A washed-up musician teams up with a teacher and a kids show personality to protect young children from a sudden outbreak of zombies.
Abe Forsythe’s sophomore feature, the zombie comedy “Little Monsters,” is an absolute hoot. It doesn’t reinvent the zombie genre, nor does it try. Though the undead are crucial to the plot, they serve mostly as a gimmick for the film’s two leads — Lupita Nyong’o and Alexander England — to show off their comedic chops. The film’s straightforward plot is crammed with witty one-liners and buoyed by a healthy dose of charm.
Down on his luck, commitment-phobic, heavy-metal musician Dave (England) constantly bickers with girlfriend Sara (Nadia Townsend). He moves in with his sister Tess (Kat Stewart) and her “allergic-to-everything” son Felix (Diesel La Torraca). Upon laying eyes on Felix’s beautiful teacher, Miss Audrey Caroline (Nyong’o), Dave finds himself enamored, following her everywhere — including a field trip to a giant kids’ playground called Pleasant Valley, which — you guessed it — happens to be right next to a U.S. Army Testing Facility.
It doesn’t take long for the zombies to escape and cause a massacre at the jolly park. Miss Caroline and Dave promptly hide the children in a shed, attempting to play it off as an elaborate game. Along for the ride is popular children game show host Teddy McGiggle (Josh Gad), who just happened to be at the park promoting himself, and whose jolly personality rapidly unravels under the dreary circumstances. Miss Caroline’s musicianship skills come in handy during the hilarious finale, wherein popular nursery rhymes serve a whole new purpose.
There’s plenty of chuckle-inducing moments in the otherwise-conventional narrative: Dave’s disastrous, elaborate apology to Sara, involving Felix dressed in a Darth Vader suit (“I am your father, mommy”); a zombie getting casually pitchforked to a tree; an extended fight between Dave and Teddy McGiggle, which involves bodily fluids… Nyong’o is the reigning queen, whether defending her children with a shovel or leading them through a horde of zombies while strumming away on her ukulele.
“Don’t be scared, this is the surprise I was talking about!” Miss Caroline tries to reassure her class, in the midst of a field of raging monsters. By turns crude and endearing, this Australian-set little oddity may never for a moment be frightening or truly original, but it sure as hell is fun. These days, you could do a lot worse.
In select theaters Tuesday, October 8th and on Hulu Friday, October 11th
