Mutant Genesis / The Behemoth

Few of life’s simple pleasures could compete with “two-for-one” video-rental night back in the ‘80s. Instead of choosing a reliable Hollywood blockbuster you could scoop up some tantalizing B-movies with interesting cover art and walk away knowing it only cost 99-cents anyway. How bad could they really be? The answer: pretty damn bad. But somehow masochistically enjoyable. Let’s reenact the scene with a pair of modern B-movies desperate for a blind-buy in the Walmart bargain bin: the Chinese sci-fi action-copycat Mutant Genesis (2026) and horror festival also-ran The Behemoth (2025).

In the former, the last dregs of humanity struggle against a conquering robot army after an AI apocalypse. Director Qilin Li’s video game cutscene epic mixes some not-bad acting with sketchy CGI Terminators. Their only real threat is reluctant warrior, An Xin, who is half machine herself. Loaded with blatant references to The Matrix, Star Wars and even Resident Evil, there’s no originality here but plenty of battle scenes and pretty colors. It feels like you should pick up a controller and play along!   But, for all that, Mutant Genesis is the modern equivalent of bad ‘80s sci-fi: playing catch up with better movies with bigger budgets.

Things get decidedly more human in The Behemoth, which uses a clever first-act twist that brings to mind Barbarian’s famous bait-and-switch. While vacationing in the British countryside, Rebecca and Ryan suspect there might be something wrong with their host Christine. And when a gaggle of red-robed devil worshippers takes them all hostage, things only get worse from there. With a sprinkle of Lovecraft and a dash of The Exorcist, director Kai E. Bogatzki’s love letter to the “old gods” could have used a second or third draft. But he’s got some of the right pieces in place, including a finale splattered in practical effects gore.

Both released separately on DVD from Cleopatra Entertainment, with overly familiar Alien 3 cover art for Mutant Genesis, there are no extras to speak of. But that’s probably the best situation for all involved: get in, get out and move on to the next late-night double-feature picture show.



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