The past few years France has established itself as the country to look towards when you're seeking a gory and hyper-violent genre pic. Mutants is yet another addition to that ever-growing list and although it slows down a bit in the middle-mark, manages to remain entertaining for the part.

The flick starts off pretty strong, as we follow a few people in a rushing ambulance, who are apparently on the way to a nearby military base. Now a couple members short, a female medic and her boyfriend (who became infected after a pit-stop at a secluded gas station) are the only ones left in the large military facility. It's around this part that the pacing of the frantic beginning slows down a great deal.

For the next 30-minutes the movie focuses simply on the medic and her attempts to help save her boyfriend from turning into a violent blood-crazed mutant. The woman is apparently immune to the infection somehow, so she hopes by transferring some of her blood into the man's system he will be able to fight the infection. As I said, the pacing takes a drastic drop and sadly doesn't pick up again until the mid-point when some new characters are finally introduced.

Among the new group is actor Dida Diafat -- a real-life Thai kickboxing Frenchman, who you can be sure does some ass-kickin' in the flick (though, not as long as he should have). Little is revealed about the infection itself or how wide-spread it is (from what I can remember), but it's clear that it spreads when someone comes into contact with an infected person's blood and within hours it will turn them into a violent mutated beast that's only instinct is to kill.

As expected from France, director David Morley delivers loads of blood and violent deaths. There are a few decent gore scenes, but the movie offers more blood than anything else, which in an abundance of, can sometimes be better than sheer gore. After the movie gets over its pacing-funk, the last 30-minutes is a nice adrenaline ride until the finish, and boosts more similarities to another successful infection-based movie, 28 Weeks Later.

The looks of the mutated people brought flashbacks to those cave-dwelling creatures from The Descent and we're given practical effects for a majority of the death scenes both human and non-alike, which is a breath of fresh air considering filmmakers seem keen on CG blood now-a-days. In the end, had the film's pacing in the middle been as hectic and entertaining as the first 15 and last 30 then Mutants definitely would have been a French pic to look out for.

A decent addition to the list of recent violent and bloody French horror, but loses points due to pacing issues for a majority of the middle part of the film. However, it's still entertaining and offers a good amount of blood, and fans of infection films like 28 Weeks Later will likely enjoy the similar theme and fast-paced last 30-minutes.