Movie · 2020 · Science Fiction, Horror · 1h 34m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 0.4/10 (342.1K ratings)
There is something new to fear.
Overview
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.
Ratings
Curator score: 0.4/10
IMDb: 5.3/10
Letterboxd: 2.13/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 36%
Metacritic: 43
TMDB: 6.1/10
Director
Josh Boone
Production
20th Century Studios, Genre Films, Sunswept Entertainment, Marvel Entertainment
Cast
Blu Hunt, Charlie Heaton, Maisie Williams, Henrique Zaga, Anya Taylor-Joy, Alice Braga, Adam Beach, Happy Anderson, Dustin Ceithamer, Marilyn Manson, Thomas Kee, Colbi Gannett, Jacinto Vega SpiritWolf, Mickey Gilmore, Jeffrey Corazzini
Where to watch
Disney Plus, fuboTV
Curator Review
Verdict
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.
Best for
Viewers who like comic-book movies with a horror edge
Fans of moody teen ensemble stories
People curious about one of the more infamous studio oddities of the 2020s
Viewers who enjoy performance-driven genre pieces even when the plotting is shaky
Skip if
You want polished superhero action
You need genuinely scary horror
You are impatient with awkward dialogue and obvious studio compromise
You prefer tight, coherent origin stories
Overview
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.
Worth noting
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.
Bottom line
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.
Top Letterboxd reviews
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