Kakurenbo

Kakurenbo is a one-shot ova and is Yamatoworks first attempt at an anime. And as the title suggests, its an OVA about hide and seek. But like any good anime out there theres a lot of rules and twists to this 30 minute show. Thirty minutes isn't enough time to flesh out character backgrounds and a deep story but it gives out the rules and punishments of the game all in the beginning of the show. And that gives this show a lot of points from me considering how confusing and crazy the show gets right away. For example one of the rules gets ... broken even before the game begins. But it all will start to make sense toward the end.

As for the characters, they're all grade school children but they all have their own unique style and look. For instance, one kid has earrings big enough to have a kanji symbol on it, another has a mowhawk, etc. Regardless these kids arent your typical type of kids but I don't think this show is aimed toward a young audience considering the graphic nature of this OVA. Well its not a graphic violence but more of a psycho thriller. Which is pretty unique since you dont see these types of anime being produced as much. But back to the characters, they all wear fox masks as a requirement to play the game. I'm assuming this is a move to save money on animation, or it can be to increase the scare factor of the show. Which brings me to the art and animation of the show.

Apparently it took the production team 6 months to produce this one episode, and you can see that most of their work was put into the art and animation of this show. It looks like most of the show was hand drawn but the characters are a mix of cell-shading and hand drawn animation. As you well know this combination usually looks pretty bad, but surprisingly they managed to make it look really REALLy good in this show. The antagonists are all vibrant and oozing evil, neon lights all have a soft neon glow, posters on abandoned walls are written out with care, and even heaps of trash and debris have their own beauty to them. The detail to the background artwork is just insane it appears they put in just as much work to the backgrounds as they did to the characters.

As for the sound effects and voice acting, one turns out VERY EXCELLENT and the other turns out VERY mediocre. The sound effects are top notch and set the mood all perfectly. Almost a little too perfect. Still air can be heard, buzzing of neon lights, even the dilapidated buildings that make the setting all creak and crack with antique clarity. At times, the sound will actually make you jump if you get too into the show. On the other hand, the voice acting is mediocre at best. Most of the time they don't even speak, they mostly run and scream in fear. Two of the kids don't even speak at all. But where there is no dialog, they're usually some sort of suspenseful, creepy, or downright ominous song brooding over the show.

As usual, my review is starting to becoming longer than the whole show itself. Overall, the show is a great psychological thriller who is very open minded to unique shows. This show is obviously full of holes and inconsistencies, but the whole experience will still be exciting every time i watch it. And I've watched it 4 times already :)

Title: Kakurenbo

Anime: Kakurenbo is a half-hour OVA that was produced as a collaboration between CoMix Wave Inc (known for their work on 5 Centimeters per Second and Voices From a Distant Star), Dentsu Inc (known for their work on Antique Bakery and D.Gray-Man) and Yamatoworks/D.A.C (this was their debut production), and directed by Shuhei Morita (who also directed the Freedom OVA series). Kakurenbo was released on September 1st, 2004 in Japan, was licensed Stateside by the now defunct Central Park Media, who released it on October 30th, 2005.

Story: In a city that's now in ruins, children play the game of Otokoyo (a Japanese version ... of hide and seek), but seemingly disappear whenever it's played, supposedly spirited away by demons. A boy named Haraku enters the game hoping to find his sister, who went missing playing Otokoyo.

This OVA's really good at ramping up the creepy factor. You're thrown into this world with little to no background whatsoever, and truths unravel slowly as you watch these kids going through the game, which grows more and more scary as you go through. You don't know much about the kids initially, as they're all wearing fox demon masks, as required per the game, but you learn enough details about them as they go through the game. And there are some excellent and truly scary twists in this, though I would suggest some cultural background before going into this, as it'll make these make a lot more sense. And everything wraps up neatly in a half hour's time.

Art: Kakurenbo was made entirely using 3D CGI and cel-shaded animation, like in Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. The art for this in general is incredibly well done, and conveys the creepiness of the atmosphere perfectly, not to mention the designs of the creatures you find in here. 'm personally not that much of a fan of cel-shaded animation, though, as it does look a bit strange in places, especially with regards to the childrens' expressions, which are incredibly wooden. It is a fairly new technology, though, so it'll probably become better-used with time.

Music: I really like what they did here. Traditional instruments are used and orchestrated perfectly, as is the incredibly understated use of silence, to add to the tension in the entire thing. Excellently done.

