Movie Review: “Little Monsters”

After watching Little Monsters (2019) on Hulu, I only have two regrets:

1. That I didn’t watch it sooner, and
2. It had a better title.

This Little Monsters is not a remake of the 1989 movie of the same name, which starred Fred Savage. (Not that I thought it was, but I did wonder at first.)

Both do deal with “monsters” of sorts, but the 2019’s version are zombies. It’s also rated R, whereas the other was PG.

This one’s also not about a kid dealing with a monster under his bed, but kids are in it. It’s about “a washed-up musician who teams up with a teacher and a kids’ show personality to protect young children from a sudden outbreak of zombies.”

Kids and Zombies?

Little Monsters hit Hulu on October 11, 2019. As Hulu does, they know me and suggested this might be one I’d be interested in. Certainly because it was (a) horror and, more specifically, (b) zombies. (Hulu, you get me. Makes me wish there was an algorithm us people could use to know each other so well like this.)

Anyway, I put off watching because (a) it was so yellow (I can’t quite explain this, but for whatever reason the bright yellow poster put me off), and (b) it had kids.

Not that I’m anti-kid, but kids in a zombie movie? Yes, there are plenty of zombie movies with kids in them. They don’t normally fare too good though. A small group, usually high schoolers, has to survive classmates who’ve made the transition or what not.

But this was about little kids. Like elementary school-aged. Closer to Kindergarten or first grade. I couldn’t imagine them being anything except sitting ducks.

Not this lot. Not when you’ve got a teacher like Miss Caroline, played by the stunning Lupita Nyong’o.

Shining Cast and Plot

Joining Lupita is Alexander England as Dave (the washed up musician) and Josh Gad as (the kids’ show personality). Diesel La Torraca plays Dave’s nephew Felix, and Nadia Townsend plays Felix’s classmate and girlfriend, Sara.

There’s a whole cast of kids in the movie (they’re on a field trip after all). They all delivered incredible performances to support the main characters and make them shine.

But Miss Caroline…if you were lucky enough to have a teacher like her growing up, brace yourself. You may find yourself wondering if your Miss Caroline would have handled a zombie crisis with such aplomb.

And if you never had such a teacher, you’ll wish they all could be like this. She’s like Mary Poppins or Maria from The Sound of Music but in a zombie movie.

Heart, Humor, Horror

A feel-good horror movie? I’m trying to think if I’ve ever seen one. Have you?

If I think of one, I’ll come back and update, but so far this is the only one that comes to mind. I’m not sure I would’ve thought such a combination was even possible, but Little Monsters nails it.

As far as a genre mashup, there’s no more unlikely combo than romantic comedy and horror movie. Shaun of the Dead comes close, but I’d argue that was more bromance comedy. Little Monsters is an entirely new beast of its own.

Screen Zealots sums it up best: “The big-hearted zombie comedy we’ve all been waiting for.”

Yes. That. Didn’t know I was waiting for such a thing, but now that I’ve seen it? It filled a void I wasn’t even aware existed.

I laughed (the wit is off the charts!), I tapped my toes –and even sung along in some places (super fun soundtrack!), I winced and waited in anxious anticipation in some parts to see what would happen. But I also found myself smiling after –not just from the jokes. The kind of smile really good rom coms –like Love Actually or Bridget Jones’s Diary– leave me with.

To get both my zombie and rom com fixes in one sitting? What else to say except it checks all the boxes to make it perhaps one of the best horror comedies romantic horror comedies I’ve ever seen.

If you liked Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland (both of which are faves of mine), give Little Monsters a try. See if it doesn’t melt your heart too.

Rating

No brainer. Five skulls!

Trailer

Spoiler Alert

Love wins!

And the black girl survives! #FinalGirlsAren’tJustWhiteAnymore!