Bursting at the brim with color and sound, director Makoto Nagahisa’s debut feature is one of the most imaginative and fun films of the year.

It’s no surprise why We Are Little Zombies won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Originality at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Like an addictive video game come to life and bursting at the brim with color and sound, We Are Little Zombies is one of the most imaginative and fun films of the year. The protagonists may be dead inside, but I have never felt more alive than after watching this film.

We Are Little Zombies tells the story of four orphaned Japanese teens Hikari (Keita Ninomiya), Ikuko (Sena Nakajima), Ishi (Satoshi Mizuno), and Takemura (Mondo Okumura) who are void of emotion. It doesn’t matter that their parents died in horrible ways – car crash, suicide, fire, and murder – the teens have never grieved, never even shed a tear. They decide that their new normal, which is now without authority, is a lifestyle they enjoy and with their newfound sense of freedom, decide to form a pop-electro band. What else would one do?

The teens’ nonchalant attitudes give the film its darkly humorous energy and combined with the technically advanced camera movements and overly decadent and intricate sets, We Are Little Zombies is a cinematic feat. It’s like Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs the World or a Wes Anderson film on acid. Hats off to Makoto Nagahisa, who not only directed the film but is also credited as the screenwriter and contributed the music. I would love to spend a day inside his brain.

With a runtime of two hours, We Are Little Zombies borders on a style-induced overdose that can leave more unadventurous viewers with a slight hangover, but that’s a risk worth taking.

Oscilloscope Laboratories with release the film this Friday, July 10th on VOD.