Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *
Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Alexander England, Josh Gad, Kat Stewart, Diesal La Torraca, Nadia Townsend, Marshall Napier, Glenn Hazeldine, Ava Caryofyllis, Charlie Whitley, Mason Mansour, Kim Doan, Wolfgang Gledhill, Caliah Pinones, Jack Schuback, Vivienne Albany, Shia Hamby, Ashton Arokiaswamy, Gareth Davies, Jason Chong, Alan Dukes, Felix Williamson, Rahel Romahn, Stephen Peacocke.
The pun is going to come at some point, after all the genre deserves it but it surely has to be noted, that films about zombies have become too main- stream, they have been done to death. Even in comedy they have arguably become a cliché of themselves, and whilst films such as Zombieland have a fresh approach to them, it is almost as if we have found the perfect antagonist that cannot offend the senses and we must now be seen to embrace any film that dares wanders into the realm of the walking dead.
The problem with using the genre in such a way is that by doing so, it robs the story of its power, of its ability to shock and leave the audience exhausted from the narrative and feeling turgid in its company.
When the genre is played for laughs, no matter how well intentioned, and with a few exceptions, it tends to fall on its face, hoping to be at best average and worth a few giggles along the way.
Such is the fate of the Little Monsters, a film that seeks out honesty in the performance but which, aside from a few small glints of comedy intrigue and well-timed moments of puppetry, leaves the audience feeling particularly underwhelmed, frustrated and perplexed that a film with such a watery base for its premise could stand up to the comedic edge it is looking for and fail without honour.
Whilst the film endears with its use of children as the centre of attention, you cannot help but be put-off by the adults around them and especially the three main leads. Lupita Nyong’o does her best to capture the spirit of a born again teacher relishing in her duty of keeping her charges alive but even in the heat of what could be subtle observation of how children can be demons themselves when left to deal with a situation which calls for ingenuity, the role falls by the wayside, an unfortunate by-product of being a film too far in a genre saturated to the point of bursting.
A genre that misses the point of its own fear is not worth continuing to explore; it is going to take a huge shift in writing to bring the zombie comedy to a point where it any film can be seen as good, as dynamic as the Zombieland creation, and when a film cannot decide who it is truly aimed at, then perhaps it is time, for a while, to let it go.
Ian D. Hall