Little Monsters (2019 film)

Little Monsters is a 2019 zombie comedy film written and directed by Abe Forsythe, starring Lupita Nyong'o, Alexander England, Kat Stewart, Diesel La Torraca and Josh Gad. The story centres on a washed-up musician, a children's television personality, and a kindergarten teacher teaming up to protect a group of young schoolchildren during a sudden zombie outbreak.

Little Monsters
Theatrical film poster
Directed byAbe Forsythe
Produced by
Written byAbe Forsythe
Starring
Music byPiers Burbrook de Vere
CinematographyLachlan Milne
Edited by
  • Drew Thompson
  • Jim May
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • January 27, 2019 (2019-01-27) (Sundance)
  • October 8, 2019 (2019-10-08) (United States)
  • October 31, 2019 (2019-10-31) (Australia)
  • November 15, 2019 (2019-11-15) (United Kingdom)
Running time
94 minutes[2]
Country
  • Australia
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on 27 January 2019 and was released in the United States on 8 October 2019, by Neon, in a limited release followed by digital streaming on 11 October 2019, by Hulu. It was released in Australia on 31 October 2019 and in the United Kingdom on 15 November 2019, by Altitude. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with many praising Nyong'o's performance.

Plot

Dave is a foul-mouthed, washed-up musician who goes through a rough break up with his girlfriend and is forced to stay with his sister and her son, Felix, a child with a fascination for tractors.

While dropping Felix off at school, Dave meets Miss Caroline, Felix’s kindergarten teacher, and is attracted to her. After a parent drops out from an upcoming field trip to a farm, Dave volunteers to chaperone, mostly to be near Miss Caroline.

On the day of the field trip, Dave is upset to learn that children’s television personality, Teddy McGiggle is filming his show there and that Miss Caroline is engaged to someone else. Meanwhile, zombies break out of a U.S. testing facility and head straight for the farm. During a tractor ride, the class is attacked by zombies and tries to escape only to find the whole farm overrun with zombies.

They try to escape back to the bus, but find it too is overrun with zombies. They try to seek shelter in the gift shop only to find Teddy McGiggle locked in and refusing to let them in. Miss Caroline and the children crawl into an opening next to the shop. Dave breaks in from the roof, beats up Teddy, and lets Miss Caroline and the kids in. Felix then has an allergic reaction after Dave accidentally feeds him chips with dairy in them. After a botched attempt to give Felix epinephrine, Miss Caroline rushes to get some from Felix’s backpack, which was left in the tractor with the others. She makes it back as Teddy tries to signal a military helicopter. He falls off the roof and is rescued by Dave, to whom Teddy reveals that his real name is Nathan and that he’s an alcoholic sex addict who loves Milfs and hates children.

That night, while Teddy and the children are asleep, Dave and Miss Caroline talk to each other. Dave tells her about how his father left him when he was young and that only his sister was there for him. Miss Caroline reveals that she is not engaged as her fiancé had cheated on her. She wears the ring only to keep single fathers away.

The next day, the military plans to bomb the gift shop and destroy the zombies to prevent an outbreak. The survivors decide to get a large vehicle and drive to safety. Teddy and Dave attempt to get Teddy’s McGiggle mobile, but Teddy betrays him before he is eaten by a zombie in the car. Felix later saves Dave by driving the tractor, which he knows how to drive due to his love of tractors, and they rescue Miss Caroline and the kids. As they drive to safety, they discover that the zombies respond to the music Miss Caroline plays. They eventually reach the military and escape just as the military bombs the farm and kills all the zombies.

Dave and Miss Caroline share a kiss as they and the kids are taken away by men in radiation suits. The survivors are placed in quarantine for 48 hours in case of infection. The final scene shows Dave, Miss Caroline, and the kids singing Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” which Dave previously hated as the kids parents watch on with tears of joy in their eyes.

Cast
  • Lupita Nyong'o as Miss Audrey Caroline
  • Alexander England as David "Dave" Anderson
  • Josh Gad as Nathan Schneider/Teddy McGiggle
  • Diesel La Torraca as Felix
  • Kat Stewart as Tess
  • Charlie Whitley as Max
  • Kim Thien Doan as Kim
  • Ava Caryofyllis as Beth
  • Wolfgang Gledhill as Wolfgang
  • Vivienne Albany as Vivienne
  • Shia Hamby as Shia
  • Caliah Pinones as Cahlia
  • Stephen Peacocke as Stevens
  • Nadia Townsend as Sara
  • Jason Chong as Lieutenant
  • Felix Williamson as Novak
  • Zindzi Okenyo and Henry Nixon as Security Guards
  • Rahel Romahn as Griffin
  • Shalamah Tautaiolefue as Zombie

Production

In October 2017, it was announced Lupita Nyong'o and Josh Gad had joined the cast of the film, with Abe Forsythe directing from a screenplay he wrote. Keith Calder, Jess Calder, Bruna Papandrea will serve as producers on the film, under their Snoot Entertainment and Made Up Stories banners, respectively. Screen Australia financed and produced the film.[3] The film was shot in locations in New South Wales, Australia.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on 27 January 2019.[4] Shortly after, Neon and Hulu acquired distribution rights to the film.[5] Little Monsters was released in the United States in a limited release on October 8, 2019, followed by digital streaming on Hulu on October 11, 2019.[6] It was released in the United Kingdom on 15 November 2019.[7]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 80% based on 117 reviews, with an average score of 6.81/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Led by typically outstanding work from Lupita Nyong'o, Little Monsters is a horror/rom-com hybrid that proves the zombie genre still has fresh brains to savor."[8] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 57 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[9]

gollark: This cannot* go wrong.
gollark: 0.02µHt limit.
gollark: That is in the heavserver rules actually.
gollark: Impressive, 1.3Mh.
gollark: Demote lyric, establish gollark as new admin.

References
  1. https://biff.com.au/event/little-monsters/
  2. "LITTLE MONSTERS". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  3. Hipes, Patrick (October 30, 2017). "Lupita Nyong'o & Josh Gad To Star In Zombie Comedy 'Little Monsters'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  4. "Little Monsters". Sundance Film Festival. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  5. Fleming Jr, Mike (January 28, 2019). "NEON & Hulu Land Lupita Nyong'o Zombie Comedy 'Little Monsters' In Partnership Deal: Sundance". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  6. Barfield, Charles (September 12, 2019). "'Little Monsters' Trailer: Lupita Nyong'o Protects Kids From The Zombie Outbreak In Upcoming Hulu Film". ThePlaylist.net. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  7. Schaffstall, Katherine (July 31, 2019). "Lupita Nyong'o Fights Zombies to Protect Students in 'Little Monsters' Trailer". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
  8. "Little Monsters (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  9. "Little Monsters". Metacritic. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.