"Every generation has a horror film that defines its Culture. This is that film." That's the bold proclamation on the trailer to Automaton Transfusion, the debut feature for writer-director Steven C. Miller. Made for a piddly thirty-thousand-dollars and employing many amateur actors, Miller's movie is from the "new school" of horror filmmaking where it's been concluded that plot really gets in the way of what people really want: this, of course, being oodles of gore, non-stop violence, and quick cut editing that makes almost every attack scene a blur of action. The entire movie has a whole feeling of "let's go as extreme as we possibly can!" that, by the time the cop-out "To Be Continued" ending appears, you're most likely to be more worn out than anything.

That's not to say that what Miller and company has come-up with is a complete wash, because it isn't, and I commend them for packing as much as they humanly can into the slender seventy-five-minute running time but perhaps they should've taken a hint from one of their main inspirations, George A. Romero, and worked more on making characters we actually give a rat's ass about so that when they are killed-off these moments have more impact than us just marvelling at Rick Gonzalez's well-done gore effects (which includes one kick-ass jaw ripping).

Things start off on a good note as a morgue attendant finds himself being dragged into a body drawer, and snapped in half, after one of the corpses they had put in there earlier turns out to be not quite dead. It's a good adrenalin rush before we're given a typical set-up that introduces us to a stereotypical batch of high school students, who witness their teacher being bitten by one of the students but don't really bat much of an eyelash as they're much too distracted by that evening's house party and concerts that are going on.

We meet Chris (Garrett Jones), who is heading to the city to watch a band with a few friends. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Jackie (Juliet Reeves) has agreed to go to a party off in the middle of the countryside. What they both don't know is that they'll soon be watching everyone around them being gorily chewed-up by oodles of zombies as they try to stay alive amongst all the gut-munching mayhem.

And that is about all the plot you're going to get from Automaton Transfusion. Like I said earlier, Miller doesn't really concern himself much with characterization or even giving a reason why all these fast-moving zombies are attacking at will (and seemingly multiplying at a quicker rate than rabbits). They just continually knock you over the head with various bloody attack scenes even going so far as to having one girl, who's apparently pregnant, having her unborn fetus ripped from her stomach and eaten - yes, this is the whole "extreme" thing I was talking about and, yes, it's as lame as it sounds.

But I guess they decide that they have to at least throw us a little bone as the finale introduces the school janitor who, in an unintentionally funny moment, happens to have a file all about why this is happening thanks to being a top secret Military agent. Yeah, sure. Then we cue the "we didn't know how to finish this movie" end 'TBC' card (apparently this is meant to be a trilogy of films) and roll credits.

Considering Automaton Transfusion's budget and the fact the thing just flies through the gates and doesn't really let up until the end, it's easier to forgive the movie's flaws than it would've been with a lot of independent movies. It's obvious Miller does have a love for the genre (one scene involving a glass shard even borrows liberally from Fulci's Zombie) and if he can give his characters a bit more life in the planned sequel he may just be able to get closer to the bravado quote in the trailer. (Chris Hartley, 3/3/08)

Directed By: Steven C. Miller.
Written By: Steven C. Miller.

Starring: Garrett Jones, Juliet Reeves, William Howard Bowman, Rowan Bousaid.

Picture Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: The picture here is pretty clean and the transfer looks pretty good but, considering the movie's low-budget, it does look a tiny bit fuzzy at times and almost suffers from a few "soft" moments. The picture is also a bit jerky at times, but I'm not sure if that is the fault of the transfer or just a directorial decision by Miller.

Extras: Dimension Extreme has given fans of this movie quite a bit to chew on. We get a trailer, music videos by Blinded Black and Dancefloor Tragedy, deleted scenes with optional commentary by Miller, a quite watchable twenty-five-minute "making of" featurette, Miller's short film Suffer Or Sacrifice which was an entry in the "48 Hour Film Fest" (where the movies had to be produced within that timeframe), and a commentary track by Miller and producers William Clevinger and Mark Thalman which turns out to be an enjoyable enough listen that gives insight into making the movie with a small amount of cash.