Customer Reviews

Zero Day

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wasn't sure what to expect before watching this, but by the end of the film I was stunned by how well it had been assembled and presented. The distinct lack of narration and guidance allow Andre and Calvin to lead the viewer through the communally warped and surreal psyche of a pair of ruthless and motivated teenage killers. Not since the original Blair Witch Project have I seen a film that has been successful in maintaining the illusion of being amateur film re-assembled by professionals, and this one being based on a tragic string of events that we're all aware of is particularly haunting and surreal. The two young actors do an exceptional job and are very believable. Scenes are wonderfully assembled in mounting tension and the film reaches a tremendous crescendo through which I could hardly blink. Highly recommended.

I saw this movie when it came out in theaters and I have to say that it was the best movie concerning this subject that I have seen(it's definitely far better that "Home Room") and that the acting in this movie is so convincing that one would think that it was real and I especially liked the fact that the movie treated the two main characters as human beings as opposed to just hateful killing machines.

I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who in intrested in this genre and I think that this movie should be REQUIRED viewing to anyone who wonders why school shootings occur ESPECIALLY the faculity at Columbine High School.

Zero day got the least attention of the Columbine style movies all
released around the same time, but as a reviting entertainment, this is a better film. Questions are not answered, but the
killers are treated as human beings and not Psycho Teens. great acting, and the shaky-cam works better here than in any other film I've seen.

It took a while for this movie to come out on DVD, and I hope it now receives the wider audience it deserves, since it was never in wide release. The entire movie is filmed as if it were assembled from footage shot on camcorders mostly by the two protagonists, with a chilling shift at the end to another verite camera source. This gives it an immediacy and feeling of reality that other films on the same topic lack. This film really got under my skin.

I've been wanting to write a review for this movie for a long time, and here i am. This movie, at least to me, is powerful. I understand some people might not either 'get it' (even though the movie is quite straight-forward really) or might not like it due to it's content and what it's basically about. There are many things about this movie that i really cannot fault at all..from the brilliant acting, the way the two central characters plan the 'attack' i guess you could say and basically slide further and further away from reality, to the powerful way the movie ends..this movie is one of my favorite movies now, and it's a crime that it's not more well-known.

The story follows two teenage males, outcasts at their school who are taunted by Jocks and rejected by most of the peers. They start off with the idea of a school shooting, trying to keep it a secret but also giving out hints to their parents and the few friends/other family they have which makes it a little creepy. It's also creepy in the way the characters are pretty much happy with what they're planning, they're happy about the 'revenge' aspect they're hoping to indulge in on 'Zero Day'. Slowly, during the movie, you see their disintegration and how..together, especially..they seem to live in their own world. Together, they are the Army of Two.

The whole movie and idea is based, if not entirely at least a little bit, on the Columbine Massacre in Colorado of April 1999. The movie is also filmed like The Blair Witch Project, but isn't copying it in any way. I think if The Blair Witch Project was never made, Zero Day would still film it in this way..because it shows the video diaries of the two central characters in this movie. Counting down the days to the eventual 'Zero Day'.

The actors in this movie are not professional actors, which makes it even more amazing considering the acting is incredible i think. It makes it that much more real to use actual teenagers. If you have seen Elephant, and enjoyed it, definitely check this awesome movie out. Personally, i think it is better in alot of ways than Elephant..but i also enjoyed Elephant very much. Zero Day is an extremely interesting experience for open-minded people who want to indulge in a serious film with a serious message. This is reality.

Zero Day is a fantastic movie in truly grasping the problems of adolescence and school violence-- the sense of being forced into a system that lacks a sense of purpose, logic or justice, and the urge to do something to change or mute that system. This sense is then overlapped with the adolescent/American sense of destruction, and we watch the characters engage in a series of events that get progressively more charged, but which don't seem too outlandish when viewed in the closed scope of relation from one to the next. We then find ourselves at an apex which is tragic and terrifying.

In the end, Ben Coccio does a fantastic job of dissecting the case of teenage violence and school shootings without presenting a washed-out morality tale or glorifying the students, instead lingering on how easily our society sets the constructs that can slip into these warped acts.

Once again Ben and the guys at Professor Bright Films have produced a work that presents important questions and the perspective to generate discussion and dialogue. The reaction to this movie has been charged, and rightly so. See this one.

Excellent Independent Film about 2 boys ( Andre and Cal ) who over the course of a year are planning an assault on their school which they will call ( Zero Day). Zero day is the code word for the day on which the shooting will take place. Over the course of this year we are shown the whole plan and get to see into the minds of the killers. These use video cameras to record their mission. Every aspect is planned to perfection. We get to see many sides of their personalities/ how normal or ordinary they are at one point, yet we cant understand why they commited these crimes. The one mentions some things that happened to him in school during the film but you are left wondering. Why? They claim there is no reason. Could be for notoriety or just hate for society in general. The film looks like it was shot with a regular home video camcorder. It adds a hardcore realness to the film. You can easily mistake this for being real. It is, in a sense real. Its extremely well acted and compelling. Chilling and Artistic film. I try to find unique films on Amazon that I havent seen before and once in a great while I'll find one. It's rare to find a gem like this- Everyone should see this. One of the best films Ive seen this year, Highly Recomended. 4.5 Stars....Let the countdown begin.

