A low budget comedy thriller set in pre stock market crash Auckland of the 1980s. Sam is a toll operator eavesdropping on toll calls for light relief. When he chances upon a complex web of corruption and blackmail involving the proposed Auckland Harbour Tunnel Development, his life takes on new meaning. He is determined to expose the baddies and extricate the woman he fancies from the sordid network.
“Shot in 1988, there’s fun to be had spotting the changes in Auckland wreaked upon by those same developers and big businesses the film has a good go at [...] Special mention must also go to Chris Knox for his music score that adds so much to the off-beat tone of the film. Riddiford, cast and crew have done very well to get such an ambitious screenplay on screen with the small budget they had. The overflow of ideas really makes Zilch! quite something. ” (“Edgy Zilch! flies high”, Auckland Star, 1 March, 1990.)