Automatons (2006) this is how humanity dies

Subject: Automatons (2006) this is how humanity dies Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:48 am

Automatons
From James Felix McKenney

IMDB

Quote :: Somewhere in the distant future, The Girl (Christine Spencer) is alone. She is the last of her people, the others having died in a generations-long war that she continues to fight with the assistance of a group of antiquated robot helpers and soldiers. Her only connection to her long-dead people is a collection of recorded journal entries made by the scientist (Angus Scrimm) who cared for her as a baby. His is the only friendly human
face she’s ever seen. The regular transmissions from her enemy’s leader (Brenda Cooney) are always filled with threats and taunts. The girl responds to these invasions by attack of her own, carried out by her mechanical soldiers on the contaminated surface where no human can survive.
Men started this war. The machines will finish it.

Automatons (2006) this is how humanity dies Automatons

Quote :: FROM THE DIRECTOR (JUNE, 2006)
AUTOMATONS is the result of an early childhood misunderstanding. When I was very young, about four or five years old, I was in my grandparent’s basement in New Haven watching television with one of my uncles. My memory of this is so dim, that I don’t even remember which uncle it was or what exactly it was that we were watching. It could have been a Japanese monster movie, or an episode of LOST IN SPACE. I really can’t recall.

What I do remember is that there were robots on the screen. When I asked my uncle about them, he explained to me that this was one of many productions like this one. As an adult, I assume that he was talking about the Science Fiction genre. As a child, I thought he was telling me that like westerns with their battles between cowboys and Indians, or the World War II films that were always on, there were also dozens of films featuring armies of mechanical
men and monsters battling it out on a futuristic battlefield.

I spent much of my childhood trying to track down these movies. This was before the age of the VCR so the task was quite difficult. I never did find my robot movies. It wasn’t until I was much older did I realize that they didn’t exist. I was forced to be content with Saturday afternoon reature Features on television and episodes of shows like THUNDERBIRDS, SPACE: 1999 and DOCTOR WHO. didn’t have cable TV then either, so much time was spent adjusting the wire clothes hanger that I had attached to the aerial on the TV set in order to get in stations from exotic locations such as Providence Rhode Island that carried these shows. My first viewing of THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD was even snowier than most people’s.

Decades later, thanks to Larry Fessenden and his ScareFlix imprint, I have the opportunity to create the first entry into the film genre that I always wished existed. AUTOMATONS is the robot film as I imagined it: men in robot suits combined with primitive models duking it out in a post apocalyptic wasteland. It’s in black and white, with bits here and there that are a little hard to see, just like on my TV set as a kid. And of course, there’s the bad dubbing and the low budget look required of every B-movie. As with the many classic genre film is emulates, AUTOMATONS has a message about humanity’s tendency toward self-destruction and a cast
of new and familiar faces.

AUTOMATONS isn’t for every one. It’s not going to hold it’s own against a sci-fi horror classic like ALIEN. This film is for me and people like me who enjoy fantasy that is personal, handmade and a little violent. I like to think that it’s perfect Midnight Movie faire or perhaps for watching on TV on a lazy Saturday afternoon. No clothes hanger required.

Automatons (2006) this is how humanity dies Automatons_300

I hesitated to post it in the Scif-fi part but this is very low budget so it goes more into the serie B part. Anyway, low budget defenetelly doesn't mean bad with that movie. It's very good, loved it Smile

Another proof that with no money and some imagination, great things can be made. A must see alien

Automatons (2006) this is how humanity dies 10

(maybe I will change my mind when my shame of loving it will be gone Razz

maybe it deserves more lol!

)

But they talk about it better than me here Razz

Reviews

Trailer:

Wow...this looks really really really good...

Is it available on DVD?

Yes I have it on DVD but it's an import (region 1) - I got it in Boudisque Utrecht (you really should visit this shop, you would go mad with all the crazy movies they have affraid

) Couldn't play it on my DVD player but ooo joy I can play it on my computer cheers

And yes it's really good, I really love that the low budget is on purpose and that the director wanted to make the robot movie he would have loved as a child. Most expensive special effects movies dont compete with this Very Happy

O, and it has a little Tetsuo touch so you will probably love it Very Happy

One of the first things I made sure of when I bought my new DVD/VHS combi, was that it was region-free...whoever thought of region codes? Oh, wait, I remember! It was the group of people who came up with DVD and wanted to be able to release DVDs at different times, in different regions, without people being able to see the films before they were released in their region...Fuckerzzzzz Razz

Anyway, it reminds me a bit of Zombies of the Stratosphere (IMDb), which I still haven't seen yet though. Only read a review about it Smile

pornologic wrote:: Anyway, it reminds me a bit of Zombies of the Stratosphere (IMDb), which I still haven't seen yet though. Only read a review about it

Except this one is from 2006 but made with effects from the 50's Laughing

It's really stupid how sometimes people judge movies these days: made in the 50's, Automatons would have been called a masterpiece, today most people would call it cheap. Money and special effects became a criteria too important in my opinion.
Anyway, really loved this one!

Yeah, I know it's a new film made with cheap special effects, it just reminded me of Zombies of the Stratosphere Razz

Having a longlasting relationship with cheapass horror and scifi movies, I really like cheapass effects...I like very good ones as well, but the cheaper, the better Smile

For me, it really depends, if the story is good, if it's weird, then I really dont mind if it is cheap. I had that with tetsuo too. I actually like it even more than with very good special effect.
But it needs to have a good story line

.... well actually.... also not always, I loved Bad taste and it has no story line almost
Laughing

pornologic wrote:: One of the first things I made sure of when I bought my new DVD/VHS combi, was that it was region-free...whoever thought of region codes?

so you have a DVD-player that can convert NTSC (30 fps) into PAL (25 fps) ?

Nope, I just have a DVD-player that doesn't lock up when I play a DVD that has another region code...

I don't know if there are players out there which succesfully convert 30 fps (or 29.7, which it actually is Very Happy

) to 25 fps, should work with some internal syncing of the 60 Hz power needed for NTSC and the 50 Hz needed for PAL...Or maybe some dropframe thing or something...

But hey, without a converter, all NTSC movies are a bit longer if played on a PAL machine! Better to only buy good movies on NTSC then Razz

and anotherone I guess I HAVE to see soon! Very Happy

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