We Are Little Zombies

For his feature film debut, We Are Little Zombies, Japanese writer/director/composer Makoto Nagahisa throws everything in his cinematic arsenal at the proverbial wall — and gets most of it to stick.

No horror flick or kids movie in the vein of Little Monsters or The Little Vampire as its title suggests, it’s instead a largely charming coming-of-age story about four newly-orphaned tweens who cross paths at a crematorium and, because they don’t have anything better to do, form a band.

The cheeky adventures of the Little Zombies — dubbed thusly for their inability to emote in the wake of their parental losses — are organized in chapters that mirror video games, and Nagahisa has contagious fun with 8-bit conventions, from an energetic animated title sequence to pixellated challenges and missions that yield rewards, to a simple electronic score that borders on overkill.

Blessedly self-aware and seemingly hell-bent on upending any and all expectations, Nagahisa employs so many camera angles, visual sources, film speeds, and editing techniques that he can’t help but whiff every now and again.

Practically every time he comes up short — be it a randomly scooting camera pan or aggressive edits between extreme repetitive close-ups — it’s a rare instance when the stylistic choice is thematically at odds with the events onscreen and/or feel utilized for the simple sake of being quirky.

While these misfires draw attention to themselves and disrupt viewer engagement without accomplishing anything in relation to the scenes, his overall success rate is so high that a few aberrations in the pursuit of something new and creative are easily forgiven.

Grade: B. Not rated, but with adult themes. Available to rent via Grail Moviehouse

(Photo: Oscilloscope Laboratories)