Little Monsters (2018)

"Charming & Frequently Hysterically Funny"

It's not the month (or year) to give up on Zom-Rom-Coms as Abe Forsythe's Australian entry into the subgenre (or is that sub-sub-subgenre?) gets a DVD, Blu-ray and digital download release from Altitude.

Unemployed terrible stadium rock / thrash metal busking guitarist Dave (Alexander England) leaves his estate agent girlfriend in an opening sequence so full of swearing and general relationship break-up hatred that it's almost worth the price of admission on its own. Dave ends up having to sleep on the couch of his older sister Tess (Kat Stewart). 

Tess has a five year old son, Felix (that rare thing in cinema, a likeable child performance, in this case from Diesel La Torraca). Dave takes Felix to school one day and becomes immediately enamoured of Felix's pretty teacher Miss Caroline (Lupita Nyong'o), so much so that when a fellow teacher has to back out of accompanying the kids on their school trip to a local animal park Dave volunteers to help out.

Much ukelele playing and singing of a certain Taylor Swift song on the bus later they arrive, unaware that the US Military Research Facility next door to the animal park has suffered a zombie outbreak. Chaos ensues and Dave, Miss Caroline and the kids end up trapped in the gift shop.

Starting off with high gear comedy that comes thick and fast, by the time LITTLE MONSTERS settles into its zombie siege plot it still has plenty of laughs to offer. The leads are likeable and funny and have great chemistry, and there's an excellent over the top slimy turn from Josh Gad as "No.1 Nickelodeon Children's Entertainer For Five Years Running" Teddy McGiggle. 

Director Abe Forsythe has apparently been signed to the new reboot of ROBOCOP and after watching this I'd say that finally the future of law enforcement couldn't be in better hands. LITTLE MONSTERS is funny, charming, blood-splattered and a delight to watch. And it has a glove puppet frog. A great start to the year. 

LITTLE MONSTERS is out on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital Download on Monday 10th February 2020