In the early 21st century it is not uncommon to find two college age buddies who, having watched exactly enough YouTube videos, decide they could do a way better job of making a zombie movie. So they do.
Heck, there may even be a YouTube channel of college bro zombie flicks. (Please let that not be true.)
What is not common: To have a world premiere, get interviewed by Conan O’Brien, walk the red carpet at the NYC screening, and take their movie, “Spring Break Zombie Massacre,” on a tour of North American film festivals, including the upcoming Telluride Horror Show in Colorado.
Also not common: For the two filmmakers to have Down syndrome, which Sam Suchmann, 20, and and Mattie Zufelt, 21, do. This genetic condition — in which abnormal cell division causes individuals to have an extra chromosome — causes intellectual disability and sometimes health problems such as heart defects, hearing loss and celiac disease.
But Rhode Island natives Sam and Mattie, as they’re known by the legion of friends, admirers and mentors, are adamant they don’t want others judging them or limiting them just because they happen to have an extra chromosome.
“It’s important to just be yourself and not let anyone tell you you’re different, or treat you in a different way,” Suchmann says earnestly, sporting a black tank and a tattoo that reads “Rock On Go Wild.”
“I’m past the point of caring what anyone thinks I can or can’t do. There are a lot of people in the world that suck.”
And some that don’t. The idea for the film was born back in 2011, when Suchmann, then a senior in high school, started doodling on a sketch pad when he was bored in art class. He and Zufelt ended up with a storybook that had an entire plot line.
“We both love zombie movies and after watching a zombie video on YouTube, we thought we could make a better one,” he said. Then he showed it to his older brother, Jesse.
“I was so impressed at how well thought out it was,” Jesse recalls. “Ninety-five percent of the final film is exactly what was on that piece of paper.”
Jesse, a creative director at PR firm Edelman, launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2014 that raised about $70,000, then asked his own high school pal (and filmmaker Bobby Carnevale) to sign on as director. The 45-minute movie was shot last summer in Rhode Island, with actors including both typical performers and others with intellectual disabilities.
The film itself is your garden variety teen slasher movie: Zombies racing around devouring buxom skimpily clad girls in short shorts and bikinis with Sam and Mattie swanning around shooting at them in “Miami Vice”-style white suits.
But at some points, the plot goes a step further. In one early scene, the boys befriend another high schooler who is being tormented by his classmates.
“We really wanted to address bullying,” Suchmann says, adding that he was bullied at various times in middle school and high school by other kids who made fun of how he looked and stole things from him. “I sat in front of my TV crying getting fat.”
Zufelt has a different perspective.
“Sometimes I was the bully,” he says. “I wanted to fit in and hang out with the cool kids. And then I met Sam at a Special Olympics and he was such a great guy to hang out with. I was done bullying. I had a friend.”
And, aforementioned short shorts and bikinis aside, they wanted to include another message: girl power.
Mattie’s girlfriend, played by stunner Madeline Brumby, periodically punches out zombies and even pulls out an undead heart and saves the day.
The feminist angle came from director Peter Farrelly, who was able to get a sneak peek at the script and offer suggestions at one of the Special Olympics world games. But they say their minds were already there, eager to convey how strong girls can be, as well as speak out against violence against women that routinely happens on college spring breaks.
“When the zombies attack women, we wanted to give the message that it’s not OK to rape women, that spring break should be more about nonviolence and having a great time,” says Zufelt.
Sara Weir, president of the National Down Syndrome Society, who attended the NYC premiere, said the film really fosters the message of inclusion and NDSS’ “more alike than different” motto.
“These are two 21-year-old guys who had a dream of becoming movie producers and saw it through,” says Weir. “They had 100% decision making authority about what they would and would not put in the film, they were involved in the fund-raising and they played various parts. Yes, they had support, but every other 21-year-old also has that when they’re first starting out.”
Right now both men — who graduated from high school — are at a transition academy where they learn life skills such as how to ride a bus alone and how to polish up a resume.
And, of course, a sequel is in the works, as is a doc on the making of the film. Meanwhile, their families are in the midst of creating a nonprofit group to help others with intellectual disabilities achieve their creative dreams.
“People with disabilities are still so marginalized, but there’s an incredible amount of talent out there,” says Chris Suchmann, Sam’s dad. “There are so few job opportunities for them, that we want to come up with new ones in a fun, creative way.”
