Automaton Transfusion was one of the most highly anticipated films at the festival due to the fact it was screened right after Toronto’s famous ZOMBIE WALK. I was surrounded by overly excited zombies in the theatre who were eager to see the film. Needless to say, it made for some crazy photo ops. (*Which you will be able to see later this week in my wrap-up coverage of the fest)
The horror movie (which was picked up by Dimension Extreme Films) is about a small group of teenagers who have their worlds turned upside down when reanimated corpses wreak havoc on their town, and they must fight to stay alive and to find a cure to end the flesh eating madness.
The zombie flick was miraculously shot for a low budget of 10,000 dollars. The film was able to please the zombies in the audience, (BIAS!) but was it able to please everybody else? Read on.
THE GOOD
The thing that astonished me the most about this movie were the very impressive make-up and special effects. Considering the extremely “even lower than Clerks” budget of the film, I was surprised that I had to turn away for some of the gore. (Gotta love that eye gauging “Fulci” homage!)
The filmmakers sure knew how to stretch that money, and it definitely paid off considering this film is the first installment in the already planned trilogy.
THE BAD
Unfortunately, everything else was a colossal and bloody mess. The acting and dialogue was not only ridiculous but also unintentionally funny. (For example, a guy calls his girlfriend ‘hooker’ as a pet name, and she laughs. WTF?!) Also, if you had motion sickness while watching ‘The Blair Witch Project,’ I suggest you stay FAR away from this movie. The camera (which looked like it was shot on digital) was shaking non stop throughout the ENTIRE film from start to finish.( It got to the point where I felt like I was watching an episode of ‘Cops.’ )
OVERALL
Despite the fact that there were a lot of negative qualities about this film, it is still a solid and impressive effort (from writer/director Steven C Miller) considering how amazingly low the budget was for this film. If the director had focused as much energy on casting and cinematography as he did with the zombies and gore effects, this could have been the next “miracle” film. Hopefully the next two films will have a bigger budget. I give this film a rating of 5 out of 10.
