I will say right off the bat, this film is definitely for a small demographic. That being teenage punk/goth/scene. If you dont find yourself one of those types of people, this probably will not be a film for you. As it stands, this film was not for me either.
First, let me get some of the positives out of the way. The plot of children who have to hunt nightmares in their town every night as adults just party is pretty interesting. The idea of nightmares themselves being grotesque and an actual threat is also nice. The aesthetics that this is going for is the reason I watched it. I do enjoy some of the look and 'idea' of some of the designs and imagery. However, there is a bit of a problem with the execution and display, which takes me into the bad..
The animation is stiff and amateur. I know it will be passed off as "they are dolls" but honestly its more along the lines of "this person can't make an animation cycle". They especially cant talk properly, that's for sure. I have to assume a lot of this was done in Unity, as the lighting is pretty sickening to look at. Way to bright, to the point that some of the imagery or aesthetic they were aiming for get lost in the yellow lighting in just about every scene.
The voice acting is ok at best. not great, just ..... ok. I think the writing is what makes it almost unwatchable though. The dialogue is not great, and a lot of the lines should have been looked over and probably rewritten. A lot of useless swearing. Like, it was just used to sound edgy, but didn't actually sound cool when said. But again, maybe this reaches more to a younger crowd who thinks its hardcore and funny? I also saw some jokes from other media or series, which kind of drives the "not well written" nail all the way into the board.
While I did say I enjoyed the actual plot, I will say the execution of it was horrible. The story itself took far to long, especially the climax, which felt like it took for ever. It shouldn't have had to last more then 10 minuets, but I think it went as long as 30. Now that I think about it, I feel like the whole story went on longer then it should have. This shouldn't have been a 2 hour story, or if so, it should have felt more whole.
The music and audio is so-so. It feels like I have been listening to the same generic horror track over and over again through out the film. I will say I think once the climax hits, the audio actually becomes noticeable. But for the most part, it felt like the same thing over and over again. The sound effects though... I cant tell if they were meant for comedy... or because they didn't feel like searching the sound banks for something more fitting. All sound effects are obviously free sound bank related files. A lot of "boing" and bouncy sounds for the creatures, its to goofy and lowers the threat level of the creatures.
I have to assume this was done by a very small team. If this is a team of like 4-5 people, Id have to give them some props on the attempt and hopefully first independent film. But from what I am seeing on IMDB, this isn't their first work, and the have been doing some work for years. For a younger watcher, who is into the "hot topic" look or just into light goth/punk/scene type aesthetic, you might have some type of enjoyment out of this. However, I know there are better films with a similar look out there, and although the premises is interesting, the delivery and work of it is lacking. For the average animation fan or just movie watcher, this is not worth the 2 hour sit.
