Reel Snippet – Little Monsters
Summary: Australian screw-up Dave (Alexander England) has just gone through a messy breakup and is currently living with his sister Tess (Kat Stewart) and her son Felix (Diesel La Torraca), the latter of whom he proves to be quite the bad influence. But when he gets the chance to chaperone a field trip to a mini golf park for Felix’s class, he jumps on the chance mainly so he can get with the gorgeous teacher Ms. Caroline (Lupita Nyong’o). Chaperoning a bunch of hyper children isn’t exactly easy, but it gets a lot worse when the park becomes the epicenter for a zombie outbreak. Now he has to deal with the living dead, a bitter children’s performer (Josh Gad) who’s snapped, and his own immaturity while they all try and keep the kids calm and well.
Review: Little Monsters, not to be confused with the 80s movie starring Fred Savage and Howie Mandel, is a fun little horror-comedy, but there’s also a surprising amount of heartwarming moments. Watching David change from a self-involved jerk into someone who cares about those around him tugs at the old heartstrings, even though his jerk qualities are pretty substantial in the beginning. I wish that the movie was more about Ms. Caroline because she’s a bundle of awesome (not to mention that Lupita’s all over the advertising). At the very least, she’s more than just a love interest and contributes to the plot with her own strengths.
This movie isn’t for people with weak stomachs because there’s a lot of gore, what with zombies munching the innards of their victims. There’s also a few cases of onscreen vomit, which I personally did not appreciate. What I did appreciate was that the children were fairly adorable with just a hint of being obnoxious rather than just being a bunch of… well, little monsters. True, one of them is a bit insufferable, but it’s important that they remain sympathetic lest we start rooting for the zombies. On the flip side, Josh Gad plays an amazing sociopath confronted with horror. He’s practically a missing Dead Rising villain.
If you’re in the mood for a kooky and sweet zombie thriller and have a subscription to Hulu, give it a watch — heck, this is the first Hulu original movie I’ve ever covered. Personally, I like Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland a little more, but I found a lot to enjoy here. It’s a strange blend of oddness that works on a lot of levels, what with its adorable nature contrasted against its crude humor and gore. Give it a watch if you’ve got the stomach for it and can handle a big blend of moods.
Fun Tidbit: With a few exceptions, most of the student characters share their first names with their actors.
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