Seiyuu: They didn't particularly stand out, but neither did they leave much of an impression on me. Overall, passable job here.

Length: The OVA does feel a bit constrained by it's half-hour run time, but it still manages to tell a good, creepy story, even if we aren't as invested as we could be in the kids. Overall, it does well with what time it has, even if it could be a bit better.

Overall: An amazingly creepy OVA with a pretty good story and music track, decent art and seiyuu, and a length that could've been longer for maximum effect. A good watch for Halloween.

Story: 8/10
Art: 7/10
Music: 9/10
Seiyuu: 7/10
Length: 8/10

Overall: 39/50; 78% (B-)

There are 2 reasons to write a review.

1. Is this anime for you?
A: If you are easy to trick and get lost in atmosphere quite often, or don't watch horror much or are frightened easily then yes.

Now part 2 is justify why you hate something to the people who love it. (Fair enough since you should at least provide good reasoning for liking or hating something.) Past this part has SPOILERS.


It is a game of 7 children. There are 8 children. This is the start. Gee, WONDER WHO THE 8TH IS!? Also, she looks exactly like the one kids sister (despite wearing a ... mask), and they all wear fox masks. Now they spend 16 minutes running around the city looking for the girl (8th child) as well as being chased by monsters. During which period, they find a poster with 4 monsters and a fox in the middle.

Right then I stopped the movie, walked to my brother's room and explained to him That I'm watching a OVA in which there are kids running around with a fox mask, an extra kid pulling a Silent Hill 2, and that the fifth monster was a fox. We said IN UNISON "She's it". She literally is "It" btw. To catch the children. Then after 16 minutes elapse, we get to see that SHE IS THE MONSTER! Oh wow, shocker on shock street. They still feel the need to then explain that however. Then she says "When we play Hide And Seek the city gets brighter, but only for a minute". Right then I said "She's using them as batteries" then that's revealed, as if that's a surprise. Then it's revealed the last child is it, go figure.

So in addition to being 100% predictable, how is the atmosphere since that's a key aspect of horror! It's not great. The music is poor, it's often annoyingly dark despite being animated, the creatures are not that scary, the characters are not particularly likable. They're UNLIKABLE CHILDREN, how is that possible!? Probably because they're soulless, in a 20 minute production, designed primarily to serve as fodder for the monsters.

The only thing it does well is somehow make 3d cell shading not look horrible for 20 minutes.

So I guessed the plot, I wasn't afraid or creeped out despite watching it at midnight in a dark room, and it didn't entertain me. Enjoy! I am being generous with my rating.

Kakurenbo is a short flick involving an urban legend that tells of how those playing a specific game of hide-and-seek at a certain forbidden, deserted neighborhood all goes missing without a single trace. This being of the horror genre can mean only one thing: a group of kids got curious and were lured into the game, with obvious disastrous consequences, as they found out just why the game is a taboo.

I'm not expecting much from the characters, since this is such a short film (and a horror one at that). You have the bully/ jerk jock archetype and his cronies, followed by the stoic and ... quiet characters, the obligatory mysterious creepy child and so on. The cast may not be outstanding, but they suit the show just fine, though it would be nice if the movie were somewhat longer so as to allow a little more characterization; a bit more background on the characters' motivations, maybe a little bit about the town and so on. While the idea of having the entire cast wearing the fox masks in order to play the game prevents the audience from seeing their expressions, it does add to the ambience and that's the crucial point.

Indeed, because the story is such a simplistic and short one, the movie relies heavily on its audio and visual elements. As such, the animation quality is unsurprisingly impressive. Things such as the way shadows are cast, as well as how the various lighting effects are done all helped to create a spooky atmosphere for the story. Furthermore, the abandoned buildings in the background are detailed and appear to have a tint of cyberpunk feel to it, suitably adding to the mood. Last but not least, the music compliments the movie well. Using an orchestra of traditional Japanese instruments certainly helped in creating a haunting, chilling soundtrack throughout the movie. My only complaint however, goes to the demons themselves. They are too obvious. A large element of horror and paranoia stems from not knowing what you’re up against; yes, the demons need to be scary looking as well (and they do look menacing) but it is building up the suspense of them appearing that really sets the tension. In this case, the demons are properly seen right from the beginning. We see them too clearly and that results in the show being less spooky than it could have been. I guess this is attributed the fact that film is simply too short to do proper build-ups. On the other hand, the designs for the demons are interesting: traditional Japanese folklore sort of demons but part mechanical – further contributing to the subtle cyberpunk feel.

