[Automaton Transfusion]
Plot:A small town, near by a major city, becomes overrun by zombies. Three local teens find themselves caught in the middle of a major war, between the humans and the dead, and decide to fight back. What follows is a fast paced, punch you in the throat, non-stop ride.

Cast:Joel Hebner, Garrett Jones, Juliet Reeves, William Howard Bowman, Rowan Bousaid, Ashley Elizabeth Pierce, Kendra Farner, Kevin J. O'Neill, John Youmans, Larry Miller, Jeff Denton, Christopher Mark, Kenny Matthews, Rita Manyette, Channing 'Deebo' Robinson.

My Thoughts:Bloody, Gory, but still flawed in some ways.

Review:Zombie movies as of recent have taken a pretty bad hit over the last few years. With "real" zombie movies (not including resident evil) being MIA until "Diary Of The Dead" earlier this year...zombie fans haven't had much to cheer about as of late. Steve C. Miller sought to change that with his indie effort "Automaton Transfusion"...a story about a group of normal everyday teens thrust into the mix of a zombie plague in their small town. The movie is a great effort by Miller, with all the blood and gore a horror fan can dream of and want from his or her zombie movie. "AT" pulls no punches when it comes to splatterific blood and gore.

Not to mention the violence in the movie which is basically non-stop. People are bitten, have appendages ripped "off" and ripped "out" of their bodies, and then there are those who are simply eaten alive and die a horrible death. But as much as Miller's film brings the noise when it comes to blood and gore, it really lacks in story. For example, a dead person is brought into a local morgue, and moments later, he awakens and kills a kid. It's at that point that the zombie plague begins to spread. Yet it's never revealed how this occured or where this kid ended up getting infected from.

I guess Miller wanted to create a zombie movie where the zombies themselves are the mystery, and their origins are unknown. Although Romero did it better in "Night Of The Living Dead"...Miller still gives a decent effort at having the origins of his undead killers remain secret, until atleast a certain point in the movie where a significant bit of info is revealed about their origins. Although I personally found those moments disappointing, in a genre like this...they play very well to the classic "whodunnit" angle of the zombie subgenre. The characters of the film are pretty likeable, and each one has their moments to shine during the zombie outbreak which spreads around town quickly and viciously.

What is most to like about the characters of the film is that they are and will be easy for most viewers to relate to. These aren't O.C. kids, or GAP kids, but just the average teens you'd find in most cities or towns in america. This also adds a very strong sense of realism to the movie, instead of having a cast full of characters people couldn't relate to on atleast the most basic levels. "Automaton Transfusion" doesn't spend alot of time laying out a story, as it moves quickly into the zombie attack and most of the film is spent on zombies eating, attacking, and killing people.

Then of course, there are those moments where the humans fight back against the undead menace, and the inner emotional conflicts that emerge when one of the group ends up dead along with reactions to the current situation at hand. That is another thing that sets "Automaton Transfusion" apart from most other zombie movies. There is an emotional level to this movie which alot of other zombie films completely skip over. You would normally expect some yelling, angst, or freaking out after your friends are being killed, people are dying all around you, and you don't even know yourself if you will survive or not.

That happens in this movie, and it adds a whole new, and even more realistic dimension to "AT". The ending of the film where some revelations come out, and one character commits the A-typical "honor suicide" comes off as slightly disappointing, and kind of a let down. But...the movie does finish up on a very intriguing and surprising note. How this film concludes is very new, fresh, and original. Sure...it's been done before, but not often enough. And I for one, found the ending to be quite clever yet shocking all in the same breath. "Automaton Transfusion" has issues with originality and a strong story at times, but overall it's a good zombie movie...and therein lies it's greatest strength.

Positives:Lots of blood, gore, and gruesome scenes. A strong sense of realism within the behaviors and actions of the characters. Likeable characters, and a strong final scene.

Negatives:As I said in the review, the revelations about the zombies are stale, and I think should've been reworked to be more original. And...the story is a bit discombobulated in a few spots.

Overall:Fans of the zombie genre will love this movie for it's boldness to dive head first into the gory side of the genre, and love every minute of it. If you like your zombie films with more of a solid story, you might find this film to be more of an even split.





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