'Little Monsters' (2019)


Sometimes, the best films in life are the ones that you pick up in Sainsburys, on a complete whim, whilst engaged in the internal (and eternal) debate of what cheese melts best on a bagel. It was a lovely bagel by the way but I digress... I hadn't planned on watching 'Little Monsters' for a long time (until the price dropped on Amazon or until eBay threw up a cheapish copy, whichever came first) but it had been one of those days, one of those days that you can only put right by watching a zombie film and eating a melted cheese and marmite bagel. I am a man of simple tastes after all :o)

So 'Little Monsters' it was then and I will admit to a little apprehension given that my last choice of zombie film was 'The Dead Don't Die' which was all style and no substance (and not really an awful lot of style come to think of it). It turns out that I needn't have worried too much. It wouldn't take an awful lot for any zombie film to beat 'The Dead Don't Die' but 'Little Monsters' did, just by being the kind of zombie film that I don't come across all that often...

When an opportunity arises to chaperone a school excursion alongside the charming and enigmatic teacher, Miss Caroline, directionless slacker Dave jumps at the chance to impress her. What wasn t on the itinerary was obnoxious children s television host Teddy McGiggle and a zombie invasion after experiments at a nearby military base go awry. Together the trio must keep their heads together, don t freak out the kids and fight their way to safety with their guts intact.


Have you ever seen a 'feel good' zombie movie? I haven't and, for the record, I'm not counting 'Shaun of the Dead'; that movie didn't really know what it wanted to be. 'Little Monsters' is a genuine feel good film that just happens to have zombies in it. It's a film where you're following a well trodden path towards the redemption of the main character but the path itself is so unobtrusive that you can't help but smile while you are making the journey because everything you see is just lovely. 

That includes Lupita Nyong'o's Miss Caroline, the nursery teacher that you wish you'd had as a kid. Her attitude to the zombie apocalypse is that survival comes second to making sure that the children, in her care, are not scared and I found it genuinely touching to see the lengthes that she would go to in order to ensure that the children are ok. This can mean that you won't see everything that the zombies do (because if the kids can't see then why do you need to see...?) which can be a bit annoying for those of us who love a bit of gore. Thinking about it though, the zombies are almost incidental to the plot, they're just there so Miss Caroline can be lovely and Dave is able to find it in himself to be the hero of the piece instead of the victim. Special mention should also go to Josh Gad's Teddy McGiggle who is an absolute bastard with a streak of cartoonish vindictiveness, just the right element to make sure that things don't get too sweet and gooey.

'Little Monsters' is a bit of an odd one then. It's not the zombie film that you think you're getting but if you can get your head round that then it becomes the kind of zombie film that you will have so much fun watching. I did :o)

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