Customer Reviews

Automaton Transfusion

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(42)

 

 

DON'T JUDGE A BOOK, ER MOVIE, BY ITS COVER! I pretty much picked this movie up because the cover looked cool, and I never thought a movie could be THAT bad...but this movie proved me wrong. The quality is horrible. It's like watching one long, crappy webisode. When the camera moves, everything on screen gets blurred.

The effects were cool, but that's the only thing this movie has going for it. The acting is horrendous, and the story is pretty much non-existant, and doesn't make sense. It's incredibly corny, and some of the kills are over the top...which would work in a parody film, but doesn't work in this film because they're trying to present themselves as serious.

If you like to sit around and make fun of movies with your friends, then this is the prime candidate right here.

Automaton Transfusion is an ultra low budget, gore-fest, zombie bash that has been made my some obvious zombie flick fanatics, but sadly any potential that it has gets squandered. The story, for lack of a better word, revolves around a group of high school seniors that get caught in the middle of a zombie epidemic, and try to get out of town. While story isn't really all that important in a pure zombie flick, it would be nice if we at least cared a little bit about the characters here. We don't, at all, and instead just pray for their bloody demise. It should also be noted that these zombies are of the running variety, which would mean that the action and scares would be aplenty. Well, they aren't either, and the film as a whole just comes off as boring. There are loads of gore effects, where most of Automaton Transfusion's budget seemed to go. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as the gore effects are quite well done for a low budget flick, and are every bit as disgusting as any gorehound could hope for (one scene in particular will leave your jaw on the floor, if you've seen the film you'll know what I'm talking about), and are reason enough to check out this flick. Other than that though, there really isn't much else to Automaton Transfusion. Maybe that's all fine and good for you, and if so then by all means check this out. If you're looking for something that has a little bit of depth to it however (and doesn't have a grainy picture either), then Automaton Transfusion is definitely not for you.

I'd rate this movie lower if I could. The only reason I actually watched this entire movie was because I foolishly purchased it on a whim at Walmart. I love zombie movies and it sounded okay. It would be okay if it was a first year film student's work, but this just sucked on so many different levels. I really felt I needed to warn the unsuspecting zombie fans. If the bad acting, lack of anything near a plot, and poor filming isn't bad enough, they had the nerve to end it with "TO BE CONTINUED". To be continued??? Are they out of their minds? I just subjected myself to 75 minutes of one of the worst films ever made--and I actually paid money for it! Do they really think people will waste more of their precious life to see more of this? In my opinion, they didn't know how to end it, so they put a "to be continued" as the ending. What do they care? They already got our money. Please, avoid this trash at all costs. It's 75 minutes of your life you'll never get back. Root canal would be less painful. Consider yourself warned!

This movies was scary! Especially the bad acting and crappy camera work. Now, being a huge horror film fan, the name and box looked cool, but damn. I wasted $20 on this lame movie. I may take it back to Wal-Mart and say it didn't work, because it was TRULY THAT BAD!

Okay, I won't go so far as lying and stealing, but don't be like me. Don't waste your money on this horrible film.

Ok lets start with saying I'm a huge zombie film fan. I even enjoy the real low budget ones that usually get bashed in these reviews. After much hype on the Fangoria boards and so forth, I was a bit disappointed with this movie. Bad acting and even worse editing I completely expected but what I didn't expect was the film quality looking like it was filmed with someones phone camera. Some of the gore effects are ok but it really doesn't save this movie. The ending leaves you hanging like there will be sequel so unless this movie pulls off a huge cult following or something I really don't see a point in taking it any further. If your just looking to complete your zombie movie collection, I suppose this is an ok addition but I use ok very loosely.

"Automaton Transfusion" is a mess, bottom line. But this type of film isn't meant to be high-quality, or even thought-provoking. It is simply a splatterfest. But fans of this type of film will enjoy, however perversely, the non-stop gross-out throughout the entire thing. It's as nasty as Peter Jackson's "Dead Alive," only without the humor. And make no mistake, "Dead Alive" is a very black comedy.

