Mutilations (1986) Online

Any faithful aficionado of truly bad film should find MUTILATIONS to be a near "Crown Jewel" that surpasses the vacuously mind-numbing dreck passed off as "bad film", raises the bar on too-bad-to-be-true production values though it's mind-warping psycho-nuttiness makes a case for itself. A simplistic masterpiece of ultra-low budgetry gone wild with creativity. When an astronomy professor and his students go on a field trip to investigate a possible meteor landing and reports of cattle mutilations in the same area, they find more than what they expected. Before they even make it to the suspected site, they are greeted with a near-skeletal, but still living, cow and an unfriendly space craft. Does this stop them? Noooo! They follow the leads to the home of a reclusive religious freak who babbles on about the end of the world and hideous monsters from space coming to Earth. Armageddon strikes, for this old coot anyway, shortly after when the alien space craft makes a landing in his living room!

The rest of the film is filled with the professor and his students battling the hilariously bad giant aliens. Kudos to the FX though, the aliens are both inventively done and disturbingly entertaining. This is no STAR WARS, but if you enjoy an over-the-top low budget mind blower this flick just may be your ticket to the loony bin!

A college professor takes his students on a field trip to see alien sightings in rural Oklahoma and to check out mysterious cattle mutilations.The group runs into a half-dead cow with its flesh ripped off,a flying saucer and a farmhouse with an old hermit named Oliver Matson.They find themselves having to fight for their lives as they get attacked by stop-motion animated alien monsters obviously inspired by the works of Ray Harryhausen.Extremely cheesy and cheerful piece of local sci-fi/horror effort made in Oklahoma by Larry Thomas.The make-up and gore effects are pretty decent.I also enjoyed the stop-motion creatures and claymation effects.The acting is amateurish and the script is fairly silly,but this is a perfect movie to watch with the bottle of cold beer.7 out of 10.

I take a lot of pride in the fact that I can fully appreciate a psychotronic movie, as I had occasion to see many of them at the now out of business Backtrack Video and Records in Seattle Washington. I also feel very lucky to own a VHS of this movie, of which I will never part with. I put MUTILATIONS in the same category as WINTERBEAST, another film that regularly gets trashed by, shall we say in a polite way, those who just don't get it. They don't get the fact that independent films back then could actually be above their heads, regarding the craftsmanship it takes to make a movie that is so funny at times that it couldn't have been anything but planned. That's not to say that the film is all campy, however. There are many scenes that are well crafted fright scenes. And anyone who takes the laborious time and effort to create stop-motion effects deserves a lot of credit, since very few movies employed those techniques back then. If a camp Oscar was ever a possibility, the guy who played the teacher would win hands down. So a big salute to the people who made this film, which stands out as one of the best in its genre. And thank god MST2000 hasn't gotten hold of it, because they would again deserve to be shot for souring a whole generation of would be fans who, rather than using their independent brains, just go along with what they see on the brainwashing TV set. But that's a whole different subject. I regularly search for films they they "comment" on, which, by the way, they edit to fit their verbose, non-intellectual humor. I know, because I've seen many of the uncut, unedited films in all their campy glory. Video Watchdog missed a huge opportunity to "out" that bunch, since they often do side by side comparisons of alternate versions of movies. The only "cheese" in my vocabulary is that which I eat, and anyone who uses that term automatically goes into the uninformed, unintelligent, generation of "watchers" who can't go beyond what they merely see.

Wow this movie was totally shot in one cut I mean with the camera it used some kind of tape loaded VHS it is hard to imagine them actually "cutting" anything. I don't think the film was trying to be a spoof at all I think they were dead serious the acting was just so bad that it appeared campy. I love the claymation animations though. The professor was so bad how did he get the lead anyway? I would really like to remake this movie with about the same budget... 0 dollars. I think it could be done however I would probably use a better form of play doh though for the monsters. What was going on with the monsters anyway? They come down in space ship they have appendages that look like the drainage pipes one puts on their house to move water away, and the whole scene with the axe! Classic. I heard a rumor someone while checking out blogs that someone was working on a remake of the film. I hope they leave in the rat scene... "ahhh its a rat!" zoom into dirty stuffed animal.

As you gather by the film's title, these are not your friendly extra-terrestrials.

Professor Jim McFarland takes his student on a field trip to a small southern community which is experiencing lights in the sky and cattle mutilations. What they do encounter will have them fighting for their lives.

