In the far flung future of 2041, mounting tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union found the cold war turning hot, bringing the world to the brink of war for the fourth time. History shows that World War III, a non-nuclear affair, was a brief skirmish where the entire forces of NATO beat senseless the Totalitarian Regime of a small Caribbean Island, thus making the world safe for democracy. However, event though Communist sympathizers say the government wasted 250 billion dollars overrunning two farmers and a cow, the President insisted that it was two farmers, a cow, and several unruly chickens.

Our sci-fi opus begins ten years after the bombs we’re dropped. Fortunately, our protagonist, Bob (Robert McKenzie), was off planet while it was nearly destroyed, and there are still a few pockets of civilization remaining. And now that the radiation levels have died down, the first priority is to scour the countryside for provisions and find a more suitable spot for civilization to start over. But that's not as easy as it sounds. Base Alpha is near the mysterious Forbidden Zone, where it's rumored that survivors of the war roam the countryside, looting and pillaging. Mutated by the radiation from the bombs, their heads have become grotesquely fleshy, with huge sores and pustules protruding over their eyes.

Undaunted, our hero makes his way into this hostile territory and makes it as far as the ocean, where Bob finds himself longing for a simpler time before the war. Here, he waxes nostalgic for things like recreational facilities. (Bowling alleys, bars etc.) Now completely depressed, Bob, always the maverick, contemplates drowning his sorrows with some alcohol. But, he has to find some first. And while looking, he spots something in the rocks; a busted Statue of Liberty souvenir. So overcome by the fact that these brazenly materialistic things, and other, cheap souvenirs and collector plates -- just like his late wife used to horde, will never be again, he breaks down and cries.

After managing to pull himself together, Bob decides to chuck it all and confront the unknown, head on. Mounting his hi-tech hovercraft, he probes into the Forbidden Zone. Reaching sector 16-B (-- formally known as South Dakota), our hero detects something moving on his scanners and barely has time to land and dismount before he's surprised by a mutant (Douglass McKenzie)! Bob draws his trusty plasma gun but doesn’t fire, because the mutant doesn’t attack. Curious, he cautiously approaches the hideous thing and tries to make peace. He gives a friendly query only to be quickly rebuffed by this "genetic freak" who angrily states there can never be peace because of what mankind has done to him and the other mutants. He will always consider himself an enemy of civilization, and they will not rest until all of humanity is destroyed.

The stark and hellish cinematography brings to mind the minimalist work of Ingmar Burgman (Whispers of the Wolf) but the film's heaviest influence comes from Johnny LaRue (Polynesian Town, Dr. Tongue's 3-D House of Stewardesses), an old cohort from the duo's days working on broadcast television. And a lot of folks complain and simply write the film off because the F/X aren’t up to snuff. Feh. This little independent film couldn’t afford ILM and had to make do with what they had. Aside from some opening credits (-- that look like someone made it with a piece of cardboard and a Sharpie), the F/X really aren’t that bad. And who’s to say that after a nuclear holocaust that we won’t be modifying tape measures into communicators, and ping-pong guns into weapons of mass destruction?

I'm not trying to say that The Mutants of 2051 A.D. belongs in the same breadth as 2001: A Space Odyssey but it's a lot better than you've heard. Others who have seen it may disagree. To those I say watch it again -- preferably the letterboxed director's cut with the director’s commentary turned on, and then kindly reconsider your opinion.