rooee The Zero Boys are the best "Weekend Warriors" on the paintball ranch. With feisty newcomer Jamie (Kelli Maroney) in tow, the gang heads out on a classic aimless teen road trip, and wind up at an apparently deserted country house where they proceed to do the things horror teens do: have sex, play games, argue, and split up to maximise their vulnerability. Of course, they are not alone. The yokel hicks are on the loose with knives, and they soon lure the group into the woods – and into a series of traps. The Zero Boys (and Girls) must use their dubious survival skills, and their stash of real guns, to fight back and make it through the night. Although Nico Mastorakis is an uber-trash auteur on the level of Albert Pyun, the first scene is promising: playful in the same way that Vamp toyed with our perceptions in its opening. And the idea of the kids taking the front foot, rather than being out-and-out victims, is an intriguing setup. But it's a swift descent into mediocrity and cliché. "Eat your heart out, Sly," one gun-toting character utters. The film has no problem referencing its contemporaries, including Friday the 13th and The Twilight Zone. It's kinda meta. Ostensibly The Zero Boys is a blend of two classic 80s genres: the teen slasher and the uzi action movie. If only it delivered on the scares or the thrills. In its found footage torture vignettes and its Hunger Games survive-'em-up finale it even prefigures certain modern genres, but in practice we have the usual idiot-plotting schlock, with characters inexplicably going off and doing their own thing to suit audience expectations rather than logic. Kelli Maroney is perhaps most contemporaneously famous for Night of the Comet, another (much better) mid-80s genre mashup. She's different here: less ditzy and more resourceful, and usually the smartest person in the room. She's more than a match for our hero, Steve, played by Daniel Hirsch with the soft-spoken intensity of a young Bruce Dern but without the charisma. The positives: occasionally decent quickfire dialogue; some good 'n' gaudy lighting; the pacing is bang on; and Hans Zimmer's Gothic- synth score is fantastic. What it lacks is the ghoulish humour and gore to match something like Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2 or Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series. Poor editing and mediocre makeup undermine the best scares (don't open that freezer cabinet!). Throw in some irrelevant slow motion and a frankly meaningless final shot and we're left with a distinctly ordinary entry in the 80s slasher canon.

chow913 Interesting Premise Goes Nowhere Slowly 'The Zero Boys' is a new take on the old cabin in the woods scenario.As usual a group of friends head to the country where they find an empty cabin which turns out to be inhabited by serial killers. But this time the Zero Boys are hardcore war gamers armed with full auto Uzi submachine guns! Alright! Unfortunately the plot moves slowly even by cabin in the woods standards never takes off. All we get are the cliché, people wandering off on their own and getting killed.The Zero Boys prove to be just as dumb as any other slasher victims. If you have guns and a cabin just stick together till morning. And if you have a working vehicle don't stop for anything.Just to clarify the Zero Boys claim their Uzis are legal because they're semi auto but then joke that they've made some "conversions." WRONG, their Uzis have 10 inch barrels and folding stocks which makes them SBRs Short Barreled Rifles which as still classified as Class 3 weapons like regular Uzis. Even the most hardened gun nut doesn't do illegal full auto conversions as this carries a mandatory 10 years in federal prison (now 15) and a $250,000 fine.Also the scene where a Taser (Tomas A. Swift Electric Rifle) is used to electrocute Joe Estevez in the water is silly. Tasers don't give off electricity and electrocute, the cut off the electrical signals in the brain causing an epileptic seizure.

lost-in-limbo After winning yet another war-game over their rivals, The Zero Boys and their girls decide to head out to the wilderness for a new adventure and celebrate their recent achievement. But they didn't plan on actually trying to survive the night from a couple of mountain man who have their sights set on them for a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. After what they discover about a deserted cabin and its surroundings, they realise that they aren't in a game no more.I never had heard of this film before, but this B-grade, light-weight oddity is a cheap 'n' tasty horror-action hybrid, where "Deliverance" meets "Southern Comfort" and adds a whole lot of slasher elements to the meat of the plot. Simply it's a fun (well, in parts), small-scale cheese fest of the 80's gruel. I was expecting it to follow a comic book style of trend, but that facet doesn't last too long, as the blaze of glory comes down to earth when the torturous chaos occurs. What was going against it was that it decided that it would pose more often then actually deliver. "He said to tell you that we'd all die slowly". This sums up beautifully the stodgy pacing with a somewhat of a slow opening, where too little happens. There could've been a bit more senseless action. It begins with some exciting gung-ho antics, which breaks away from those roots for a slow burn pace when it hit's the woodlands and into horror territory with minor pockets of suspense and a survival mode. Don't be expecting gory deaths here, as it's pretty weak in that department. While, the tension was sorely lacking in large doses, at least it's quite an atmospheric and fearful piece because of the broodingly isolated woodlands and swampy terrain.Direction by Nico Mastorakis is nicely handled and there's a certain self-control to the film's own limits. This doesn't disrupt the film's agility and unique spin though. He manages to incorporate some striking images because of the moody lighting, free flowing camera work and a score that has a gloriously kicking vibe. Technically the production was more than capable and just thinking, "what if they had a little more doe" could have gone a long way. The tight story is definitely offbeat and provides some unpredictable patterns amongst the many practical clichés. Too bad there are excessive acts that are never truly expended on (like the snuff element) and really they could have given the story more kick. Strangely enough, the killers here are quite average looking (look at the fashion sense!) when we finally see them after spending most of the time in the shadows. They just lack any sort of development, after touching on some interesting aspects in the way they torment their victims. You can't help but want to know more about what goes on. Anyhow what's the deal with the ending… or should I say lack of one. Covering the bases is also a very cheesy and wisecracking script that's imbued with witty one-liners on other horror film references. Performances by the young group are not bad, but it's a vibrant Kelli Maroney (Night of the Comet & Chopping Mall) who's the pick of bunch. Look out for Joe Estevez, who plays one of the mysteriously wacko villains.It can get rather plain and uneventful, but overall it can be a deadly, tight and quite simple offering that 80's B-grade enthusiasts would probably enjoy.

JimSthers I saw this movie when I was still living in Mexico about 8 years ago, and I loved it, then when I moved back to the USA, I saw that a video store had it for sale and I bought it. I watched it and I was slightly disappointed when I realized that the USA release had the real end missing. Anyway, it still is a great slasher flick, it has all the elements: beautiful babes, their boyfriends, the crazy madmen, the house in the middle of the woods, a garden full with human remains and lots of screaming and gun shoots. Rent it, its fun and fast paced, plus chances are you will recognize the main actresses, who continued making horror flicks: Kelli Maroney and Nicole Rio.