All in all, Kakurenbo is a reasonably decent show to watch. While not downright spine-chilling scary, it is nonetheless relatively creepy, particularly with the reveal and the stinger at the end. It being such a short film thus bears resemblance to those series of short horror stories prevalent on the net (also known as 'creepy pastas'). If anything else, Kakurenbo is at least worth the visual treats it offer.

Overall this is a fun little movie that I recommend everyone should watch. It's so short that it's not really a question of "why watch it?" but "why not?" If you still want to know why, then read on.

There is an urban legend that tells about kids disappearing in a strange abandoned city, the protagonist is there to search for his sister while other children have their own reasons to venture into that desolated place reminiscent of the Midgar slums from Final Fantasy VII, such as proving they are not afraid or simply exploring.

The children all wear fox masks as part of their game ... so we don't get to see their expressions as they explore the city and unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of several children rumored to have been spirited away.

The art is a mix between the computer flash style animation and classic animation. It gives a nice balance to fit most preferences. Since this movie is so short, just under half an hour, there's no time to develop the characters too deeply, but the main focus is the mystery.

I'll only say that the Matrix comes to mind, but this isn't about being in a virtual world so it's not exactly like the Matrix. Watch it yourself to see what I mean. There are also hints of mythology mixed into the eerie environment for an entertaining result.

This starts out really creepy, talking about a game where children wear fox masks to play a hide and seek game and when children will go missing from it. We have a strange band of characters that are brought together by the fight to survive a game that they know they could be killed in. There really isn’t much I can say about the show since I really don’t want to spoil if for you. It’s one I say you should watch. Also would like to note, very rarely does a Writer also become the director of his own show but in this case, it ... happened. Shuuhei Morita actually not only wrote the show, he was the director and producer of it. I think that is part of why this was done so well. Because he had a point to put across and it wasn’t diluted by anyone else in the way.

Now for the psychological part of this, I had to look at Wikipedia. Sadly I couldn’t get it but now I see what the show was actually trying to show. The idea was that Tokyo was losing its aesthetic, its beauty for a more industrial looking life. If you look at its aesthetic before being like a child, then you can see where a child’s game turning into a scare trip in a large abandoned city more based on industry could lie. Sadly, if I told anymore, I would be doing spoilers again.

The animation style feels much like a cut scene from a rather well made game. The mixture of 3D and cell shaded textures are almost seamless although once in a while they use the same model over and over again. There are times when you will see very small clips of what all the characters are doing to stay alive and sometimes they don’t seem to be congruent at all. They are placed randomly to break things up and so it ends up a bit hard to tell where everything is taking place. Still I fully love the post-apocalyptic feel they have for the show. It’s hard to tell where the show is taking place because it’s a large mixture of Japanese structures and yet the demons have a more hindu looking design. At least that’s in my mind.

Surprisingly, this was actually dubbed and the dub is rather well done in my book. Voices work for many of the characters in how I would picture them sounding, some might be whinny but it was the personalities were the only things that annoyed me, not the voices. The music captures the mood well and keeps you hyped up long after watching it.

Again, you should watch it if you like thrillers or anything psychological. I thought it was amazing for how short it was.

"Kakurenbo" is a very unique horror tale of Hide and Seek.

Story:
The story of a game of Hide and Seek in a special part of a desolate Tokyo (I assume it's Tokyo).
There must be seven (or more) kids that show up to an area after following the signs that spell out each individual syllable of O-To-Ko-Yo, that's a neat idea.
But whoever plays the game, never comes back.

Art:
The art is cel-shaded, and done very well, it's actually better in here than in Coicent, amazingly for Kakurenbo being done 6 years earlier.
The show does feel creepy the way should, they did a great job.
I especially think the scaling ... down the city with the kids whispering about the "game" was very well done.
The cinematography is nothing special, it gets the job done.

I think it would have been better if the show was animated in 2D.

I think the show could have used a bit more color too, he could have gone the "David Fincher" route, and make whole rooms color tones, instead of there being no light and mostly gray the whole time.
Luckily there's just enough variation to keep you interested.

Sound:
I actually liked the music in this production, it's well done traditional asian music (Very bombastic).
They needed to do a second draft on the post production of the sound though, because at times, especially at the beginning, the music was almost, if not, louder than the voices speaking in the show, and if I did not have subtitles, I wouldn't have understood them on those scenes.
The voice acting, and sound effects, get the job done.

