Nov 12, 2019
Hi everyone!
Welcome back for another catchup review. I have a lot of specific genres I love to watch. Surrealist pictures. Well-choreographed actioners. Anything with psychedelic special effects or animation. And absolutely anything with zombies. “Little Monsters” is a zombie film like no other. For a couple other films in the zom-com genre (yeah, I said it, Andrew!), check out Andrew Campbell’s review of “One Cut of the Dead” (Episode #625) as part of Reign of Terror 2019, and Stephanie Campbell’s sneak attack review for “Anna and the Apocalypse” (Episode #425), soon to be available on subscription services! Both are excellent.
Before the review, we’ll have a promo from our good friend and semi-regular contributor, Ryan L. Terry. You can catch his reviews at RLTerryReelView.com (that’s reel with two e’s) and his many guest appearances on many movie podcasts. Don’t miss his guest review for “I Know What You Did Last Summer” (Episode #614) as part of Reign of Terror 2019, along with his many attempts to... let’s call it help me.
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Here we go!
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<< RYAN L TERRY PROMO >>
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Today’s movie is “Little Monsters”, the zombie horror comedy written and directed by Abe Forsythe. The film follows Dave (Alexander England), a failed musician who tags along on a school trip to a theme park lead by Miss Caroline (Lupita Nyong’o) to see famous children’s television personality Teddy McGiggle (Josh Gad). However, when zombies escape from the nearby United States military base and invade the theme park, the children and remaining adults must hole up in the gift shop before deciding what to do.
No spoilers.
Zombie films are one of my favorite types of movies. It doesn’t matter if it’s mind control zombies, flesh-eating shufflers, or sprinting zoom-bies. Each one generally entertains in some way, shape, or form, even when the story is exceptionally awful. Zombies are a thematically flexible force for horror films, able to represent a myriad of evils. Sometimes they are the victims, sometimes the antagonists, and sometimes just a force of nature impacting the surviving humans.
However, zombies are no longer limited to horror stories, or at least pure horror stories. Zombies are now leaking into other film genres. You can now find zombie romance stories, zombie journalist stories, zombie adventure stories, zombie documentaries, and even art-house zombie films. Just add zombies to any story now and you have a feature film, provided you have a decent make-up crew. Adding zombies to other films allows the power of zombie storytelling to be more accessible, or perhaps more relatable, to non-horror audiences. And “Little Monsters” does this in a fun new way.
A few professions today are truly heroic. Firefighters protect us all from the dangers of fire, something especially on my mind lately here in California. Organizers and activists are constantly working for the benefit of those in need and against the systems that drive inequality. Most especially, teachers, who help to develop and educate our children so they can operate in the world today. And for the record, I’m not just saying that because One Movie Spouse happens to be a teacher. I’m sure we can all remember one or two teachers who were role models for us all, and eventually we learn that those heroes were really just like the rest of us in adulthood, who drink and smoke and swear and everything.
Lupita Nyong’o does a supreme job as Miss Caroline, balancing the outward-facing teacher persona, necessary to engage and motivate young children, and the fundamentally real person struggling behind that persona. Teddy McGiggle has the same dual-facing persona with children, although he has a much more difficult time with maintaining that composure after the zombie invasion, devolving into his worst self. By contrast, Dave’s character matures from a failed musician into, well, at least something a little more palatable to interest Miss Caroline.
The massive strength of this film is the combination of comedy at play. Miss Caroline and Teddy McGiggle poke fun at the perceived purity of teachers and children’s personalities, in the same way that 2017’s “Fist Fight” was funny. Combined with that is having a strong cast of children operating in an exceeding adult environment, with the same kind of clueless understanding as on display in this year’s “Good Boys” (Episode #575). Adding zombies to this combination is really just a bonus, but instead of it being too much, Abe Forsythe manages to calibrate it just right to make it all work.
However, there are some noticeable flaws, the biggest one being that the film seems over-focused on Dave as a character in the beginning. Alexander England is well out of his weight class alongside top billers Nyong’o and Gad, and the focus on his character development is completely unnecessary to the rest of the story, a useless prelude to an excellent zombie comedy that follows. However, with the film already coming in at a tight 93 minutes, I’m not sure whether to trim it down on the front end or add enough to justify it on the back end. And at any rate, it doesn’t take away from the immense strengths of this film.
“Little Monsters” is an accessible zombie comedy that plays with teachers and children’s personalities, and on a much deeper level, the differences in how we present ourselves to others and to ourselves. As long as you can stand a lot of gore and profanity, then you will definitely enjoy this film, especially if you’ve ever worked with or raised children in your life. Don’t miss out on this one zombie fans! And teachers, let’s work on our shovel skills, shall we?
Rotten Tomatoes: 83% (CERTIFIED FRESH)
Metacritic: 57
One Movie Punch: 8.7/10
“Little Monsters” (2019) is rated R and is currently playing on Hulu.