One thing that works against this offering is the choppy camera work. The cameras are obviously low grade pieces of equipment, as is the film stock. Watching this is like having way too much to drink, and then trying to focus as you walk home. Anyone who has ever overdone it with the bottle will identify with this; even if you like this kind of movie, the constant jarring of the visuals is an extremely uncomfortable experience. Maybe it is intentional, but it really is to this film's detriment. But as I have said, the fan base of this type of film is of the mindset where low quality film, bad acting, and thin plots are secondary. It's about the on-screen carnage. And boy, does it have a lot of it! And this alone makes it a surreal experience.

But the real self-administered slap in the face this movie goes through, is the ending; it has no ending. I made myself sit through this, just to have it stop, the screen goes blank, and a caption says "To be continued." If it has a follow-up, it would have been worthwhile to indicate on the box that it is a first part. In its present context, it seems they just ran out of money and/or time, and simply hung it up.

Many reviewers on Amazon have panned this movie, understandably, but they seem to have expected more out of it. Just expect to see some of the most gratuitous, visually shocking scenes in any movie; don't read anything into it, and don't expect Romero's calibre, and see just how far a low-budget film can go over the edge.

In all candor, these types of movies don't do much for me, not any more, anyway, but I sat through it out of morbid curiousity, what with the caption on the label that says "...The best zombie film in decades..." This is probably a reference to George Romero's "Living Dead" series, which is obviously the template against which these movies are compared, but there is no comparison. The scenes of violence and evisceration do go beyond the former's scope, but the movie is patently inferior.

"One of the best zombie films in decades"... ... "The Holy Grail of true independent horror films"...

These are the notations on the DVD cover. Excuse me if I think "Night of the Living Dead" or "Evil Dead" still stand on the altar of independent horror icons. In fact, "Automaton Transfusion" has none of the endearing qualities that make independent horror so compelling; original story, new twist, a surprise or two and perhaps a little hint of "off-beat". I'm actually challenged to think of anything NOT derivative about this film. That said; if you've never seen a zombie horror film then perhaps some of this film's qualities might work for you. For the zombie veterans, you'll know where I'm coming from. Let me dismember this film so that I'm clear.

-SHAMEFUL LACK OF AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT
How's that for hacking into the jugular? See if any of this sounds familiar to you;

-Government experiment to keep dead soldiers fighting goes awry.
-Kill by head shots and infection by bites and scratches.
-Dead eat the living.
-The zombies can run fast.
-Use of a chainsaw to fight zombies.

I would bet you're familiar with about a dozen films that contain these ideas. I'm actually ok with that. George Romero's Zombie rules have been used pretty much as standard guidelines for decades. Fast zombies have been a trend for about the last 10 years or so. Chainsaws have become a standard horror convention. All of these ideas appear in plenty of good to excellent horror films. The problem here is that those films added some sort of new twist to the genre or were wildly entertaining. "So what's the big deal" you might say.

-WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Empathize with the film makers of "Automaton Transfusion" for a moment. Imagine that you've spent months, perhaps years, scraping together money so that you can put your blood and sweat into your labor of love; an independent horror film. You gather a rather large cast of unknown but competent actors. You actually have a large enough budget to pull off decent gore. You've scored some nice locations and have a clue about film making. At this point I say "good for you Steven, Bill and Mark. But why the heck did you waste your time with this derivative, unimaginative story!?". There is nothing about this film that makes me standup and take notice. I've seen it all before with the only difference being that I saw it in better films.

-VISUALLY SPEAKING
I found this film annoying to watch. I don't know what technique was used but, whatever it was, it was over used. I've noticed this technique in other films, usually used during action sequences to increase the sense of confusion. You might know the look; intense contrast with a strange and jerky frame rate so that everything looks like it's moving in a frenetic and confusing way, sort of a low quality video look. This film uses this technique throughout which just got irritating. At least there is a good effort put into the gore which did at least add some intensity. In case you were wondering, there is not enough sex or nudity to even mention it.

