Machined (2006)

Fresh and Exciting

Excellent but underrated film

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I guess whether you like this movie or not depends on how tired you are of the slasher formula. Thankfully, this one doesn't have annoying teenagers in it. There's some more story and background than you might be used to getting, though it doesn't bog down the movie or anything like that. If anything, the slasher action kind of slows it down to a crawl, as the scenes get longer and longer and longer... until you're thinking to yourself, "How many victims does this guy *need*? Let's just get to the climax already!" Or maybe not. I did, at least.There are a few fresh aspects to this movie, which might be what saves it for you. The director apparently was aware of how saturated the horror marketplace is right now, so I applaud anyone who tries to show any creativity whatsoever, even if it's just putting a football helmet and shoulderpads on a guy and calling him a cyborg. That's another thing that might bother you: this movie has really, really low budget effects. In fact, it's kind of distracting how low budget they are, but I guess I can't criticize the director for that. He did all he could with the money he had, and I guess the result is watchable. No, that's not much of an endorsement, but it's a lot better than I can say about most of today's low budget slasher movies. I recommend this movie if you're looking for a slasher that doesn't descend into "torture porn", doesn't have a bunch of horny teenagers that are too stupid to live, and has very little in the way of over-the-top screaming and shrieking. This movie will definitely *not* give you a headache, unless you're expecting good sets and sfx.

It was probably a year ago when I first heard about Craig McMahon's MACHINED, and I gotta tell you - I was instantly intrigued. There's just something about a creature being part-man and part-machine that runs around slaughtering people. That and plus the poster art looked damn cool. So eventually I found a good time for viewing it, in the dark, no distractions and I was pretty impressed. There are not many films like MACHINED, I can promise you that! This tale is about a big, fat, hairy guy who goes by the name of 'Motorman Dan', who has a few personal problems. For one: he likes to jerk off while reading about serial killers; two: he dreams of having a "pet" serial killer of his own, and three: well, he's fat… So eventually, Dan accidentally runs over a young man named Ryan, (Jose Rosete), who was trying to flag him down for a ride at the time. Oops…Dan's bad. Oh, well, it's all good; more body parts for his dream "killing machine". After Dan adds the final touches to his creation, he lets it loose all over town, (that being his garage). One problem… Ryan has a few friends, who along with his sister Angela are determined to find out what happened to the unlucky young fellow.MACHINED succeeds in many ways, atmosphere being one of them. Honestly, they nailed it so well (pun intended) I felt like I was right there in the grungy garage of horrors with the robotic killing machine, fat Dan himself and of course, his hairy back. I think director Craig McMahon accomplishes this by keeping the film very dark, both in tone and the impressive camera work. I don't think there's one shot even hinting at sunlight. It also helps that there are many first perspective shots in the film.The sound design is second on the list of well-used elements. The effects were awesome, most of them coming from the killing machine itself. It's very interesting how McMahon combines the score with the sound effects. At times when the machine is walking around you can hear the nuts and bolts squeaking, but eventually those sounds become part of the score, which is insanely cool.Now for the first negative aspect: the acting. For the most part the cast does a descent job, but there were definitely a few spotty moments. Our lead actor, Patti Tindall, who plays Angela, does a descent job…but I would have liked her to have been a little more realistic with her reactions. I mean, here she is fighting her brother who is now a robotic killing machine, and she acts as if she deals with this crap everyday. Maybe downplaying her emotions was a directorial choice, but it didn't work for me. My favorite cast member overall was David C. Hayes, who plays 'Motorman Dan'. He was rather brave with his choices and definitely comes across as being the most charismatic of the bunch. Now if he would just take a lawn mower to his back, we'd be all set. He'd probably make more money selling his back hair then he got for acting in the film. There's also one pretty bad apple in the cast, but I won't name names. See if you can guess who it is… The second element that didn't rock my boat was the characters. I'm not sure if it was because of weak performances (at times), the way they were written or the lack of realism that shooting with digital video sometimes displays, but I wasn't emotionally invested in them. During the finale, when Angela is going head-to-head with what's left of her brother, I could have cared less who won. I'm guessing that's not a good thing.Overall, I found MACHINED to be problematic at times, but it's definitely interesting and I'm damn glad I experienced it. Notice how I said "experienced it?" I say that because it's such an odd and unique film. I would recommend you check it out, but just don't go in expecting greatness. Keep in mind that it's pretty much a better-than-average independent film and you'll be in for a solid ninety minutes.

This film is hardly a masterpiece but its still very effective with some really creepy atmosphere ala WOLF CREEK. Gore is quite low but there are some good kills . Big reason to watch it ,is to see the hilarious David Hayes playing the delightfully perverse Motor Man Dan. Other than Hayes, the acting is pretty bad.. ESPECIALLY the lead actress,yikes and that blind lady ..GOOD HEAVANS!! The director does have a lot of talent though and created an insane set in a some desert junkyard.He just needs more to work with. For a first time indie film on a shoe-string budget MACHINED does deliver as much as it possibly can . All I can say is more gore next time and nudity..just not Motorman Dan naked!

come on now! how you going not show his face? i mean the little parts that were shown of the dudes face being all messed up was real cool. and when he was drilling the girl i seen his face in the background all bloody under the other mask. i kept thinking i was going to see what his face looked like at some point. at the end would have been a good time after his sister stabbed him or even when she was in the bathtub and he gave her beans. he should have shown her his face then. but thats pretty much the only thing i didn't like about it. it was creepy and well acted. the big guy with glasses made it creepy. and i liked hearing the hurt guy talk repeating everything the fat guy was talking about. he should have did that a little more. the cop getting killed from the old blind lady was a cool middle twist that made the situation even more messed up. and i liked that once they got the cops gun they didn't use it. straight killers don't kill with guns. he was watching all that crazy stuff on the TV and thats what made him kill the way he did. someone else said that the killings were too simple and the same. thats crap one killing was with the knife through the neck, then the knife between that girls chest, then those things he stabbed the cop with, then the knife through the back, then the drill. and he chased his sister around with a bigger knife. i don't think the story was about showing blood and making it look stupid ,just showing how crazy the situation was. 8 out of 10.