arrived in the cinemas. (08/28/2020)

The name you're looking for is I Am Number Four. This was, in fact, a similar high school debauchery that was made for the sole purpose of groping the potential for creating a new young adult franchise and was transparent about it all the way through. With films like The New Mutants, you almost tend to personify the film medium due to how naturally resistant it can be to these attempts to simply monetize it purely, without any further ambition or ability. Perhaps only unloaded sadists who will groan at the way actors struggle with their accents and ultimately their roles might find some satisfaction. However, the discomfort of watching it is far more pervasive. Witnessing the discomfort of everyone involved in a film of only six actors is rather comparable to being the only one to attend the birthday party of an unpopular classmate. (11/24/2020)