What happens when super soldiers, zombies and mutants get together? Troma’s Mutant Blast, that’s what.

When a top-secret military facility’s security system goes awry, their super-soldier prototype is captured by Maria (Maria Leite), a rogue soldier who works for a sect that wants to see these weaponized creations destroyed. The breached system has also released their mistakes, zombie-like masses that soon infect the city. When Maria meets Pedro (Pedro Barão Dias), a dude who awakens to his friends who have become zombies after his drunken birthday party, they become reluctant travel companions as she tries to get to her rendezvous point and escape the zombie horde.

Along the way, officials drop a nuclear bomb in error which causes everyone to mutate with extra ears, limbs, horns and for Pedro, a rat for a hand. This leads to a crazy journey and a budding friendship in a post-apocalyptic world.

In true Troma style, Mutant Blast is filled with gushing corpses, head stomping, a Lloyd Kaufman cameo, and utter nonsense wrapped up in an extremely workable package. It starts out like a POV video game, with shooting galore and fast camera work; it then switches to a buddy movie with the most ridiculous mutants. Some of these creatures include a giant rat and a Zen lovelorn lobster who has a major hate-on for dolphins.

What makes this Troma film different is it’s shooting location in Portugal. All the dialogue is in Portuguese (and a little French) which manages to make the Troma production a little fancier.

Leite gave it her all as a rogue soldier with a heart, and Dias was excellent as her goofball foil. The mutants they meet are pretty insane and my hat goes off to João Vilas as the giant lobster Jean-Pierre, who has one of the best cinematic rants in recent years. Mutant Blast nutty splatter fest also conveys a sense of environmental urgency without being preachy. Hopefully its message will hits home with audiences.

Screens:
Saturday, October 19, Scotiabank Theatre, 9:00 PM