My review was written in January 1987 after watching the movie on Lightning video cassette.
"The Zero Boys" begins promisingly as a he-man picture about young survivalists who yearn to be "Rambo" warriors, but quickly devolves into yet another formula horror film about teens getting slashed in the woods. Unrated feature went directly to the home video stores.
Title trio are guys who used to be wimps but now regularly win the weekend competition of war games at a local California park. They go camping for a weekend with two girlfriends and a girl (Kelli Maonrey) who they "won" at the latest competition from the leader of the losing team. Staying at an empty house (uninvited), they find snuff tapes and camera setup in the house and then are systematically knifed by unseen killers.
Though the script knowingly makes comical references to "Jason", pic is ultimately just a pale imitation of the "Friday the 13th" series. Gimmick of the teens being armed to the teeth with machine guns and other sophisticated weaponry doesn't pay off, since they are just as vulnerable to the stealthy killers. Cast and technical credits are acceptable.