Little Monsters

Little Monsters is a zombie film that skews far more towards the comedy than the action/horror, but it’s genuinely funny and unexpectedly sweet in places, and is well worth a watch.

Premise:  After moving back in with his sister following a messy break-up, failed musician Dave (Alexander England) volunteers to chaperone his nephew Felix’s kindergarten field trip to a petting zoo, in order to get closer to the kindergarten teacher Miss Caroline (Lupita Nyong'o). But the army base next to the petting zoo just so happens to be carrying out top secret re-amination experiments…

Review:

In the increasing crowded zombie-horror-comedy sub-genre, Little Monsters tries to set itself apart by being first and foremost a comedy, to such an extent that it’s probably about a third way through the film before the first suggestion of an undead threat is even mentioned.  The film is set against the backdrop of such a small scale zombie outbreak, that the lack of much real danger or jeopardy is effectively part of the joke.  This film is clearly not aiming to appease the gore-hounds in the audience, as it’s a zombie film with far more touchingly cute moments than horrifying ones.

The film is set in Australia, is written and directed by an Australian (Abe Forsythe), and stars a predominantly Australian cast (with the two high-profile exceptions of Lupita Nyong'o and Josh Gad), which gives the film a very unique tone, falling somewhere in-between the British humour of Shawn of The Dead and the American comedy of Zombieland.  The film revels in its small-scale-ness (effectively the zombie outbreak is limited to one petting zoo and a miniature golf course), in a way that you couldn’t imagine a US film doing.  Of course, the army base that releases the zombies is still a US testing facility – because some tropes you just don’t mess with.

“…has some genuinely touching moments…”

Alexander England plays the lead character, Dave, an emotionally stunted, immature, failed musician who breaks up with his long-suffering girlfriend because she wants to have kids and he’s still holding on to the dream that any day now he’ll become a rock guitar legend.  Be warned – for the first section of this film, Dave is so aggressively obnoxious that it comes close to derailing the film.  He’s clearly intended to be one of those comedy characters that you “love to hate”, but he comes dangerously close to being a character that you just hate, as his self-destructive spiral starts to affect his supportive big sister Tess (Kat Stewart) and her young son Felix (Diesel La Torraca).

But it’s a testament to Alexander England’s performance (and Abe Forsythe’s writing/direction) that Dave’s character arc works so well, as he redeems himself from the unsympathetic and self-centred man that we spend the first half an hour with.  The film keeps the tone light, but nevertheless, Dave faces up to some hard truths about himself and his upbringing, and Alexander England has some genuinely touching moments with Diesel La Torraca, Kat Stewart and Lupita Nyong'o.

“…Lupita Nyong’o is undoubtedly the film’s comedy secret weapon…”

Speaking of which, although Alexander England’s Dave is the lead character, Lupita Nyong'o’s Miss Caroline is undoubtedly the film’s comedy secret weapon.  Her mission is not only to keep her kindergarten class safe from the zombies on their field trip, but also to protect them emotionally – which means that she turns their fight for survival into a fun game, cheerfully singing Taylor Swift songs on her ukulele as she fights through the hordes of undead.  It is unquestionably the film’s comedy USP – how do you keep a class of small children safe from zombies while also remaining smiley and cheerful at all times?

In comparison, Josh Gad’s appearance as children’s TV presenter Teddy McGiggle feels a little one note – but it’s hard to complain when he plays that one note to perfection.  Teddy McGiggle is, from one perspective, arguably the one character who behaves most realistically when the excrement hits the fan – freaking out, looking after himself, assuming the kids are goners anyway, and being unable to believe that Miss Caroline is still so chipper.

“…may be too extreme for a rom-com audience, & too tame for those looking for zombie thrills…”

Overall, Little Monsters may be too extreme for a traditional rom-com audience, and may be too tame to please those looking for zombie thrills and chills – and yet for those looking for something a little more inventive, this film may surprise you not only with its outlandish comedic tone, but also with its unexpectedly sweet and touchingly emotional moments.