"Mutilations" is very much on the cheap, rather camp horror Sci-fi taking inspiration from the 1950's alien invasion crop with its story-telling, but 1980's excesses shows within its execution of its effects and shocks. That's not taking anything away from it either. For it's makeshift budget, the puppetry along with screen work (just think off Bert I. Gordon's use of it) and stop motion animation effects while crude, still amuse and offer up an effectively nasty surprise or two. Like the creative use of the claws and the icky aftermath they cause.

The term cheesy rings true for "Mutilations". Everything about it, is cheesy. But you can't help but think it was purposely so... although there are moments were you do question its intentions. The acting and dialogues are what you expect for such a project. Sometimes animated, other times wooden with constant gawking, slow reactions and ponderous ramblings... while throwing out lines like "I'm going to wash my face" when trying to escape aliens or the obvious "...killing and eating the cattle RAW". Also there are stupid moments aplenty too, which will have you raising an eye-brow. One is at the end involving a stick of dynamite. But again these don't seem to surprise.

Actually the story and get-up is rather predictable with fairly one-dimensional direction, but its snappy pacing makes sure it doesn't outstay its welcome. It goes for just under 70 minutes. A character during one stage in the film tells the group to "Stay calm and cool". I wish someone would have told that to the music composer. Very random in the cues, as the organ/or synthesizer blasts away. It was just odd with its timing... "How much do we owe you"? "15 will do it". Then the music would chime in highlighting something horrifying. Yes, I guess they were gypped. On the other hand the sound effects were quite atmospheric, especially the unusually creepy mumbling coming from the aliens.

Visually it does look low-rent with its sets, but still it creates something foreboding and moody, as you can't go wrong with a fog machine and light show. For the first half-hour we only get to see camera shots of claws and legs of our outer space guests, but later on we get to see the full design in all its glory. These stop motion creations aren't too bad, but watching them in battle is quite rib tickling due to the use of editing and screen work.

Sure "Mutilations" won't set the world alight, but its a fun throwback with some eye-popping effects... the good and the bad.

College astronomy professor Jim McFarland (awkwardly played by Al Baker) and his students discover a bunch of lethal alien invaders while investigating a series of grisly cattle mutilations in rural Oklahoma.

While writer/director Larry Thomas has some trouble getting the narrative going at the start of the picture and the amateurish acting from a game, but lame no-name cast leaves something to be desired, this eager and energetic little movie that could nonetheless proves to be quite rousing and entertaining thanks to the funky stop-motion animation extraterrestrials, a surprisingly tense and exciting last third in which several folks trapped in a remote cabin have to fight their way out, and a few awesome moments of heavy duty over-the-top gore, with a still alive skinned cow and a brutal hand through a chest gag rating as the definite gnarly splatter highlights. Moreover, the competent cinematography by Steven Wacks makes neat use of a fog machine and atmospheric lighting while the spirited shivery synthesizer score by Mark Stone and Paul McFarlane hits the stirring spot. Done with a winning combination of genuine sincerity and a tremendously infectious go-for-it enthusiasm, this baby overall sizes up as a hugely enjoyable item.

Now that is really funny. I'm sorry that I don't actually recall any of the "actors falling asleep on the set" and it being a "one shot, one cut" because I am pretty sure that dozens of takes were done before the final cut left the cutting room. I think you need to get your facts checked out since all of that slander is coming out wrong. And no, do not envision yourself as a twelve year old watching the movie because that is exactly what got the movie it's bad ratings. The film was intended to be taken in a clownish-fifties-saucer-meets-modern-day-movie-like context. I can tell you even films like Plan Nine from Outer Space took on some type of popularity. Please, in the future if you go bashing the producers and film crew of certain "oddly made" movies, please get your facts checked before you go blurting stuff like this silly boy did. I know because I was there when my father, the sole "owner" of the production company made the film. Please, please lets keep it interesting by keeping all comments on this site because that is why they let us use it.

Although this movie is truly a jewel, I don't feel it is fair to bump this up to the category of "Plant Nine From Outer Space". If you are looking for nit-ch film cult classics this would be one, I would think. The movies two best qualities are the scene in the caves where the hero and heroiness are running from the aliens and that the total running time is somewhere around 45 minutes. In the caves the most incredible actor, the fuzzy rat, bears its fangs… priceless. But if you have anything else to do, like laundry, mowing the yard or even taking out the trash your time would probably be better spent else ware. This is time you will never get back.