Miss
Caroline makes a compelling case for merit pay for teachers. The beloved Australian
grade school Miss Brodie will do whatever it takes to keep her students safe
during a zombie apocalypse. She will pretty much have to do it single-handedly
too. The aging rocker uncle of one of her kids came along on their field trip
as a chaperone, but obviously he will not be much help in Abe Forsythe’s Little Monsters, which screens during
the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
After
a nasty breakup, dumb old Dave is forced to couch surf with his long-suffering
sister and Felix, his innocent-as-the-day-is-long nephew. He is a hopeless loser,
but he tries to clean up his act a little after meeting Felix’s teacher, Miss
Caroline. Suddenly, he volunteers to help escort the children on an excursion
to a mini-golf petting zoo. Ordinarily, he would be the worst possible dude for
the job, but all bets are off when the zombies attack.
Of
course, it is Miss Caroline who is killing zombies like Milla Jovovich in Resident Evil. It will take Dave time to
raise to the occasion, but he is still more useful to have around than Teddy
McGiggle, a lewd, crude kiddie TV show host. Regardless, Miss Caroline (and
eventually Dave) will do their best to convince the kids it is all just a game,
sort of like a gory, zombie version of Life
is Beautiful.
Little Monsters is far less
cloying and manipulative than the Roberto Benigni film, because how could it
not be, but it is still surprisingly sweet. Lupita Nyong’o and Alexander
England develop an appealing rapport as Miss Caroline and Doofus Dave. Nyong’o
is particularly charming as the veritable zombie-killing Mary Poppins-like
figure. Josh Gad seemed to challenge himself to see how degenerate and debauched
he could make McGiggle—and the results are impressive.
Forsythe
also slyly stages a number of adorably loopy songs that will leave jaded genre
fans with big goofy smiles, in spite of themselves. The only real annoyance in Little Monsters is the negative portrayal
of the U.S. military. Seriously, if a zombie apocalypse ever broke out, Forsythe
would be praying for the U.S. Marines to come riding in.
It
really is remarkable how bloody and genial Little
Monsters is, all at the same time. It turns out, it is quite a nice blend
of vibes. Highly recommended for zombie fans, Little Monsters screens again today (1/29), Wednesday (1/30), and
Thursday (1/31) in Park City and Saturday (2/2) in Salt Lake, as part of this
year’s Sundance Film Festival.
