Zero Day (2003)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Ben Coccio

Writers:

Ben Coccio (writer)
Christopher Coccio (writer)

Release Date:

23 January 2004 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

In high school, you're told you can do anything you put your mind to.

Plot:

Two troubled adolescents chronicle the events that ultimately lead up to a terrifying assault on their school.

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Friend | Rifle | Columbine | Shooting

Awards:

7 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Serataren Adragna	...	Prom Goer
Melissa Banks	...	Victim
Josh Bednarsky	...	Josh
Rachel Benichak	...	Rachel Lurie
Chelsea Cipolla	...	Victim
Christopher Coccio	...	Chris Kriegman
Carmine DiBenedetto	...	Victim
Victoria Everman	...	1st Library Victim
Joe Falco	...	First Poet
David Futernick	...	Student
Alyssa Goodin	...	Student
Ryan Janowski	...	Student
Derrick Karg	...	Victim
Andre Keuck	...	Andre Kriegman
Gerhard Keuck	...	Andre's Father
Johanne Keuck	...	Andre's Mother
Tyler Knowlin	...	Teen Poet
Bobby Moreau	...	Librarian
Amy Nemeth	...	Student
Samantha J. Phillips	...	911 Operator (as Samantha Philips)
Sarah Pilla	...	Victim
Cal Robertson	...	Calvin Gabriel (as Calvin Robertson)
Madelyn Robertson	...	Cal's Sister
Pam Robertson	...	Cal's Mother
Steve Robertson	...	Cal's Father
Michael Omar Walters	...	Victim

Runtime:

USA:92 min | Argentina:92 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 (cut) | UK:18 (cut) | UK:18 | USA:Unrated | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York, USA

Company:

Professor Bright Films

Trivia:

No professional film cameras were used in the making of the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the opening credits one of the main characters, Andre Kriegman, is erroneously called Andre Kreigman. In the rest of the movie his name has a correct, German, spelling of the name.

Quotes:

Andre Kriegman, Calvin Gabriel: Let the countdown begin!

Movie Connections:

References "The Simpsons" (1989)

Soundtrack:

Eliminator Jr.

Realism pushed to it's scary limits

I just came back from the Montreal premiere of Zero Day...and i'm surprised as hell to find a negative comment on the movie. Basically the blame is about Coccio doing an easy and overplayed social message...well, Mr-I'm-a-reviewer, it's an easy and overplayed critic of movies with a social charge.

Not that I want to expose my life here, but I come from a small town with a similar school than these guys go. Reject & ignorance on the menu. Thing is...I understand how can young kids can be driven to do such horror. High schools have became battle fields of conformity. It's a real ugly sight. You need to fight your way into being like the others. It's hard to explain, bit a lot of people dosen't realize that high schools are becoming cemeteries of human intelligence. Meanwhile, parents are closing their eyes and smiling about how their life in their comfortable suburb is perfect.

The real motive of the movie isn't about what is driving them. It's about this death-like calm suburb and everybody closing their eyes and trying to create this atmosphere of a perfect town. Cal expressed it well. It's a wake up call. Drama is everywhere and it can take every shape. In that case little dramas(like Andre being called a faggot for wearing a J.C Penny shirt) are shaping into being the worse nightmare of a whole town. Andre & Cal took the most extreme way to express their pain. The malaise of unconformity in an era where you need more than ever to be like the others to be accepted.

I like particularly the last scenes where some guys are burning the crosses of Andre & Cal, like if with the pain they communicated, Cal & Andre have communicated their blind rage to their community, their refusal to think about the causes of some acts.

It might seemed aggressive as a movie, but Coccio is meditating more than whining or enunciating. What Andre & Cal are living is a reality...and a scary one that might get to other kids.

Disturbing movie...Home making and strong feeling made Ben Coccio do a very very disturbing movie.