The Mutations

"The Mutations" is a classic example of "not so bad it's terrible but still so bad it's bad" design wise.

I don't know who ever had the idea of putting giant blocks over other images for these boxes, but it was a terrible idea and I hope they are in hell as I write this, especially since that style became almost the norm for a lot of these boxes. While there's nothing really atrocious about this, it's still pretty bad. I mean, the tagline is outright boring, "It's not nice to fool with mother nature...it can be HORRIFYING!" like, that does nothing for me, even when coupled with a seemingly grotesque image on the front that I guess they assumed would interest people into seeing it? I mean, it's not bad monster design, really, but overall it's not really anything to write home about either. Hell, it's not much to write about here for that matter.

I also am highly skeptical of the "Hollywood Horror Collection" logo placed at the top, as if this were the VHS equivalent of The Criterion Collection. When I think "Hollywood Horror Collection" my first thoughts are classic hollywood horror movies, be they the Universal monster lineup of the 50s or even things as recent as The Fly in the 80s. Not this. In fact, just because I'm a researcher, I went and searched for the Hollywood Horror Collection, and not only could I find no mention of it, but I didn't even see this logo anywhere else, which only lends to my belief that they flat out made this up to slap on their box and potentially move more copies. For shame.

The images on the back are actually not atrocious this time around, but without any context they're also not exactly the best images to judge by; two close ups, what looks like a doctor and a creature of some sort looking over someone elses body? It just doesn't really do anything for me. Again, like most of this box art, not so bad it's horrendous, but so bad that it's still boring.

This movie was apparently also released under the title The Freakmaker, which sounds like a funk album, and the director, while his work history his quite large and the span of his career quite impressive, has nothing really of true value to his name, and was more a cinematographer than anything else, so. The description is kind of interesting, but it just sounds like another take on Browning's "Freaks", really, and while, I admit, the concept of "Human Venus Flytrap" sounds absolutely awesome, I'm sure in motion it looks terrible despite not having seen it. I can almost guarantee this. Obviously the most interesting thing about this movie is the fact that Donald Pleasence and Tom Baker are in it, and even that doesn't really do much for me, personally.

Nor could it save the film, apparently, as it hasn't had much of a legacy and was even given a 2 out of 4 stars by Leonard Maltin. Part of my favorite bit from the Wikipedia is the release history where it mentions who else has since published this film onto DVD or Blu-Ray or what have you, and one of them is a company called Subversive Cinema. I would argue that this is not subversive cinema, and I don't even have to see the movie to argue that. In fact, I feel pretty confident in arguing that despite having not seen it, because subversive would be something like Cannibal Holocaust, which left a mark on the industry, and not the fucking Mutations, a movie that nobody on earth remembers.

Really, I don't have a whole lot to say about this movie or its box art. There just...isn't much there. Yeah, it's about as grotesque as the monster on the cover, but that's really all it comes down to. Although, wait a second, I failed to notice this before...

While making any of this out in a coherent way is rather difficult, it DOES seem like there's more to the "Hollywood Horror Collection" than I previously believed! I still don't know how legitimate this "collection" actually is, or if it's even endorsed by Hollywood, but that's something to look into. Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, Blind Terror and something that, at this blurry of a squint seems to read "Brotherhood Of Batman", maybe I should look into these more.

Ah, yes, it's good to know that ALL their releases look like shit! I guess this "box art" is more for this "collection" than just something for one singular release, too. Guess I know what I'll be doing next! I'll try and see if I can track down more of these releases for future posts, because you know, it really isn't fair that I have to suffer alone through this.