Film

The New Mutants

Name: The New Mutants
Genre: Science Fiction, Horror
Released: 2020
Cast: Blu Hunt, Charlie Heaton, Maisie Williams, Henrique Zaga, Anya Taylor-Joy

Five young mutants locked in a secret facility discover their powers while confronting the traumas that got them there. It's a horror-tinged X-Men film with genuine dread and isolation—part psychological thriller, part superhero origin story. For fans of character-driven genre work and people who want their cape stories darker and smaller.

TMDb rating

3.0

If you liked this

The Gifted2017

Grounded mutant drama about a family on the run, exploring persecution and hidden powers with real emotional stakes. Gets the everyday terror of being hunted right, and the found-family stuff actually lands.

But Runs two seasons before cancellation, so it ends on a cliffhanger. Network TV pacing can feel slow if you want constant action.

Elysium2013

Young people with augmented powers fighting against a system that created them. Slick sci-fi action with genuine anger about power structures, and Matt Damon commits completely to being the antagonist of his own story.

But The social commentary is unsubtle, and some plot mechanics don't hold water. Heavier on spectacle than character.

The Darkest Minds2018

Five teens with dangerous powers escape a government facility where they've been imprisoned. Hits many of the same beats—isolation, forced kinship, discovering abilities—with real chemistry between the cast.

But YA adaptation, so it leans into the romance subplot. Less horror than New Mutants, and the ending feels rushed.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The New Mutants

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Witch2016

Both films treat horror as a vehicle for exploring trauma and guilt rather than just scares. Both trap their young cast and use the setting as psychological space.

Like New Mutants, it uses folk horror and isolation to explore psychological terror in young people. It's utterly committed to dread as mood rather than plot mechanics, and every frame is composed like a painting.

But Slow-burn folk horror in 17th-century New England with dialogue in period English. If you want plot momentum or scares, you won't find them. It's about atmosphere eating you alive.

Videodrome1983

Cronenberg's masterclass in body horror and reality-bending dread. If you want to understand how New Mutants uses horror imagery to explore psychological breakdown, this is where that language comes from.

But Deliberately disturbing and gross. Very '80s in pacing and structure. Not remotely a comfort watch.

Okja2017

Young protagonist with a strange bond to an engineered creature, hunted by a vast uncaring system. Bong Joon-ho's peculiar tonal blend—tender and grotesque at once—captures something of New Mutants' off-kilter energy.

But Tonal whiplash between comedy, horror, and activism. The third act feels like a different film. Some find it too earnest by half.

The Facility2012

Prisoners in a medical facility don't know why they're there or what's being done to them. Raw, paranoid, and genuinely unsettling. The mystery is real because the characters are as lost as you are.

But Deliberately shapeless and grim. It's a slog, and the ending offers no catharsis or clear answers.

Dark Phoenix2019

Young mutants grappling with devastating powers they didn't ask for, caught between institutions that want to use them. Sophie Turner's lead performance carries genuine pain beneath the spectacle.

But It's the worst X-Men film in years. Bloated, incoherent plotting, and the emotional beats get buried under franchise obligations.

Splice2010

Body horror and genetic science wrapped around a story about unwanted creation and isolation. If you're curious about how to make something disturbing without jump scares, this teaches by example.

But It's deeply weird in ways that derail the plot. The final act abandons plausibility entirely. Some will find it pretentious; others will just find it gross.

Carrie1976

Both use supernatural/mutant powers as literalization of teenage anxiety—the body doing things you can't control, powers emerging from trauma. Both are interested in empathy for their powered young people, not spectacle.

De Palma's original is about adolescent powers erupting from shame and isolation, with genuine empathy for its protagonist. The telekinesis works as metaphor—which is what New Mutants was trying to do with its mutation horror.

But It's a 1976 film, so it looks it. The final act is a set piece that can read as campy now, and the misogyny, though critiqued, is still present.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion1997

Both are about young people with powers trapped in a system designed to use them, with their trauma and guilt as central as any external threat. Both reject the superhero fantasy and ask what it would actually cost.

Anime film about young pilots forced into a war they didn't choose, with their psychological unraveling as urgent as the plot. Its commitment to making body horror and mental breakdown feel *present* is extraordinary—grotesque but never cynical.

But It's confusing, Japanese animation, and deeply unsettling in multiple directions. Some scenes are actively difficult to watch. If you need conventional narrative closure, you will leave frustrated.