Some actors can only dream of having one role in their career that becomes iconic, never mind two, but that’s exactly what US actor Tony Hale has.

His first was playing the one-handed Buster Bluth in Arrested Development, and then playing Gary Walsh, the VP’s very special aide in Veep.

He takes a fairly normal role – for him anyway – and lets his on-screen children shine in this wildly entertaining, supernatural family flick.

Trying to sell the family home is dad Taylor (Hale). He has two young children, Amber (Bianca Belle) and Jack (Kue Lawrence), but he’s hoping to make a new start somewhere else after his wife died.

Amber in particular isn’t coping well, pouring her feelings into her art, which gets her in trouble at school for being too dark and violent.

One day whilst in the woods, Jack has an accident and cuts his hand. He washes it off in a local pond, and thinks nothing of it. He then notices later that his wound has completely healed. This makes him think that perhaps the lake has magical powers which he could take advantage of. But when he goes there, Amber’s sketchbook falls into the water instead, soaking all her creations.

Jack again doesn’t think much of it, until an eventful journey to school on the bus, when it’s stopped by colourful creature creations that look alarmingly like those in his sister’s sketchbook.

And Amber’s drawings have indeed come to life, but how to stop them?

This is the feature-length directorial debut from Seth Worley, which he also wrote, based on his short film Darker Colors.

It’s a film that contains the DNA of classic eighties films such as Gremlins and The Goonies, that finds a group of children on a far-fetched adventure.

It is wonderfully inventive, as well as pleasingly rough around the edges, which may have something to do with its puny $3 million budget, which equates to the coffee budget for a week on a big studio picture.

It doesn’t take anything away from the premise, or the great performances from its young stars, most notably Bowman, played by Kalon Cox, who oozes a cheeky charm throughout.

And although the film’s visual are brilliantly brought to life, it does give off My First Horror Film vibes in being fairly dark in tone.

At the same time, it also manages to explore grief and loss throughout, for both the children and Hale’s character, with the death of his wife and the children’s mother underpinning the entire film, managing to ground the film emotionally as it embraces the absurdity of these childish sketches coming to life.

A really strong and impressive debut for Worley, in what is a truly enchanting and magical experience.