Last Halloween, Netflix released a short spin-off of Sing featuring the animated cast taking part in a fairly faithful recreation of John Landis’ iconic music video for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. It was an innocuous distraction, fit for the season, that introduced kids to zombies. Any kid who was interested, entertained, or joyfully spooked by that short film should make Night of the Zoopocalypse their next watch. It’s basically a longer version of that short film except, in this feature’s DNA, is the influence of Candyman’s Clive Barker, who serves as an executive producer while his short story ZOOmbies serves as the film’s inspiration.

Using a traditional sci-fi template to create the perfect gateway to horror for families, Night of the Zoopocalypse starts with a confined, cute bunny digesting a glowing space rock that hurled itself into a zoo once the gates were closed. Growing ravenous to nibble on other critters in its exhibit, the outbreak ropes in larger animals until most of the zoo is under a trance. This leaves a select group of unaffected animals to help each other survive the night and, hopefully, find a cure for the zoo. Our heroes inclube: a timber wolf (voiced by newcomer Gabbi Kosmidis) a mountain lion (Hellboy’s David Harbour), an ostrich (Scott Thompson of Kids in the Hall), a monkey (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee of CBC’s Kim’s Convenience) and a scene-stealing pygmy hippopotamus (Christina Nova of TV’s Bakugan).

This Canadian co-production is vibrantly animated, using an eye-catching neon palette to give the zoo a new life after hours and to play up a harsh horror atmosphere. The film has also been made with much consideration towards younger audiences, with funny, unique-looking characters taking part in exciting action sequences that use the full extent of the zoo, and older audiences, with subtle nods towards classic horror/invasion movies. The main message driving the story is a strong theme of cooperation. No matter how selfish the animals are during this intense takeover, they realize their only path to salvation and safety is if everyone works as a team.

Rarely do movie goers of all ages get a whip-smart film like Night of the Zoopocalypse.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie