Genre: Comedy/ Horror
Runtime: 94 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Lupita Nyongo’o, Alexander England, Josh Gad, Nadia Townsend, Kat Stewart, Stephen Peacocke, Diesel La Torraca, M.J. Kokolis, Moana Nikora, Saskia Burmeister
Description: A washed-up musician (Alexander England) teams up with a teacher (Lupita Nyongo’o) and a kids show personality (Josh Gad) to protect young children from a sudden outbreak of zombies.
Review: With her Oscar-winning break-out role in “12 Years a Slave” it looked like Lupita Nyongo’o had a steady job in Hollywood as dramatic actress, but since then she has chosen all sorts of genre films to add to her resumé. She was a CGI-animated character in the latest “Star Wars” films, was in Marvel’s “Black Panther” and played a very impressive double role in horror film “Us”. The Australian film “Little Monsters” is also a horror film, but in the comedy genre. And let that be my favorite type of horror film. And although technically Nyongo’o isn’t the leading character in the film, as Miss Caroline she is a consistent eye-catcher in the film. As a kindergarten teacher she manages to keep her kids’ attention at all times, but also the adults that come near her. Nyongo’o is extremely charming in this film.
And leading man Dave sees that too. He is a struggling musician and just broke up with his girlfriend. Dave is staying with his sister Tess and her son Felix. When Dave takes Felix to school, he immediately falls for teacher Miss Caroline, Audrey for friends. He tries to impress her, she is not falling for his superficial gestures. Dave volunteers for and excursion to the local petting zoo, but this trip doesn’t really go as planned when a sudden zombie outbreak happens.
For some reason this petting zoo is stationed next to a military base, where this outbreak occurred. Miss Caroline and Dave have to work together to keep the class safe, but she uses a different method. Instead of telling them what’s going on for real, which would definitely scare them, Miss Caroline tells them it’s a game and present the situation in a somewhat child-friendly way.
That touches the learning curve for the crude Dave. After the zombie outbreak, he immediately comes into physical action, but above all he has to learn other ways in which he can be helpful. His personal growth makes him the main character, but his female opponent is a very important player in how she inspires him to do so. It is therefore no coincidence that he keeps calling her Miss Carloine, even though she repeatedly requests that he just uses her first name Audrey.
It is the fine portrayal of the character that makes “Little Monsters” worthwhile. At first, Miss Caroline clearly doesn’t like Dave very much, but instead of expressing that through all sorts of nasty remarks, she just remains polite. For Dave, the obligatory scene in the opening phase is when he comes home to find his girlfriend with another man. But while many films present this situation as a big surprise that drives the male protagonist to turn his life upside down, here is it only a confirmation of a completely deadly relationship. After all, the opening scene already showed that this coupe was in a permanent state of quarrel, making him just as guilty of this situation as they are. Dave does not have to count immediate sympathy from the viewer, but will have to earn it.
The focus is more on the characters than on the zombie-aspect of the film, which is more a bonus given than the base of the film. Fortunately, the film gets away with that quite well by keeping it all nice and small. “Little Monsters” may never be very exciting or over-the-top hilarious, but at times it is very endearing. And that’s still quite unique for a zombie film.
Rating: 3,5 / 5
