SUPER ZERO: The Same Old Story Told Half As Well

Super Zero is a short by the filmmaker Mitchell L. Cohen. The story centres around Josh Hershberg, a young guy with not much to live for who discovers he has terminal cancer. But just as Josh decides to end it all a returning Mars mission crashes into Earth, unleashing a disease that turns people into zombies. Josh is played by Umberto Celisano, while his love interest, Paige Reynolds, is played by Giselle Gilbert. The film also features a cameo from Bobak Ferdowsi, a engineer at the NASA JPL who is a bit of a celebrity amongst us science geeks.

Super Zero has a great hook and the opening minutes seem a guarantee of a quirky sci-fi comedy, and one that is on trend with current cultural tastes. But then it all falls apart. The film is sold as being highly original, but it’s not. It’s actually a very common story, or a mix of very common stories. One being the guy who thinks he has nothing to live for finally finding a purpose in the most dire of circumstances. The other being the geeky guy who suddenly finds himself being the hero, getting the girl etc.

I had a great deal of problems with Super Zero. Even though the idea was good, although perhaps clichéd, what happened on screen was slow and lacklustre. After the initial scenes, the film cuts to 29 days later. A dramatic tool I have always found greatly annoying, because it skims over the intensity and drama of that instigating moment. But this would be nothing if the protagonist, Josh, was great to watch. But he’s not. He just seems to move so slowly, and looks decidedly healthy for a man with cancer, he also looks a lot older than the 23 years he supposedly is. I just got bored of watching him. I got bored during a 16 minute long film.

But my major sticking point with the film is Josh’s infatuation with Paige. It’s one of those average cases of guy likes girl, and even though he never does anything to call her attention to him, she still notices him (and possibly likes him) anyway. When he comes across her 29 days after the disease has begun to spread it is the most interesting thing that’s happened since the film’s beginning. But then two massively stupid things happen.

[What follows could be considered SPOILERS, so if you would like to watch this film please back away now.]

Firstly, the zombies don’t attempt to eat Josh because apparently these things are drawn to brain activity and as far as he can tell, since his brain is riddled with cancer, they must think he’s already dead. Are you kidding me? I’m all for heightened reality B-movie thinking, but this film went to the effort to concoct the details of a NASA space mission, then comes up with nonsense like this? The second thing that happens is that when some zombies attempt to attack Paige, she remains rooted to the spot, leaving it to Josh to save her. Seriously? She doesn’t even attempt to runaway. It’s like the film has zero respect for the fact that she survived up until this point without Josh’s help.

Of course, once they realise he has cancer, is impervious to zombies and is some kind of badass with his homemade shotgun Paige and her friends invite him to join them. He’s a hero now! He’s also the fantasy of every zombie computer game playing geek boy. A fantasy that I’m really annoyed with. Why does the girl have to be the infatuation and/or the damsel in distress? The fact that Paige has survived thus far should be a story in itself, but it’s not. She has her jock cousin to protect her, and now Josh is here. I’m not saying that Paige comes across as being 2-dimensional, but her only purpose is to be looked at and saved. That’s annoying.

Conclusion

What it comes down to is that Super Zero is a good idea for a film, but relies to much on thinking it’s different or superior to other films/tv programmes out there at the moment. Added to this, the writing is clichéd, while the directing and acting just seem to lack any energy or charisma. Josh isn’t a very likeable character, and the whole narrative seems designed to make guys like him feel pretty good about themselves.

The first couple of minutes of Super Zero are, in fact, kind of cool. Josh’s voiceover remains quite cool and witty throughout, and is possibly the best and only good thing going on here. But what happens on screen is really boring, not only boring but so common on our screens at the moment that you wonder why they didn’t try harder to make it stand out. Then it turns from boring to annoying. It’s a lazy short cut narrative from geek to hero, I’ve seen it all before, and I’ve seen it done better than this.

Tell me if you disagree with me. Or tell me if you agree. In any case, comment below!

(top image source: Midnight Protocol Films)