Little Monsters

There's a masturbation joke about 20 minutes into Little Monsters that is breathtaking in it's offensiveness. It's actually hard to believe the film makers were let get away with it and harder to believe they managed to talk an actor into doing it. It's in terrible taste yet it's flat out hilarious. Just like Little Monsters itself.

Dave (Alexander England) is an arsehole. A bitter, twisted fool who's vile personality drove his girlfriend away from him and into the arms of another man. He goes to live with his sister Tess ( Kat Stewart) and her son Felix (Diesel La Torraca), who loves his uncle despite his legion of faults. One day Dave brings Felix to school where he meets and instantly falls for the lovely Miss Caroline (a luminous Lupita Nyong’o). In an attempt to get close to her he volunteers to help out on a school trip to a local zoo. A zoo that just happens to be near an a testing facility that's been overrun with flesh eating zombies. Because of course it is.

Yup, it's yet another zombie film. The most overused monster in film history. But unlike the TV show The Walking Dead and the dozens of sub par Night Of The Living Dead rip offs released in the past two decades this one is actually a high entertaining watch full of proper belly laughs, absurd sight gags and yes, intestines by the metre. Taylor Swift even shows up. Kind of. 

No wait, seriously, come back. 

Hand on heart I haven't enjoyed a zombie film this much since Shaun Of The Dead. Like that this one is full of humour and heart while at the same time laying on the gore this type of film is famous for. Like all the best zombie films it doesn't even try to explain the what's and why's of the attacks, instead it uses them as a catalyst for it's characters actions & changes. TBH, the horror side of things may as well be metaphorical here. Especially to the kids on the school tour. Felix is of course the stand out but some get time to shine and there's plenty of humour to be mined from Dave and Caroline's valiant attempts to shield them from the carnage outside. It does edge towards stupidity at times but hey, it's a film about cannibalistic re-animated corpses, realism doesn't need to be an issue.

One horror trope that gets lovingly played out is that of the despicable man (it's always a bloke) who puts his own welfare above all else. Josh Gad as kid's entertainer Teddy McGiggle has fun in the part of a monster hidden behind the smiles. From the moment he appears you know how his story will goes and....well.....yeah, sue you imagination. Alexander England carries the lion's share of the film on his shoulders and he does a fine job. Before the opening credits are even over you'll despise him but then slowly he sheds his dickhead persona and becomes something almost resembling a nice human being. And that's all down to Miss Caroline. Lupita Nyong’o does lovely work in a slight role, displaying the kind of grace that makes people want to better themselves. Her second horror film of the year mightn't be as powerful as her first (Us) but it's way more entertaining and these days we need entertaining. Badly. It's rare when the words 'sweet' and 'lightness' come to mind after a scary movie.

Little Monsters is a horror comedy that's heavy on the comedy and light on the horror but there's still enough crunch to please the gorehounds. It's a rare modern zombie film that wouldn't make George A.Romero turn over in his grave. 

In selected cinemas this week and on Sky Movies now.