Year of Release: 2019
Director: Abe Forsythe
Starring: Lupita Nyongo, Alexander England, Josh Gad, Kat Stewart, Diesel La Torraca, Nadia Townsend, Marshall Napier, Glenn Hazeldine, Charlie Whitley, Mason Mansour, Ava Caryofyllis
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 3
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Synopsis and Review:
Actor, Writer and Director, Abe Forsythe has followed his directorial debut, "Down Under", with a different take on the zombie genre. The film follows the story of perpetual man-child Dave, who after a fallout with his girlfriend, moves in with his sister and young nephew. Dave is selfish, self-centered, and unable to help in any productive manner. He maintains the dream he's a professional musician, though his band dissolved a while back, and he basically now lives from playing on the streets (just barely). After an ultimatum from his sister, Dave is forced to wise up, and start helping around the house. When he drops off his nephew at school, he meets the elementary school teacher, Ms. Caroline, who is professional, kind, and devoted to her students. He's immediately infatuated with her, and in order to ingratiate himself with her, goes on a field trip with her and the students. The trip however goes awry when the camp they're visiting is suddenly invaded by zombies who escaped from a nearby military base. Caroline and Dave have to unite their efforts to battle the ever growing horde, and save the children.
"Little Monsters" is in essence, the rite of passage of Dave, the man-child protagonist of the film, into fully adulthood, while in the context of a zombie/comedy mix. For a large part of the film, Dave is presented and embodied as a heartless loser, only focused on himself, and as the events dramatically shift, and as his focus of attention move to Caroline and his nephew, we witness a process of maturing under duress. It's a rather speedy maturing process, since the events take place in a two day interval, during which all the characters battle a zombie outbreak, find inner strength, and have a few epiphanies about the true meaning of life and love. It's a somewhat thinly layered film, without much nuance to it, featuring some comedic moments, and largely wasting a deeply committed performance from Lupita Nyongo, who at times demonstrates a ferocity and intensity that this film could have leveraged far more. As is, this is a quickly forgettable endeavor, largely anemic in style and energy, save for the always fantastic Nyongo.
"Little Monsters" is in essence, the rite of passage of Dave, the man-child protagonist of the film, into fully adulthood, while in the context of a zombie/comedy mix. For a large part of the film, Dave is presented and embodied as a heartless loser, only focused on himself, and as the events dramatically shift, and as his focus of attention move to Caroline and his nephew, we witness a process of maturing under duress. It's a rather speedy maturing process, since the events take place in a two day interval, during which all the characters battle a zombie outbreak, find inner strength, and have a few epiphanies about the true meaning of life and love. It's a somewhat thinly layered film, without much nuance to it, featuring some comedic moments, and largely wasting a deeply committed performance from Lupita Nyongo, who at times demonstrates a ferocity and intensity that this film could have leveraged far more. As is, this is a quickly forgettable endeavor, largely anemic in style and energy, save for the always fantastic Nyongo.
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