Curator Watchlist
A messy but occasionally entertaining mutant-horror hybrid with a few strong performances and a distinctive teen-goth mood. The concept and cast have enough personality to make it worth a curiosity watch, but the uneven script, tonal confusion, and undercooked scares keep it from fully landing.
Where to watch: Buy
Thu · 1h 34m
Director: Josh Boone
Starring: Blu Hunt, Charlie Heaton, Maisie Williams
Five young mutants, just discovering their abilities while held in a secret facility against their will, fight to escape their past sins and save themselves.
Josh Boone
Blu Hunt, Charlie Heaton, Maisie Williams
A messy but occasionally entertaining mutant-horror hybrid with a few strong performances and a distinctive teen-goth mood. The concept and cast have enough personality to make it worth a curiosity watch, but the uneven script, tonal confusion, and undercooked scares keep it from fully landing.
The New Mutants is the kind of movie that feels like it arrived from an alternate timeline where the studio was more interested in a spooky YA chamber piece than a conventional superhero spin-off. That idea has some appeal: a haunted facility, damaged young leads, and a few visuals that lean into psychological horror rather than spectacle. When it works, it has a scrappy, offbeat charm.
But the film never quite settles on what it wants to be. The scares are mild, the mythology is thin, and the script often feels stitched together from different versions of the same movie. The result is more intriguing than satisfying, with moments that hint at a much better film hiding inside the final cut.
Still, there is enough personality here to make it a reasonable watch for viewers who enjoy messy genre experiments. The cast gives the material more life than it deserves, and the film’s queer, goth, and adolescent anxieties give it a distinct flavor even when the execution falters.
Jake Wallinger (1★) · 5767 likes
My friend coughed in the theater and those few seconds were more tense and cinematic than anything this film has to offer
nickusen · 2848 likes
I was the assistant to the editing team. Was super cool to watch a big movie get made up close. Also we pretty much had an unlimited lunch budget, so that rocked.
clem (1★) · 2365 likes
the cultural revolution this would've been if it came out during the 2014 tumblr era
Kevin Schwaller (2★) · 1566 likes
the movie really questioned how to show a character is gay and decided the best way was to have her watch gay scenes from buffy the vampire slayer and I respect that 2020, ranked
Amanda the Jedi (2★) · 1561 likes
Almost every moment with Anya Taylor-Joy is super fun other than Magik's blatant racism early on. It's not remotely played as being okay in the movie but still an odd choice. I had really hoped that this was going to be a sleeper hit but it just doesn’t come together as well as I wanted. If some of the awkward dialogue had been cleaned up this probably would have played out a lot better. It struggles to be a coming… more
A tighter, more grounded take on young people discovering dangerous powers, with a strong sense of escalation and emotional damage.
Shares the claustrophobic, character-driven thriller energy and a facility-bound setup with a horror-leaning edge.
A fun teen ensemble horror-sci-fi blend that balances genre playfulness with school-age paranoia.
For the mix of adolescent pain, psychic power, and horror imagery centered on a vulnerable young lead.
A stylish teen occult story with outsider energy, queer-friendly appeal, and a strong cult afterlife.
Combines teen horror, dark humor, and queer-coded dynamics in a way that feels sharper and more self-aware.
A moody, youthful horror-thriller about guilt, death, and scientific experimentation gone wrong.
A smart, characterful teen horror film that uses transformation as a metaphor for identity and alienation.
Offers the same rebellious, stylish young-adult genre energy with a much more confident sense of fun.
A strong match for the idea of troubled teens trapped together and weaponizing their fears.
A more polished mutant ensemble story with character chemistry and a clearer emotional throughline.
The foundational mutant team film, useful as a cleaner comparison point for powers, prejudice, and ensemble dynamics.
superhero origin story, teen angst, institutional confinement, trauma and guilt, queer identity, psychological horror, found family, escape and survival
superhero horror, teen ensemble, psychological thriller, gothic mood, coming-of-age, institutional dread, comic-book adaptation, queer subtext, dark fantasy, studio oddity