Dave (Alexander England) is a washed-up musician who's had to move in with his sister Tess (Kat Stewart) and her son Felix (Diesel La Torraca) after a break-up. While taking Felix to school, Dave meets Felix's teacher Miss Caroline (Lupita Nyong'o) and is instantly attracted to her. Then after learning one of the parents has withdrawn from the upcoming class trip to a farm, Dave eagerly agrees to chaperone the kids there (exclusively, of course, to hang out with Caroline). But when that day arrives, Dave is frustrated to find competition for her attention in the form of Teddy McGiggle (Josh Gad), a world-famous children's entertainer who's filming an episode of his TV show there. It then emerges that Caroline is already engaged to somebody else, but never mind this complicated romantic triangle: danger arrives for all three of them, and the kids, when the farm becomes the scene of a massive zombie outbreak. Now these three have to band together and bury their conflicts to save the day.
After his terrific 2016 effort Down Under, Abe Forsythe (who was originally an actor on the Aussie TV show Always Greener) proves that wasn't a fluke with this thoroughly entertaining and sharply plotted zom-com; yes, not a rom-com but a zom-com. An Australian/US/UK co-production, Little Monsters (whose title itself is deliberately both metaphorical and literal) works so well because it defies expectations the entire way and without quite seeming like it was trying to do that (although it clearly was). There's no shortage of gratuitous violence here and as a horror comedy devotee I always relish that, but what's truly stuck with me most about this entry to the genre is the lucid focus, amidst all that, on the central trio's intertwined arcs because that element especially takes a very unusual turn here from what I've come to expect with horror comedy characters. We come to learn about Caroline's background and Teddy's true colours but I'll hold my tongue on both those plot points for spoiler reasons; however I should say Nyong'o and Gad both clearly had a ball bringing their characters to life here. Not to be outdone either, England brings just the right laidback but gradually alarmed touch to Dave.
Furthermore, Forsythe's pacing is seamless throughout and Jim May's and Drew Thompson's editing compliments that appropriately. Oh, and did I mention there's a repeated and very unexpected but oddly fitting use of Taylor Swift's Shake It Off (the rights to which I'm surprised the filmmakers managed to acquire on such a small budget) thrown in? Litte Monsters is really a little gem.
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