A rocket is sent into space. On board is a small container of bio-hazardous material for disposal on the moon. The rocket malfunctions and crashes into the Earth. A specialized team is sent to retrieve the container. The leader of the team is Hollinger (Leo Rossi). Second in command is Trotter (Ted Prior). The team is not told where they are parachuting. They land in a wooded area and begin searching for the downed rocket. Once they find it Hollinger tries to retrieve it, but the canister has been compromised. When Hollinger tries to pick it up, he becomes infected.
Before the mission, Hollinger received instructions to kill everyone in his unit once the ship and its contents were destroyed. He first orders that the ship be blown up. He then guns down everyone on his team. Two men, Trotter and another, are injured but manage to escape. Hollinger starts to hunt them down. As he is hunting, he is slowly changing. Hollinger kills the injured man and Trotter shoots Hollinger. Trotter leaves believing that Hollinger is dead. In reality Hollinger is alive and still changing.
Frost (Powers Boothe), and his research team created a strain of DNA that was a combination of human and other predatory animals. The DNA would then be used on American troops to turn them into super soldiers. The project was halted, and the material shipped to the moon. Frost arranged for the rocket to crash in rural Georgia. He sent the specialized team in and gave Hollinger instructions to infect himself and kill the others. General Devro (Wilford Brimley) is sent to find out what’s going on and to clean it up. A second team is sent in but by then Hollinger has fully transformed into a killing machine.
“Mutant Species” AKA “Bio-Force” AKA “Bio-Force 1” was released in 1995 and was directed by David A. Prior. It is an American science fiction horror film.
The movie has a lot of naysayers but for the most part it is a decent “Predator” 1987 style film. I will say it went a lot longer than it needed to. There are only so many ways to chase someone through the woods. Eventually everybody gets tired, even the people watching. The story is OK enough although a little out there. The creature is a panther faced glob of “guy in a rubber suit”. A bit gelatinous, and difficult to see in most shots, but who doesn’t love a man in suit.
There are some good points to the film. What helps the movie are Wilford Brimley as General Devro and Grant Gelt as Denise Crosby’s younger brother Jordie. The two of them add some needed talent and humor to the movie. Another highlight is Powers Boothe as the slimy Frost. Frost is the evil sociopath that dreamed up this twisted experiment. He’s the kind of guy you want to punch in the face. It gets a little schmaltzy at the end but then there is a nice final cliffhanger. The dialogue is uninspired but there are some decent kills and some nice explosions. A little good and a little bad. If you can handle the corn and the lulls you will be entertained with the rest.