The Weird Kidz review

By Simon Thompson

Writer/director Zach Passero’s The Weird Kidz is an animated coming of age horror comedy, which, while not exactly reinventing the wheel  stylistically is a likeable enough homage to its influences. What is refreshing about it though, is that in a world of 1980s nostalgia bait (naming no names) that increasingly substitute story for hey! look at thing that was big during the time period (once again naming no names), Passero actually tries to tell a story – a quality that is more than commendable. 

The plot follows three kids Dug ( Tess Passero), Mel ( Glenn Bolton), and Fatt (Brian Ceely) as they accompany Dug’s older brother Wyatt (Ellar Coltrane) and his girlfriend Mary ( Sydney Wharton) on a camping trip to the desert. When they stop for petrol, the petrol station owner ( Angela Bettis) tells them of a mysterious creature that lives out in the desert that kidnaps children, including her own brother twenty five years ago. The group at first treats the warning as an urban legend, but once they set up for the night, begin to realise that it might actually exist. 

Taking its cues from coming of age movies such as works of Richard Linklater, Stand By Me, as well as creature features such as Tremors and Gremlins, much of the narrative acts as a whistle stop tour through their recognisable traits. Although there is just enough of an original story there that it doesn’t turn into a game of Scene It, specific character arcs and twists are still frustratingly easy to pick up on. 

Visually, the animation wasn’t really to my taste with its character art style resembling Big Mouth ( to the blissfully ignorant it’s an unfunny eyesore of a Netflix animated show which somehow has more seasons than both Mindhunter and Glow). The backgrounds also felt empty and lacking in personality, to the extent that early South Park episodes and Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law resemble a Mamoru Ishii OVA by comparison.

Overall, The Weird Kidz is a does what it says on the tin coming of age horror movie, that, while inoffensive is far from essential viewing. Its humour is mildly amusing but far from sidesplittingly hilarious/quotable, and it offers very little rewatch value after the credits have rolled.