''Zerophilia'' is a 2005
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
film with
speculative-fiction elements directed by Academy of Motion Pictures' Student Academy Award-winning director Martin Curland and produced by Microangelo Entertainment. It is about a young man who discovers that he has a genetic condition which will cause a change of sex following each orgasm.
It was filmed in
Fall Creek, Oregon
Fall Creek is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States, southeast of Eugene/Springfield. Nearby communities include Dexter to the south, Lowell to the southeast, and Jasper to the northwest.
The locale was named for Fa ...
.
Plot
"Zerophilia" is a fictional condition that affects an unknown number of people with an extra
"Z" chromosome. Following their first full sexual experience, zerophiliacs begin to change sex after experiencing an orgasm. Luke (
Taylor Handley
Taylor Laurence Handley (born June 1, 1984) is an American actor.
Early years
Handley was born in Santa Barbara, California. He attended Santa Monica City College.
Career
In 1998, Handley played Rory Buck in the movie ''Jack Frost''. In 200 ...
), a young man somewhat insecure about his masculinity, begins to exhibit zerophilia following an encounter with a woman (
Kelly LeBrock
Kelly LeBrock (born ) is an American actress and model. Her acting debut was in '' The Woman in Red'' (1984), alongside Gene Wilder. She also starred in the John Hughes film '' Weird Science'' (1985), and in ''Hard to Kill'' (1990), opposite Ste ...
). He meets Michelle (Rebecca Mozo) and experiences partial transformations when they go out together.
He confides with his best friend Keenan (Dustin Seavey) about his partial transformations, who in turn contacts Dr. Sydney Catchadourian (
Gina Bellman
Gina Bellman (born 1966) is a New Zealand-born British actress best known for her performances as grifter Sophie Devereaux on the 2008-12 TNT television series '' Leverage'' and in the revival '' Leverage: Redemption'' when the series moved to ...
). Dr. Catchadourian persuades Luke to go through a full transformation. Luke does this by masturbating, becoming female, and subsequently calling herself "Luca". Luca has difficulty achieving an orgasm to change back, even with coaching from Keenan's girlfriend Janine (
Alison Folland
Alison Folland (born August 10, 1978) is an American actress and filmmaker.
Folland was born in Boston to a travel agent mother and a cardiologist father. She grew up in Wellesley, and attended high school at Buckingham Browne & Nichols, a priva ...
). However, a visit by Michelle's attractive brother, Max (
Kyle Schmid
Kyle Schmid (born August 3, 1984) is a Canadian actor, best known for his roles as Alex Caulder in History's ''Six'', Henry Durham in Syfy's '' Being Human'', Robert Morehouse in BBC America's ''Copper'' and Aaron Abbot in '' The Covenant'' (2006) ...
), who flirts with "Luke's cousin", enables her to get sufficiently aroused to complete the transformation back to Luke.
Luke is threatened by his sex transformation, his arousal by an attractive male, and the questions of sexual identity it raises; he seeks help from Sydney. She tells him that a zerophiliac can become "a-morphic" and stop changing sex only by having sex with another zerophiliac... such as herself. He reluctantly agrees to do it, but discovers afterward that she was not telling him the full truth: an a-morphic zerophiliac can still change by having sex with another zerophiliac, and Dr. Catchadourian was using Luke to change herself one last time (into a man), leaving Luca as a woman in the process.
Comic tensions arise from Luke's efforts to keep Michelle at a distance, Max's defensiveness about his sister, Luca's half-hearted resistance to Max's affections, and Luke's confused aggression toward Max. When Michelle discovers that Luke had sex with Dr. Catchadourian, she feels betrayed. Hoping to find Michelle, Luca seeks out Max to profess deep affection for Michelle and remorse for betraying her. Max is touched by the apology, and reveals that he is actually Michelle, also a zerophiliac. They make love repeatedly, changing sex mostly in sync with each other, but occasionally finding themselves the same sex. It ends with the happy couple apparently resolved to their 'condition' and past any questions of their gender and sexual identity.
Cast
*
Taylor Handley
Taylor Laurence Handley (born June 1, 1984) is an American actor.
Early years
Handley was born in Santa Barbara, California. He attended Santa Monica City College.
Career
In 1998, Handley played Rory Buck in the movie ''Jack Frost''. In 200 ...
as Luke
* Dustin Seavey as Keenan
*
Alison Folland
Alison Folland (born August 10, 1978) is an American actress and filmmaker.
Folland was born in Boston to a travel agent mother and a cardiologist father. She grew up in Wellesley, and attended high school at Buckingham Browne & Nichols, a priva ...
as Janine
*
Kyle Schmid
Kyle Schmid (born August 3, 1984) is a Canadian actor, best known for his roles as Alex Caulder in History's ''Six'', Henry Durham in Syfy's '' Being Human'', Robert Morehouse in BBC America's ''Copper'' and Aaron Abbot in '' The Covenant'' (2006) ...
as Max
* Rebecca Mozo as Michelle
*
Adam Zolotin as Chad
*
Gina Bellman
Gina Bellman (born 1966) is a New Zealand-born British actress best known for her performances as grifter Sophie Devereaux on the 2008-12 TNT television series '' Leverage'' and in the revival '' Leverage: Redemption'' when the series moved to ...
as Dr. Sydney Catchadourian (female)
* Chris Meyer as Jeremy
* Marieh Delfino as Luca
*
Kelly Le Brock
Kelly LeBrock (born ) is an American actress and model. Her acting debut was in '' The Woman in Red'' (1984), alongside Gene Wilder. She also starred in the John Hughes film '' Weird Science'' (1985), and in ''Hard to Kill'' (1990), opposite Ste ...
as Woman in RV
* Rick Stear as Dr. Sydney Catchadourian (male)
Release
The film was released on October 13, 2006, in theaters in North America, and performed poorly at the box office. It was released internationally on cable and DVD in February 2007.
Reception
The film received negative reviews from critics. It has a 25% approval rating on the
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 20 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "''Zerophilia'' has some intriguing ideas, but they're imparted with a frustrating lack of wit, daring, or valuable insight."
References
External links
*
* {{IMDb title, 0421090
REVIEW - New York Times(October 13, 2006, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'')
REVIEW - Variety(November 6, 2006, ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'')
REVIEW - Slant Magazine(2006, Slant Magazine)
2005 films
2005 romantic comedy films
Bisexuality-related films
2000s English-language films
American independent films
Films about intersex
2000s science fiction comedy films
Films shot in Oregon
Fictional diseases and disorders
Transgender-related films
American LGBT-related films
2005 LGBT-related films
LGBT-related romantic comedy films
LGBT-related science fiction comedy films
2000s American films