Little Monsters
Dir. Abe Forsythe / Dur. 94 mins / Country. Australia, UK, US
Festival Strand:- Cult
In A Nutshell:- A slacker musician goes on his nephew’s kindergarten school trip in attempt to impress the teacher in the midst of a zombie outbreak...
The Good:- While it’s been placed in the Cult strand because, well, zombies, this could easily have been placed in the Laugh strand too. It’s an absolute blast and manages to be an odd combination of offensive, charming and gross-out all at once without once feeling like it’s lost control of its tone. In much the same way that Spaced is a flatshare sitcom that gets invaded by zombies, this is a romantic comedy (albeit a pretty foul-mouthed one) that gets interrupted by zombies. Alexander England as Dave and Lupita Nyong’o as Miss Caroline spark off each other nicely but the scene-stealing award definitely goes to Josh Gad as increasingly depraved and deranged children’s TV host Teddy McGiggle. The film has a nice line in self-awareness too - there’s a matter-of-factness about the whole zombie outbreak (“are these slow one or fast ones?”) and a puncturing of convention (“zombies don’t sing!”) that’s pleasing given that, these days, the jokey label of romzomcom applied to Shaun Of The Dead is near enough an actual genre.
The Bad:- Honestly, this film was just such a fun ride that I can't think of anything particularly that would go in the bad column. I thoroughly enjoyed myself all the way through. There aren’t even any particularly irritating child actors which is almost a miracle.
The Verdict:- A fun zombie comedy that manages to be both crude and gross while still remaining utterly charming at the same time which is an insanely tricky tonal balancing act to pull off. Definitely worth 94 minutes of your precious time.
The Venue / Intro / Q&A:- Director Abe Forsythe and producer Jodi Matterson were on hand for an intro and Q&A. In the intro, director Forsythe talked about how his son’s extreme allergies were handled by his new kindergarten teacher being an inspiration for the film and that this film is dedicated to kindergarten teachers everywhere! Producer Matterson talked a little about different reactions to parts of the film around the film and if the American reaction of a sharp intake of breath to the dropping of the C-bomb would be repeated here (it wasn’t - we laughed). Sadly, once again, I had to skip the Q&A as there was no way I was going to be late for the next film...
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