Just when you thought that
zombies were dead and buried, we get Jim Jarmusch’s take on the genre earlier
this year, but he’s always behind and ahead of the curve, but now we get,
Lupita Nyongo’s defending a class of 6-year olds against a farm’s worth of
zombies in Australia might I add. This is definitely not something I expected
to see but hoped to at a film festival.
After breaking up with his girlfriend and getting nowhere with his no existent band, selfish loser Dave end up on his sister’s sofa being a bad influence on his 5-year-old nephew Felix. But when he meets Felix’s sunny, charming school teacher, Miss Caroline, he decides to volunteer to be a chaperone on the class trip to a local petting zoo. Unfortunately, some zombies, being kept at the local USA military facility next to the zoo, have got loose and proceed to wreak havoc, forcing Dave to step up and Miss Caroline to defend the children at any cost.
After breaking up with his girlfriend and getting nowhere with his no existent band, selfish loser Dave end up on his sister’s sofa being a bad influence on his 5-year-old nephew Felix. But when he meets Felix’s sunny, charming school teacher, Miss Caroline, he decides to volunteer to be a chaperone on the class trip to a local petting zoo. Unfortunately, some zombies, being kept at the local USA military facility next to the zoo, have got loose and proceed to wreak havoc, forcing Dave to step up and Miss Caroline to defend the children at any cost.
Falling into the genre that was
first coined by ‘Shaun of the Dead’, ‘Little Monsters’ is a RomComZom (romantic
comedy with zombies) and although it is rather light on the romantic part
(thankfully as this can sometimes slow down the film), the comedy and zombie
action is in full swing. With any new zombie film there is a pressure to find a
new angle and writer-director Abe Forsythe has definitely found it. Having a
class of 5-year olds along with their teacher and one of the kid’s uncles along
for the ride in fighting off the hordes of the undead at a petting zoo was a
stroke of genius. Adding the absurd coincidence that a US military site, operating
in Australia, is down the road where zombies are being kept for unknown reasons
was also a very humourous and stereotypical move storytelling wise but it adds
to the fun and ridiculous tone of the whole film.
In any other romantic comedy,
hapless selfish Dave would try numerous ways to impress Miss Caroline after
being smitten with her at first glance. He’d probably get his nephew to help
out too, dressing him up in his Darth Vader outfit again no doubt seeing as he
does this at the start of the film too. But having zombies come in and ruin not
only a school trip but speeds up the bonding time between the adults so zombies
can be very useful after all. Lupita Nyongo is literally perfect as the sunny,
yellow dress wearing positive caring Miss Caroline. She isn’t all smiles and
playing the ukulele either, showing her tough side as she threatens a children’s
TV presenter and takes down a zombie or two. Aside from the romantic element of
the film, the relationship between Dave (Alexander England) and Felix his
nephew is at first hilarious, considering the things he says to and in front of
this 5 year old, but the heart-warming bond of trust just makes you believe
Dave can change for the better and maybe pay attention to Felix more, especially
as he already knows how to drive a tractor!
If there was a weak element to
the film, its unfortunately Josh Gaad’s Mr Giggles the popular children’s TV
show presenter who just so happens to be doing a tour of Australia. He serves
as the antagonist, a supposedly nice person who shows his true colours in a
crisis but half of what he says feels out of place and his confessions of his past
choices ends up being an empty hole in the story. But overall, he does
literally serve a purpose to the film.
A fun addition the genre that no one
evert thought would become a staple in cult/horror cinema, ‘Little Monsters’ is
exactly what it says on the poster. With a few jump scares and gore galore, it’s
a comedy with zombies that just happen to be there.