The case of adolescence and our immature thoughts spurring in the respective time is one that all folks can look back on with comedic value and embarrassment. Usually, humanity refers to it as the “formative years,” when we experience and engage with folks while we inch inevitably close to adulthood and hold the reigns for ourselves one day. The Weird Kidz embodies this element of the “coming-of-age story” with its sustainable animation of several teenagers banding together to head off for an overnight trip at the Jerusalem National Park.

In almost every aspect, it almost resembles a video game atmosphere. Obviously, it would have to be rated mature, as there is a plethora of teenage thoughts and crude jokes, pre-teen drinking and consumption of drugs, and some graphic bareness that unfolds onscreen. Director Zach Passero (and his wife Hannah) edited the feature, and it concretizes its title name into the action unfolding. The plot follows three teenage boys, Dug, Fatt, and Mel, going to the park with Dug’s brother Wyatt and his girlfriend, Mary. The plan is simple: drink and smoke, light fireworks, and make it an unforgettable night. However, when stopping in a convenience store on the way there, they’re warned by the clerk that there is a legendary creature known as The Night Child, and it’ll be hunting the kids.

This feature speaks very much about the older times, the ’80s and ’90s, and pulls much inspiration from other features such as Gremlins, The Gate, and The Devil’s Rain. The horrors in the atmosphere might want to kill you, creating that tension even when teenagers keep thinking of women’s body parts or fighting over sibling nonsense. It doesn’t pertinently make it unsettling like a top horror feature, but the remnants are there to remind us. Passero does take the time to make it more than kids having sexual fantasies, as there are some elements of maturity and some warm moments in the end.

As loose and nostalgic as it is, this animated toon sometimes meanders along without many purposes aside from “terrorizing animal is attacking kids” and “a cult represents the demon.” Perhaps it is far-fetched as we’re dealing with kids in a situation that may remind others of their teenage years, and it’s their time to grow and evolve in the case.

The Weird Kidz, otherwise, does stand as a small tale of our prepubescent days and gives Passero credibility in unraveling this unwieldy part of our lives.