Coming up to the final day,I began trying to decide what would be my final feature film viewing at the superb Soho Horror Film Festival. Standing out with an eye-catching poster,I got set to meet the weird kidz.
Note: Some plot details in the review.
View on the film:
Revealed during the introduction that the film took 8 years to be made, the passion that animator/writer/ director Zach Passero has for the title shines in the screenplay, which chews gross-out sex Comedy gags and splatter Horror gushing over the gang of misfits on their backwoods Horror adventure.
Taking an unexpected dip into the surreal as the full horror of what the group has found on their trip crawls into view, Passero pins the gore with a creepy Folk Horror twist, which gives the identity kit sex mad teens a welcomed sense of urgency, as they fight every step of the way to untangle themselves from the web that has been spun around them.
Although the three lead twelve year old characters are drawn with broad brush strokes, Passero gives the monster a surprising level of empathy, via the giant ant-style creature, displaying a protectionist parental bond, when humans threaten the young, human eating ant-style creatures.
Given a rough, flakey texture, Zach and Hannah Passero give the great hand-drawn animation a rough sketch appearance, which along with emphasising the pulpy atmosphere for the Sci-Fi and Horror set-pieces, also gives the gross-out gags a gloppy shine, as things get weird for the kidz.