If you don't already own it, you know what's left for you to do...
This is a very subtle piece of art: you will easily relate to this movie's main two characters, think you're in their minds and can predict their behavior, until, well, until... Zero Day comes, and you'll be shocked beyond belief, dwelling on the fact that Andre or Cal could have been your brother, your cousin, your childhood friend; and yes, still, in the end, they actually do it... This is a movie for all the World to see. You don't need to have lived in the U.S. to feel connected; believe a french man who saw in Zero Day an authentic masterpiece. Enjoy the chef-d'oeuvre!

Zero Day is yet another of the many films trying to make sense of the much publicized school shootings that seem to be increasing in frequency across the nation. What makes this movie different from many others lies in two different areas.

One, There doesn't appear to be a single major issue that stands out as the precursor to such a horriffic and perfectly planned out event. Yes, we are given snippets here and there through the characters that their general hatred toward their classmates was indeed fueled by the usual bullying behaviors. Sure they go to school with kids in a better economic circumstance and probably rub it in their faces every chance they get, but these are only glimpses and suppositions. Overall, we are left to really wonder about whether these or the other factors of being a teen were what ultimately led these teens to their carefully laid plans.

Two, The film is as raw and believable as a camcorder film of your own family. Gus Van Sant may have provided some interesting curveballs in Elephant by looking through the students' eyes as they moved through their schoolday, but Zero Day's take on the methodical countdown to disaster is nothing short of amazing. These teens don't seem to be acting at all. They are just teens being themselves. There's no hollywoodized impression of what it's like to be a teen, this is just raw, seemingly unscripted improvisation as the pair makes their plans of destruction.

It all fuses together in a chaotic, realistic film that will leave you searching within yourself for ways to prevent further real life examples of this type of tragic occurrence. Never before have I been so deeply affected by a film's finale. It's a gut wrenchingly real scene that still makes tears well up in my eyes as I am writing this. As if the fruition of the pair's plans aren't bad enough, the final short scene before the credits is another that will leave you shaking your head. Zero day is beyond any star rating. This is not a movie, it's life.

Watch Zero Day, and get involved with EVERY aspect of your child's life. Be there for them every step of the way. Find out if they are experiencing anything that is too much for them to handle. We all must do our part to make certain that our children not only have a loving environment at home, but a proper school experience as well. If the school officials are blind to what's going on in their schools, make them see. The difference between acting and standing on the sidelines and just hoping everything is ok could be a lot more deadly than you think.

In this harsh reality of our existence, and this foul year of our Father 2008, we find the increasing hysteria around violence, school shootings, and teenagers carrying guns, not so much in the ghetto's and big cities of America, but in suburbia. The aftermath of events like that of Columbine and Virginia Tech echo only true emotions to the reality that we revolve ourselves around in and in that we find, 'Zero Day'

While the two main characters, Andre Kriegman and Calvin Gabriel, fitting like a glove to perhaps the days and months that prepared the real life Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who themselves made home videos, are ever present in the film. The pure tenacity, and testicular fortitude the two have is beyond maniacal. The opening segment alone, of the two as youth's, with the stellar opening song, is enough to set you up for a roller coaster of a trip.

Zero Day delivers in a way you would only expect it to. There is no need to expect a dynamite show of method acting and the like. We, as in other films of it's genre, see the life and times of two troubled teens, building an arsenal of weapons and coming from left field without a trace of worry from friend or family alike. However we are lead to believe, by the perps themselves, that they are not the end product of Grand Theft Auto Marathon's until the early next morning, or by-products of shows like 24 or the like. They take full responsibilty for their actions and make it clear in their videos, that no one is to blame, and no one could have prevented this. I think that is a very important mechanism in the film. As much as we want to protect our children, in the end, they will do what they want to do, right even under our nose.

In the hey-dey of horrid first person, cam-shooting genres like 'Blair ' and the horrible-as-much-as-you-want-to-candycoat-it 'Cloverfield', the film is not shifty, jaded or nauseous in anyway. In fact the camcorder shooting is quite appealing and very personal, as it should be. If you really let yourself immerse into the movie, you feel as if you were with the two boys throughout the whole planning of the massacre. You have front row seats into their zero day plan, their march towards victory, their own personal vendetta towards the how the other half walks. Their own chiming in on the world to let everyone know, they too will be remembered.

People might come here, and say the movie brings a strong message to all, that is should be a guide or an aid to what schools should be prepared for. Well in all reality, it should make the bullies, the jocks, 'Johnny Football Hero' who gets away with everything and anything because he is the town's pride and joy, and that stuffing Mike the Chess Player in the toilet after gym can have dire consequences. Not to say what happens in this movie or at Columbine was warranted, but you never hear about the torment these kind of kids go through, getting called names that could demoralize a youth for life.

I wont give anything away, but if you want something better than the Van Sant pederastic feel to a film like the incessantly juvenile 'Elephant', and something less surreal then 'Bang, Bang, Your Dead,' perhaps Zero Day is a shining example that you dont have to go to NYU or USC film school to get into the hearts and minds of movie lovers who really appreciate art in the form of pure, raw, commando-style filmmaking. Kudos!

Directed by Ben Coccio

A MUST SEE! 3.5 Stars.