Ground Zero

I still don't know how I chanced upon this film at Netflix- I had been searching for "Best new horror on Netflix" and how this could have possibly resulted is beyond my comprehension. it was about a 10-15 minute, highly unoriginal idea that was padded out to feature length with trite, corny dialogue and misplaced humor. Add to this very poor presentational style acting (the only kind people seem to know in Utah for some reason- If I had only heard the film and not seen the telltale signs of the shooting location, I would have guessed it as having been made in the otherwise fair state that I now call home)and you get absolutely nothing worth watching. As I studied film, I always WANT to see independent filmmakers succeed and in general, I find that my favorite films are independent, some of them very low budget, but this one was a turkey. I do have one good thing to say; I watched some of the extras on the disk and I found it fascinating how they did the digital makeup- amazing what tools are available to the amateur filmmaker these days!

First of all, this movie is currently tagged as "horror", but it's primarily a comedy. In fact, I wouldn't call it a horror at all. I'd call it a dark comedy, if anything. Just because it has a corpse coming back to life doesn't mean it's a horror movie.

Secondly, I've seen a lot of low-budget movies, ranging from terrible to brilliant. The bad ones suffer from bad acting, uninteresting or nonexistent plot, terrible dialogue, bad camera work, and boring, unrelatable, unlikable, and stupid characters that make you wish they all die a horrible death really soon (see 'Safety in Numbers' [2006]).

Ground Zero is nothing like that. The plot is quite simple. As the description says, "A small group of 'cleaners' are hired to clean up five dead bodies in an old warehouse, only to find out that one of the bodies isn't quite dead." That's about all you need to know without spoilers. The plot is coherent enough and doesn't suffer any problems.

All four main characters are acted out pretty well. It may not be award-winning performances, but at no point did I feel like the acting was bad. That is, by the main characters. The weakest point of the movie is the first 6 minutes, before the main characters appear. This part may create a false impression that the movie is going to be bad. Once Jairus and Greer appear, the movie picks up quickly.

The characters are well-defined, relatable, and likable. Not like in those movies where you can't help but think that all these stupid and boring people should just drop dead. Here you get a fairly clear idea about what each of them is like, and they feel real enough.

What makes this movie good is the dialogue. Again, starting after the first 6 minutes. For a low-budget movie, this is really well written. The dialogue goes far beyond what the storyline requires. In many other movies, the dialogue presents only the bare necessity to make the plot work at all, but everything is dull and uninteresting. Here, the plot is the backbone that holds the movie together. The dialogue is the flesh. It's what makes it interesting and sets it apart from other movies with reanimated corpses. The dialogue not only creates the characters' background and moves the plot along, but also makes each scene interesting on its own. You can watch 10 minutes somewhere in the middle of the movie and enjoy it without knowing the plot, because the dialogue is interesting and often funny.

The plot in the second half gets actually more interesting than I expected, though I admit I didn't expect much. Still, the way it all plays out at the end is pretty cool, makes sense, and wraps up the story well.

As long as you know what you can and can not expect from very-low-budget, the-dead-coming-back-to-life kind of movies, you shouldn't be disappointed with this one.

one of those movies you can tell in 5 seconds the 'sort' of movie it is: bad. i'm a big fan of indie film, and understand the difference between them and Hollywood productions. i also understand the difference between 'indie' and something worse than a junior college film class project. i won't waste your time with any description of the plot, it's not worth it. unless you enjoy ultra low-budget films without any style, talent or creativity, avoid at all costs!!! if you want to see a 'good' independent horror flick see: the last winter, the pact, triangle, the thaw, solstice.... these are examples of well made, yet low budget films. and of course, most horror films from europe are quality made.

I do enjoy a good "bad" movie and this is just bad. The only reason it's got 2 stars is that I've just left a review for an even worse film.

Give it a miss go do some house cleaning it will be a better use of your time.

I like the idea of this movie. A bio-terrorist that comes back from the dead. it had a decent overall rating. But don't trust it. It's rather boring. The execution of the plot is just dull.

The acting is okay, but they mostly spend the movie cleaning and talking. The main character guy is constantly getting calls from his wife who is nagging and complaining. The female tries to give him advice. It's just talking. Then they meet the two guys who come back and they are nerdy and dull too. The interaction between the two is even worse.

Ugh. I'm getting bored just thinking about the movie. Avoid save an hour and a half.