-THE DVD
In addition to those totally misleading quotes on the cover there is a totally misleading image of a half zombie crawling around (which would have been a step up from anything else they did in this film) however it never happened. The "Transfusion" part of the title doesn't make any sense either. Besides my qualms with the packaging this is a decent DVD. Included are deleted scenes, a rather rough "making of", some music videos, commentary track and a short film that was made in 48 hours for a film festival that lead to this film getting made. The short film was actually more intriguing than "Automaton Transfusion".

-TRANSFUSION CONCLUSION
If you've never seen a zombie film then this will seem really intense for you. However, if you've seen "Night of the Living Dead", "Evil Dead", "Return of the Living Dead" or just about any other zombie film then this is a waste of time. You won't get anything really new out of it and the story has nothing going on that will grab you as new or especially entertaining. As a mild spoiler I will tell you that the ending is a "to be continued" which is just ludicrous since so few will commit to actually watching a sequel to a bad film. In a vacuum it might have merit despite the annoying visual style. However, we tend to watch movies in rooms filled with air.

Story..........2.0 stars
Gordity.......3.0 stars
Visuals........2.0 stars
Acting.........3.5 stars
Originality....1.0 stars
Average.......2.3 stars

I know the movie was done on an incredibly low budget and a tight schedule, but that doesn't forgive the movie for being completely and utterly devoid of merit or redeeming qualities. The camerawork is damn near unwatchable, the acting is beyond amateur, and the plot... damn it there is none. There is nothing unique, interesting, or even coherent about it. It really feels like they were making it up as they went along. There isn't even an ending, just a sudden "To Be Continued" once the movie has reached what could be considered a feature-length, leaving every plot thread (including completely unexplained new situations introduced literally a minute before the movie is over) unresolved. The whole movie is a set-up for a sequel I sincerely doubt will ever get made.

So basically, if you want an unprofessional, unoriginal, no-budget, over-extended first act to a story that likely will never be finished, than I can recommend it. Otherwise, go and grab one of the million other zombie movies that have been made, its unlikely any of them are anywhere near as bad as this.

The best word I have to describe this movie is "benign."

The most obvious problem with this film is the photography. The feature seems like it was filmed with cheap mobile phones. The frame rate is so low that the choppiness of the film makes it very difficult to keep your focus on the movie. And far too many shots are blurry. The acting is so bad that it leads you to believe that casting was of minimal concern to the filmmakers. There's almost no story to the film, no creepiness and no scary or startling moments. Even when a scene should have had a startling moment (zombie jumping out from the dark), the filming was not done in a way to lead you up to the scary moment, so it just isn't startling at all.

I can almost always recommend a zombie film to someone, even if it's ultra low-budget with bad acting (often that makes it better), but this film was so pointless and, ultimately, so benign that I cannot recommend it to anyone.

I am a HUGE zombie movie fan, and I truly didn't think there would ever be a zombie flick that I would ever hate. I saw this at Walmart for $9 and I figured why not, it's a zombie flick, the cover looks amazing, and it's cheap. So I got it and my friends and I watched it a couple days later. Within the first 15 minutes my friends and I were heavily debating whether or not to keep watching. We decided to just to see if it would get any better. It didn't, and one of my friends fell asleep halfway through.

The camera work is POORLY done, and I mean probably the worst in any movie I've ever seen. It seemed kinda glitchy with a bad frame rate, like you were watching a low video quality on the internet with a dialup connection. Way too shaky too.

The acting was horrendous, I mean usually with zombie films that's to be expected but the acting in this was just annoying.

The story was...well...I don't even know what to say about that. Was there even really a story about it aside from zombies that were intended to be used for military purposes? And in the movie there's a large group of young adults attending a party, but at this point the entire world has seemingly been killed or zombiefied, yet NOBODY of the few people left knows anything about the attacks or what's going on. If the entire area was already dead or turned into zombies, how could not one single person know what's going on and be oblivious to everything? And they all clearly had access to phones seeing as how you see people using cellphones in the film. It was so boring too I thought.

My friends and I HATED, and I mean HATED this film. I will admit there were maybe 2 or 3 really cool SMALL zombie attack scenes that were well done, but that's it.

TRUST me when I say don't buy this. Go buy any other zombie movie and you'll be better off.

The film leaves off opening for a second film, as it says "To be continued..." I really hope it's never made.