Character:
There's a bit more character (If you can call it that) in here than in Coicent.
Most of the characters a pretty self explanatory... Most.

Noshiga "Boss" is a sceptic, who is actually afraid of the demons.
His two henchman "Suku" & Tachiji are the smarter (Slightly), well, lackeys.
"Hikora" is worried, looking for his sister who played the game a while back, with the help of his best friend "Yaimao".
"Inmu" and "Yanku" are mysterious, I don't know anything about them.

And the 4 demons are just demonic.
Kimotori "Liver-Taker"
Chitori "Blood-Taker"
Aburatori "Oil-Taker"
Kotori "Child-Taker"

And another mystery demon.
Who is this mystery demon?
Spoiler----------------

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The one who is IT.
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Enjoyment:
This was enjoyable, quite a unique horror story.
The ending was quite good as to summing up the game.


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Comments:
This production was well made, and for the budget that you would imagine it would have, it was very well done.
I saw that a good portion of the art production was done by the director "Shuhei Morita", he's quite talented.
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Overall:
A good horror tale for if you want to creeped out, ever so slightly.

This was an extremly well done movie! One of my favorites in fact. The feel of the movie itself was freaky as hell! (watched it with my friend at 2:00 in the morning!) The animation was top notch as the creatures were quite horrific. The plot was very interesting and gave you just enough information to keep you interested. Though at times it was a little confusing. The sound was ok as the silence added to the chill, but the characters themselves were given very little depth. The overall feel of this movie was great (in a scare the crap out of you sense) as ... it blended perfectly to the genre. It left you to decide for yourself. The ending was great!
this really is a spoiler:
All those lights on the tower were kids! Not to mention the fact they were screaming as the things plugged into them!
Its a movie that I would seriously love to watch again if I could find it and I recomend you do the same!

Children being thrust into horror stories isn't a very comfortable idea for many mainstream filmmakers. Not for Japan.

Kakurenbo is a short film mixing the classic hide & seek children's game with the Japanese folklore of demons by Yamatoworks. It works pretty well as watching innocent children fight against nightmares and terrors can be an inspiring experience... if they do emerge with victory anyway. But instead of being something akin to the likes of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, where we witness the unimaginable horror of children being slaughtered in a bloody fashion, Kakurenbo is more subtle, utilizing an intense mix of background sounds and tight ... framing to produce a suspenseful atmosphere.

Within the 25 minutes runtime, the movie still manages to incorporate information about the children's personality through an excellent use of "show, don't tell". Aside from the obvious bully of the show, Noshiga (and his posse), the most notable use of such storytelling are the twin brothers, Inmu and Yanku. They do not speak throughout the entire movie, and we are not fed expositions about them, but rather, from the way they try to survive against the demons, you could tell they are fast runners, that they seemed to be more capable of handling such intense situations than the others, and from their creepy masks (creepier than the ones the other children are wearing anyway), there's something disturbing about them. All of these are great examples of visual storytelling that don't rely on dialogue expositions.

Unfortunately, the weak point of the movie comes in the form of the demons - they just aren't that terrifying-looking. In fact, their mechanical movements made them seemed more like animatronics than demonic beasts haunting your nightmares. Part of the reason for this, I feel, is the cel-shading that gave them a sort of "high tech" texture. Their skin is smooth and very clean, not like the gnarling, drooling and blood-soaked demons you would usually imagine. That being said, I could understand why they look like that. These are demons from the Japanese folklore, and they do look historically accurate. But as someone who's used to more obvious depictions of demon spawns from hell in American movies, I just had a difficult time associating these beasts with anything nightmarish.

But thanks to the good cinematography, the movie does have its fill of tension and suspense, particularly when you learn the true nature of the lost children at the end. While not graphic in nature compared to Higurashi, Kakurenbo does have its own way of shocking you with a disturbing plot-twist - and it is deliciously horrifying. It makes for a very unique concept that highlights the creative nature of short films. Usually, shorts have the potential to input very creative little concepts that wouldn't work as effectively in a full-length movie, and this is one of the best examples.

This anime has a very slow pace, it feels like an hour going through the first 10 minutes. If you haven't exhausted your list already I would recommend putting this one off for a while.

I love this anime I remember watching it when I was little though could never remember the name till I found this.

