Writer/director Tim Kincaid’s Mutant Hunt, from way back in 1987, was never meant to look as good as it does now. Sure, it was shot on 35mm film, but it was a direct-to-video release. For most of its history, Mutant Hunt was seen by viewers in 480p, formatted for CRT televisions, and that is the version available on streaming platforms. But, the folks over at Vinegar Syndrome came to the rescue yet again, having released a high def Blu-ray in 2022. That means that for the first time, except for some lucky folks who saw a limited theatrical run in Europe, viewers get to see the silliness that is Mutant Hunt in all its glory.
It’s the near future! Humanoid cyborgs are a thing, and competition for their use is fierce. One of the manufacturers of cyborgs, led by evil and unscrupulous capitalist Z (Bill Peterson), wants to develop cyborgs for military use, and introduces the illegal drug euphoron into the biological bits of some experimental cyborgs, causing them to become mutated killing machines. Meanwhile, underground drug pusher Domina (Stormy Spill) has her own plans for euphoron and the cyborgs, and a clash is 
incoming. Further, cyborg hunter Matt Riker (Rick Gianasi, first introduced in a tighty-whities fight scene) has been enlisted by Darla Haynes (Mary Fahey) to stop the cyborgs and rescue her scientist brother from the clutches of Z, and…it doesn’t matter.
The plot of this film is the best of both worlds when it comes to shitty movies. It’s both convoluted and mostly nonexistent. The true purpose of this film is to get cyborgs in front of Riker and his sidekicks, Johnny Felix and Elaine Eliot (Ron Reynaldi and Taunie Vrenon), and see some action.
Viewers get that. We also get low rent, yet endearing, special effects; some light martial arts; location as character, in both New York City and the Brooklyn Army Terminal; dead reads of sparse dialog; and Stormy Spill, who packed an entire career’s worth of shitty movie bona fides into this, her one and only film appearance.
The highlight of this movie, though, are the cyborgs. Kincaid and company found a handful of plain-looking dudes, gave them buzzcuts, matching jumpsuits and sunglasses, and had them act slightly more mobile than Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still.
This is a bad movie, full stop. But, this is the kind of shitty movie that the shitty movie fan lives for. Amongst all the dreck and dross, the crap and the chaff, it is movies like this that stand out. It has the lovely elusiveness that the French call je ne sais quoi. Mutant Hunt is a movie that defies concrete descriptions, and while it resembles much reprehensible cinema, it manages to be worth watching, in ways that Birdemic or Alien Swamp Beast are not.
Mutant Hunt is shitty gold, entering the top fifty of the Watchability Index, taking over the #46 spot from White House Down. Even if a pricey DVD is beyond one’s means, it’s still worth checking out in the older formats.