Little Monsters (2019)
2019
R
94 Minutes
A washed-up musician teams up with a teacher and a kids show personality to protect young children from a sudden outbreak of zombies.
User Review
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While most mindless zombies lack any sort of brain stems, “Little Monsters”, directed by Abe Forsythe, has enough heart to make up for its absent brain in a good-spirited gore fest that’s a hilarious and bloody appreciation of how hard great teachers fight for our kids, and manages to delivers on the comedy and zombie kills along the way!
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The plot follows a scruffy metal musician with a bad case of stunted manhood and just so happens to be a bit too invested in his band to really develop a human relationship, or make room for the kids that sometimes come as a result. When he accompanies his nephew on a school field trip to a rural farm because he starts to grow a liking towards his teacher, things go south when zombies break out of a testing facility and head straight towards the kids! Break out the ukulele!
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The film’s narrative is constructed with thoughtfulness and an ample amount of slapstick humor that creates an entertainingly nonsensical horror comedy with great character development and buckets of zombie guts. From the outset, Forsythe takes his time in getting to the horror goods and establishes just how patently annoying and toxic our main character, played in a manchild kind of way that invokes far more empathy than it should by Alexander England, in a cold open that’s bravely long. The core of this film is seeing England’s character redeeming himself and learning the idea that having children around can be a source of incredible strength in a roundly satisfying hero’s journey that’s surrounded by a hardy supporting cast who work well together and has a gruesome backdrop occupied by the undead.
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Joining England is Lupita Nyong’o as a kindergarten teacher that’s a ball of pure sunshine. Her dedication to the children that she loves so much offers up the perfect opportunity for some killer action sequences that are both badass and hilarious. Imagine seeing Nyong’o stylishly chopping off zombie heads with a shovel all whilst wearing a brightly primary colored dress, it’s an entertaining sight to say the least! By the time she’s covered in blood and busting out a ukulele to serenade the kids with Taylor Swift covers, it’s impossible not to be impressed with her acting range here!
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To balance out the cast is Josh Gad as the comic relief, which he’s at his best in small doses. His exuberant, vulgar personality is extremely funny, yet, there’s only so many times you can hear him drop nuclear-grade F-bombs on a room full of children before it gets old.
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“Little Monsters” has a beating heart and a wickedly funny sense of humor as the horror and comedy elements are woven together to produce a delightfully gasping zombie flick with scares and gory beats complementing the laughs. It’s not often that you watch a zombie film and you’re rooting for the main players to survive, but “Little Monsters” is one of those occasions thanks to Lupita Nyong’o’s dedicated performance. Hopefully, the kindergarten teacher got paid a hearty salary from the school board after saving her kids from a grisly death!1 member likes this review.