"Otokayo is a secret game they play in that town. Its a game of hide and seek"

This anime is only about 25 mins long and easy to find. The rules are when 7 kids arrive the games begin, 7 of the kids that arrive must wear masks and play the game. The old city becomes a maze for them and there are 4 demons that play along with them.

The young girl that is playing the game seems like his sister so they follow her ... and wind up losing her. As that happens they find a piece of old paper that depicts 4 demons of the town.

The child taker, the blood taker, the oil taker , and the liver taker. Once they take children they never come back and the last person left is the winner becoming something they least expect. Many are there to play the game, but one is there to find his sister that played the night before and disappeared. Once you watch it and start to watch it you wont want to stop. Its a great anime. I wont give much away. I do wish it was longer and a second movie of it.

What you find out that happened to the children with surprise you at the ending of the movie.

The time has come to start horror anime month in earnest. First up we have Kakurenbo, a short film from 2005. It was done by Yamato Works, written & directed by Morita Shuuhei. 

Story:

There's a mysterious game of hide and seek played by seven children in fox masks. There's just one problem. Every child who plays the game vanishes. Rumour says that they're spirited away by demons or possibly creepy old guys with worn down ice cream vans. We see various groups. A pair of twin brothers, a trio, a pair of friends and a girl on her own. Giving us eight players for the game. 

The ... biggest problem with the film is a very simple one. There's a real lack of investment. The film isn't long enough for us to get to know or care about the characters or what happens with them. The trio seem to be there for no adequately explored reason. The twin brothers never speak and have absolutely no motivation. The main pair have some motivation, to find the main protagonist's missing sister. And while that is understandable at a basic level, it's kind of weak in terms of getting the audience invested when you never see the siblings interact. 

I will give some credit. Having a twisted area of the city where a bunch of children are fleeing and hiding for their lives is a potentially good set up. I also appreciate that the ending is allowed to be a horror ending. It doesn't hold back or try to be nice and sanitised. So, that's something. 

Characters:

I've already somewhat covered this, but the characters are really the big problem. In order for you to have a strong horror work, you have to get the audience to care about the characters. Spend some time with them, develop them and then put them in peril when you've built up that investment. In this, they try for a very short, clean narrative but in order to achieve that they sacrifice any potential for characterisation. You don't give a shit what happens to these kids because you know virtually nothing about them. They're simply too dull. Even if they aren't actively obnoxious, it's still a bit like trying to care about a slice of dry white bread that's been left on the counter. 

Art:

In terms of art, I'll credit Kakurenbo with not falling into the too common horror pitfall of having a bunch of over the top gore and violence. Because, like I talked about with Elfen Lied last year, that's not scary. It's just ridiculous and quickly loses its impact. I may not give this film credit for being great horror, but I will gladly give it credit over the gore festival films that just have no sense of subtlety. And the Cel-shaded style does look pretty decent. Although it might not be the most suitable style for a horror work. The atmosphere around the city and the demon designs are pretty good.

Sound:

The acting is decent enough. We have both Takeuchi Junko & Suzuki Masami in major roles. They may not be at their best in this since the characters are so mundane but they manage to turn out performances that are all right. Which is also how I'd describe the music. It's okay. 

Ho-yay:

None of these characters are developed enough to have interactions that come across as potentially romantic. I honestly don't even know if these kids are old enough for that to be much of a concern with them. We seriously know that little about them. 

Final Thoughts:

This is a horror film that might be effective for actual children who are used to media having under-developed one-note characters. If I were watching this as a ten year old, it would probably scare me. The problem is this isn't a film intended for that audience. It looks to be made for the younger end of the shounen spectrum IE, teenagers. And with teenagers, I don't think it's going to work all that well. But if you want to experience the atmosphere and watch a bunch of children get chased down by demons, by all means give it a try. For myself, I'll give it a 5/10. I've certainly seen worse horror, on many occasions, but I also can't call this a good one. It's just kind of middling. 

Kakurenbo should have been a full-length film, honestly. The worldbuilding leaves something to be desired but they did a wonderful job for the 25 minutes that they had. I really wish there was more in this world because I was absolutely entranced for its short duration.

The art was absolutely beautiful. Though I know CGI isn't everyone's cup of tea, this OVA is stunning. The combination of hand-drawn animation and cell shading blew me away, honestly. Obviously it isn't perfect, it was released in 2004 (and even now a lot of CGI is sorta glitchy) but I loved how it looked.

