Short Film: State Zero

This is a short sci-fi/horror from director Andree Wallin, released in 2015 and coming in at just under 17 minutes. The short takes many of its cues from I am Legend (the film not the novel) and it is one where the vampirism is, by design, not obvious. So why go down that line – because the IMDb credits list a character as “Vamp”.

However the opening starts with some science chicanery as a man (Aaron Vodovoz) comes around, strapped to a chair, air-tubes in his nose. A woman (Kayla Meikle) shows him a photograph of (presumably) him and a woman and nods. A tech opens a valve and they start pumping a liquid into him. His eyes turn black.

flyer

Establishing shots show us a Stockholm that nature is reclaiming. Signs indicate quarantine zones. Up above flies quite a futuristic looking machine. In the back area are four soldiers about to be dropped in “zone 3” – a hot zone. Their mission is to find out how a comm tower has been damaged and fix it. The likelihood is that its simply fuses. When they land, however, the fuses are intact.

the squad

The Squad Leader (Teddy Nicholas) and Jackson (Luke Rampersad) scout deeper into the building whilst Gray (Nemanja Oskorus) fixes the equipment and rookie Cooper (Charles Babalola) stays with him. Of course things are going to go wrong. One of the beats this shares with I am Legend (as well as being post-apocalyptic and showing a city reclaimed) is the assumption that the infected have reverted to an animalistic state and cannot plan, think, or reason. When Gray discovers a wire has been neatly cut he dismisses that it could be done purposefully.

zompire

The scouting party discover a (blood painted) sign/sigil and the infected show that they have the ability to set a trap – indeed the whole mission is one. Will they escape? That’s something you’ll have to watch the short to discover – but this is a well-constructed short film, some nice sfx included but needs expansion – luckily it does say “to be continued” and though a fair amount of time has passed by I do hope we get a part two sometime.

The imdb page is here.