How one actually acquires a bitter taste to their brain gravy is both difficult and undesirable — cancer. If such a odd scenario was to eventuate, however, the zombies would (hopefully) ignore you if their primary interest was in grey matter, rather than flesh. This is exactly the set of circumstances that “Super Zero” explores, with mixed — though mostly entertaining — results. Contains NSFW language.
This post was originally published on Gizmodo Australia.
After a failed Kickstarter, which managed to raise $US13,276 of its $US34,500 target, director Mitch Cohen decided to go ahead with the project anyway. The 15-minute short film tells the story of Josh Hershberg, a less-than-successful guy who finds out he has terminal brain cancer. It just so happens he receives the news shortly before the world descends into zombie-related chaos, thanks to the return of a probe with water samples from Mars.
The probe, rather than emitting siren-like howls, deposits a potent alien microbe, wiping out civilisation and converting the populace into fast-moving undead. Thanks to Hershberg’s condition, the creatures are blind to his existence, allowing him to wander the streets unperturbed.
The film is well-shot and the dialogue OK, with the exception of a few exchanges towards the end that are top-shelf cringe material. The special effects leave a little to be desired — the blood’s done with understated flair but the crash-landing of the probe… it looks like someone found a 3D model of Thunderbird One and smacked some dodgy smoke and fire effects onto it.
Still, it’s worth a watch for a few laughs and it gets a clap for the inventive use of a flux capacitor for anything but bending time.
Super Zero [YouTube, via The Awesomer]
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