I think this short really captured ... what psychological thrillers are supposed to be about. Yes, the story is a little "predictable", but it isn't supposed to be a surprise. The "twists" aren't supposed to be twists. The point of the story is to instil a creeping sense of dread, that there's nothing you can do to stop what you KNOW is going to happen. And I think that this story pulls that off perfectly.

I try to look at this as an indie film more than as anime. Because that's what this is. It portrays the unending cycle of industry destroying innocence, in animated form. It is fantastic and I'm probably going to recommend it to everyone I know and their mothers.

Rate a 7
English Dubbed

Story
A terrifying spin on an old classic kid's game. While i may be haunted in my dreams for a bit i did enjoy the message. Be careful for what you seek. You may get what you did not expect. An equaling terrifying concept much like signing an agreement only to find there some hidden fees. As for the introduction in what confusing to what time period it was stationed in:past or future?

Art
-while i think the story was centered deep an abyss it was confusing to what was down and what was up.
-I applaud the artist/writer(s) that created this to demonstrate some fear ... without the use of blood and gore.
- The idea of the masks was a perfect camouflage but lead to some confusing in groups on who is talking.
-introduction was too stretched out.
-not all aspects of the art was clear to at least the English viewers (like myself). Such as the posters and mask symbols.

sound
Not sure if this is a valid complaint or not. In the introduction there is chatter. The problem was hearing what was said. I am not saying the voices were muffled but required raising of the sound volume. So, you could say it was faint. However, you have to consider the setting as well. If i show you a plane in mid-line in flight in the air are you going to hear the people way down below crossing in the streets? A more creative approach that requires little in terms of changes is to have subtitles in place until the voices become clear.

Overall: kids will be kids, no matter the generation. I suggest having your child watch this film when he/she won't listen to reason. A valid case would be the classic don't listen to strangers. Having to deal with a week or so of nightmares is a small price in comparison to the alternative.

Hide & Seek + Supernatural + Horror = Amazing combination ( but a disappointing result ) = Kakurenbo

A waste. Thats all I really can say about this movie.

Story: 7 - Among the ruins of the city, there is a game only children can play. It is called “Otokoyo”; a game of hide-and-seek. But whenever children play this game, one by one they would disappear into the blinds of the buildings… The story begins when a boy named Hikora enters the world of Otokoyo, to find his sister Sorincha who disappeared afer playing this game. At the beginning I found it promising and I thought after ... watching this movie I'd reconsider playing hide & seek ( even if you're not a kid ) but I really was disappointed with the results.

Art: 6 - The art wasn't anything memorable or beautiful but it wasn't shabby so I found it more or less suitable for a 'kiddy-level' horror anime.

Sound: 5 - The sound is something that I hardly have any memories of but I'm not bothered enough to look up for Kakurenbo's soundtrack because for what I can remember I didn't find it astounding or anything worth mentioning that could praise this movie.

Character: 6 - The characters weren't bad but they could've developed even if its only a movie but the characters did have more potential too but the potential wasn't drawn out which is a bit disappointing.

Enjoyment: 5 - I don't hate this series or find it annoying but I think I had really high expectations which let me down so I think as long as you don't keep high expectations and enjoy pg-13 horror then you'd be fine with this anime.

People Who Liked: Gakkou no Kaidan,Kaidan Restaurant and Corpse Party will like this series due to some similar elements.

Overall: 6 - Overall I was a bit disappointed but you'd like this movie as long as you don't hold high expectations and this movie is suitable for anyone.

Looking back onto Kakurenbo I can see exactly why it scared by younger self. The creepy and unsettling movement of the demons as well as the use of lighting are vital in creating an unnerving atmosphere that sets your stomach with dread. I won't rip on the characters, they aren't exactly given enough time to develop, however their age is exemplified by their size and the fear found in watching these young children run around the ruins. The concept isn't original, however the presentation and the attention make it a lovely film for Halloween that I know will make it into my October playlist

There really isn't a whole lot to this 30 minute "movie" but what's there is decent enough. If you're into spooky horror you may even get a little more mileage out of this. I rated this an 7 because it does all you could ask it to do in its runtime: Set up its premise, give a chunk of the characters a bit of personality, and create a good atmosphere. The art is something I can't rate to be honest because the copy of this I watched was presented in glorious 144p Potatocam. I do think it could have been nice to look at though ... if it had higher video quality, there seemed to be a bunch of CGI though. The sound was...there...nothing crazy but it did the job. Honestly, go into this expecting an episode of some spooky tv show and you should be decently satisfied.