Automata review: An antique automaton doll hides a deadly secret in Hex Studios’ latest crowdfunded feature.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ2dcp6NLCo
Hex Studios’ previous films The Black Gloves and Lord of Tears, were both set in the past, black and white features that included a malevolent being known simply as Owlman. Their latest project Automata sees them move away from this creature in favour of a murderous clockwork doll. Automata also gets the full colour treatment, and is brought more up to date. Antiques expert, Brendan (Hex Studios regular Jamie Scott Gordon), and his step-daughter Rose (newcomer Victoria Lucie), are sent to authenticate a three century old clockwork doll. The doll in question isn’t any regular doll though, it has earned the nickname “The Infernal Princess” due to a series of murders that happened around the time time of her creation. As the pair start to investigate, they start to find themselves succumbing to her power.
Despite the more modern setting, Automata still features plenty of the past, the story unfolding simultaneously across two time periods. The audience gets to see the carnage the Infernal Princess left in her wake the first time around, while watching Brendan and Rose fall into the curse. The tandem timelines work well to a point, but there’s perhaps an instance too many of either Brendan or Rose reading an old letter or diary entry that melts into the past. With so much occurring across both timelines, it also gets a little confusing following where we’re meant to be at times.
Our Infernal Princess has a reputation for inciting suicides and debauchery, and her effect upon Brendan and Rose falls into the latter category. Their relationship as step-father and daughter has a strange vibe to it from the moment we meet them, but once thrust near the dolls power it takes on a very taboo slant. It’s nothing that hasn’t been seen in film before, but it’s enough to make the skin shiver and the stomach turn.
Automata may shed the stylish black and white of its predecessor, but it still maintains the same Gothic energy. There’s something distinctly Hammer Horror in look and tone to Automata, making the film feel older than it is. One could be forgiven for stumbling across this film and assuming it is part of the back catalogue of the prestigious house’s body of work. It’s no small feat to manage this, and the hard work of the entire crew to create this atmosphere and style is obvious to see. A standout of the film is a night-time sequence wherein Rose is summoned to the doll and the air is filled with rich reds.
Automata is another example of the fine work that indie outlet Hex Studios are doing to preserve an old Hollywood take on a genre film.
Automata review by Kat Hughes, April 2019.
Automata screened at Frightfest Glasgow and is currently making its way around the festival circuit.
Kat Hughes is a UK born film critic and interviewer who has a passion for horror films. An editor for THN, Kat is also a Rotten Tomatoes Approved Critic. She has bylines with Ghouls Magazine, Arrow Video, Film Stories, Certified Forgotten and FILMHOUNDS and has had essays published in home entertainment releases by Vinegar Syndrome and Second Sight. When not writing about horror, Kat hosts micro podcast Movies with Mummy along with her five-year-old daughter.
