LITTLE MONSTERS
***
Director: Abe Forsythe
Screenwriter: Abe Forsythe
Principal cast:
Lupita Nyong’o
Alexander England
Josh Gad
Kat Stewart
Diesel La Torraca
Stephen Peacocke
Country: Australia/UK/USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 93 mins.
Australian release date: 31 October 2019
Previewed at: Sony Pictures Theatrette, Sydney, on 22 October 2019.
We’ve had zom-coms and zom-roms before - think Shaun Of The Dead and Warm Bodies - but there haven’t been too many zom-rom-coms featuring a class of small children like Little Monsters. It’s a strange concoction, written and directed by Abe Forsythe, who’s last directorial effort was the 2016 Cronulla riots comedy Down Under. You’ve got to ask yourself, who was this film made for? What audience did the producers have in mind? Because this is an odd mix of very adult jokes and very young kids - jokes about vaginas out of the mouths of seven-year-olds? Not everyone’s cup of tea, one would think.
Little Monsters starts well enough, with a very funny montage of scenes involving Dave (Alexander England) and his girlfriend having fierce arguments in a variety of situations. It seems they fight whenever they are together, regardless of the circumstances. When their inevitable break-up occurs, Dave, a wannabe rock star and something of a loser, moves in with his sister Tess (Kat Stewart) and her son Felix (Diesel La Torraca). