Nostalgia Kinky

Visual Vengeance continues its tradition of bringing micro-budget productions to Criterion-style Blu-ray releases. One of its newest is Colony Mutation, a 1995 body-horror sci-fi production directed by one-and-done regional filmmaker Thomas Berna. This new Blu-ray comes with a whopping three versions of the film, two commentaries, archival and new interviews, and more, making this easily the definitive version of Colony Mutation out there.

Shot on Super 8 around the Milwaukee area, Colony Mutation is a strange and occasionally captivating look at a man whose body literally starts to separate from itself. This odd little film reeks of weirdness, from the off-kilter post-dubbed dialogue track to the trippy synth track, Colony Mutation is an extremely off-balance little film. Not entirely successful, but weirdly engrossing none the less I can’t think of another film that feels off in the way this film does.

Colony Mutation makes no secret hiding its admiration for the films of David Cronenberg. In fact, it is impossible to imagine this no-budget work without the King of Body Horror’s influence. This is an ambitious debut for Berna, who might have been better off starting with something a little more basic, considering this film ultimately bankrupted him and found little success.

The home video history of Colony Mutation is almost as odd as the film itself. This Shot on Super 8 was basically made to look like a purely SOV production via its first VHS release. The later DVD edition somehow or another made the film look even worse than it had before, albeit letterboxd. This Blu-ray includes both of these inferior cuts as bonus features to the Super 8 original.

As usual, Visual Vengeance treats this title like its Citizen Kane, with hours of supplements. I especially enjoyed Tony Strauss of Weng’s Chop Magazine’s commentary, which is filled with great information about the upper Midwest regional origins of this very odd little duck of a movie.

-Jeremy Richey, June 2026-