Automaton Transfusion

Oh another zombie movie that blew chunks.Imagine that.This movie promised the world on the DVD box but little did I know that this was another of those 8 Days of Horror or whatever they call it.Any of those movies I've saw were awful and this one was no exception.

First off I've no idea what the title means.It wasn't explained.After seeing this puke pile I'm guessing this homemade piece of junk was just given some weird mysterious nonsense title to give it a bit of class or mystique or whatever.

Anyway the mean old US government was doing more experiments in some little town on dead bodies to try and bring them back to life so they could fight our wars for us.Seriously.That was the reason given for this wave of zombies.The experimental zombies were released as a test and naturally and of course the experiment goes wrong.These zombies were made to be stronger and faster and able to think by the experiments so it was a bad decision to let these things loose on purpose it would seem.

Zombies run amok while a group of teens,the only ones left alive,run around trying to stay away from them.

Boy this thing stunk to high heaven.The acting was horrible.The script was worse.Special effects were clunky and badly done and just sort of thrown in here and there as opposed to sort of happening naturally during the course of the movie.These zombies were strong enough to rip heads and legs off yet seemed to be stopped by someone closing a door and turning the little lock on the knob.The continuity from scene to scene was a mess.The teens would run out the front door when a zombie came in the back way yet just a second ago they had ran in that very same front door with a swarm of zombies right behind them.The action jumped from scenes that looked to be out in the middle of nowhere to city scenes with no explanation of how the characters got transplanted so fast.

The camera was slashed around so fast during the fight scenes it was just impossible to follow what was happening.I eventually gave up trying.There's nothing really positive to say about this clunker.The info I read about this thing says it was shot in 9 days.From the way this mess turned out I would have guessed 4 days. This pile of garbage even ends with the words "To be continued..." on the screen.

It felt like I was watching a two part episode of "The Beverly Hillbillies" or something,like when the Hillbillies went to England when they learned they owned a castle over there and they just couldn't get all the Jethro fighting a dragon jokes in a one 30 minute episode,I see the reason for doing a TV show like that but who ends a movie like that?And to beat it all I read there was a Part 2.Anymore no matter how bad and unwatched the first one was they always convince themselves someone wants a Part 2 of it.

This was just another homemade piece of junk from people who have little talent for horror movies.Too bad today's technology is so easy that everyone who used to think they could write the next great American novel now thinks they can make the next great zombie movie.

Just because you got a camera and you can do a little CG on a computer doesn't mean you got any movie making talent.

This was a pile of fecal matter called a movie. Wow. I can't believe how awful it was. Whoever is responsible for those quotes on the box that made me buy it should be hanged. I guess it's my fault for being so naive though. I was just craving a good zombie flick, that's all. What I got was a really bad student film. Like a high school student film. Avoid this one.

Well, it appears that I need this thing to be ten lines long, so I guess I can say a few things about what exactly sucked about this movie (which was pretty much everything, but...). Here we go: first off, the film quality was really really annoying. It looked like it was skipping frames or something. I think maybe they wanted it to have the slight motion blur like 28 Days Later, but they just ended up making it look really bad. The acting was pretty bad, although not completely awful. I think some of the mohawk-guy and the black-guy's reactions were good, but they weren't really given much to work with in the way of a script. And yeah, the "script" was pretty much non-existent. I'm out.

Shame on everyone involved in releasing this utter piece of garbage! This is sloppy, talentless film-making at its worst.

The premise: Regurgitated regurgitation. The script: To use the word 'weak 'would be giving it too much credit. The acting: Straight out of a high school video production class. Entertainment value: Difficult to get beyond all of the above coupled with the fact that the entire movie has a jerky motion. Almost like it was shot on a mobile phone. The filmmakers attempt at achieving a film look on a low budget simply DOES NOT work. Yuck! *The makeup/gore effects: Not bad, especially for ultra low budget.

My suggestion for viewers: Skip this mess. My suggestion for the filmmakers: Buy a better camera, learn how to write a screenplay and try giving a damn about story and quality acting before you even consider shooting another movie. another movie.

I can only think of very few good things to say about this movie. The best way to sum it up is that it's a low-budget zombie horror flick. Don't go in expecting anything more. In fact, the lower you set your expectations, the better off you are. Honestly, this movie was such poor quality I had a hard time sitting through it. The filmmakers seem like they were out to have a good time when they shot this, but the end result is barely tolerable. The movie is barely 75 minutes long, but it felt like it took FOREVER to watch.

The list of what makes this movie near-unwatchable is long, so I'll try to keep this somewhat brief. The first thing I noticed about this movie was the picture quality. I don't know how best to describe it other than saying it looked as if they took a frame or two out every couple seconds. Motion in the movie seemed to have a jerky, stop-n-go feel to it that got old real fast.

On top of the odd choppy visuals, the movie appeared to be shot nearly all hand-held and, therefore, most of the best action was undecipherable. You can barely tell what exactly is going on in some of the zombie attacks. I think the biggest example occurs later in the movie when the protagonists are running through the woods with their newly-acquired weapons, the zombies attack and everything gets shaky. Next thing you know, one of the protagonists is in a car with someone who wasn't there before and they drive off. Moments later, everything goes shaky again the the two of them fall from the sky into a lake. WTF, mate? How did they maneuver from Point A to Point B here....?

The film suffers from the usual low-budget horror issues: terrible continuity, poor acting, horrendous dialogue, a mediocre story, and plot holes the size of the the Grand Canyon. And another thing: what's the deal with the title of this movie? I can't understand how it makes any sort of sense, at all. It's odd when someone asks what you're watching, you answer "Automaton Transfusion", and their eyes glaze over in confusion. Is it a medical documentary? Does it have some to do with machines? No, it's a zombie movie. Bah?

There is one decent quality to this entire film: the gore effects. They weren't spectacular, but they were pretty good for the meager budget they were working with. Rick Gonzalez did a fantastic job with some of the feasting and attack scenes in this movie. Honestly, if you can overlook the other issues with this movie, it's worth at least one watch-through to check out some of the effects.

One final thing (and this is more of a WTF question): after all hell breaks loose at the house party, why did the one blonde chick climb into her CONVERTIBLE and pause to think, as if "Ahhh...a moment of piece of gather my thoughts...". It's not as if the car has windows, a roof, anything to SLOW DOWN an attacking zombie and give her a moment to drive away. All it has to do is CLIMB OVER THE BACK SEAT. Seriouly....come on....

In Downey, the teenagers Chris (Garret Jones), Scott (William Howard Bowman) and Tim (Rowan Bousaid) are best friends and decide to drive to a bar downtown to watch the gig of a grungy band while Chris' girlfriend Jackie (Juliet Reeves) goes to a party with her preppy friends. While heading to downtown, the trio of friends notes that there is no car in the road despite the rush hour and then they find that the streets are empty. When they arrive in their destiny, they are chased by zombies and run to the bar. Chris decides to return to Downey while Jackie and her friends are attacked by a bunch of zombies.

Despite the awful camera-work and the flaws in the screenplay that uses all the clichés of zombie movies, the first half of "Automaton Transfusion" is not so bad. The gore special effects and the acting are indeed very reasonable for a B-movie. There are funny moments and like in many Ed Wood's movies, there is not continuity in many sequences, with the sun shining when it should be night and so on. However, when Chris decides to return to the high-school with his friends, the plot becomes more imbecile culminating with attitude of Scott and the ridiculous explanation for the outbreak given by the military janitor. But the worst is the inconclusive ending "to be continued": the director and writer Steven C. Miller must be kidding. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): Not Available