The 1978 short film Zero Hour is based on Ray Bradbury’s 1947 short story of the same title. It is unusual in that the actors are uncredited so I can only reference the characters without saying who played them. For some reason this film is not listed on Internet Movie Database although it is over 20 minutes long and subjects as short as six and a half minutes are listed.

The film follows the story well, centering on Mink, an innocent looking curly haired girl of about seven. She is leading a group of young children in playing a game called “Invasion,” for which they have borrowed a collection of kitchen implements.

Mink’s mother thinks this is all harmless fun until one child goes home crying. The story seems to be set in the future as the mother participates in a video call with someone in another part of the country who reports children there are playing the same game. The game involves a character named Drill who wants to emerge on Earth to bring others through and is enlisting young children to help. The kids won’t let older children participate.

As Mink’s father arrives home, things reach a frightening level. Mink’s mother no longer sees the activity as a game.

The acting is pretty good, what special effects appear are well done, and the film follows the story closely. There is no objectionable material except possibly for terribly sensitive parents who don’t want their kids to see a story with some scary moments about kids acting not in the best interests of their parents and society at large.