Automatons

Imagine THE TERMINATOR (1984) made for a sum that wouldn't have bought that modestly budgeted film's raw stock, and you'll have some idea what to expect from James Felix McKenney's DYI sci-fi allegory. Sometime in the future, the Earth has been poisoned by generations of unending war. One survivor — a nameless young woman (Christine Spencer) — lives alone in a bunker and listens to tapes made by her mentor (Angus Scrimm), a long-dead scientist, while surrounded by the robots — some battle models, some designed as household help — that he helped design. The robots themselves recall old-fashioned B-movies like the Commander Cody serial RADAR MEN FRO...