[2] Professor Nolter is a deranged genetic scientist, whose self-proclaimed goal is to break through to the next stage in human evolution, cross-breeding anthropophagous Venus flytraps with abducted college student guinea pigs from his own class.
Inspired by Tod Browning's film Freaks (1932) with a science fiction twist, the film features pseudo-scientific jargon, stop motion visuals, makeup effects, references to psychedelics, comical gore, nudity, and appearances by actors with actual genetic abnormalities as well as some fictional disabilities including a man with "rubber bones" known as the Human Pretzel, a lady with reptilian skin (Alligator Lady), a Monkey Woman, a Human Pincushion and Popeye.
The film, which takes as its subject biological innovation and rapid structural change, has been directed in such a tired, conventional manner that its form appears to be a parody of its content.
At no point does the direction ever satisfactorily blend the two stories (the mad scientist and the plight of the sideshow performers) – a weakness that effectively hampers any fascination that the mechanics of the genre might have generated.
By comparison, the total lack of sincerity surrounding The Mutations, and Cardiff's superficial, rudimentary approach to his material, relegate the film to the level of pure exploitation.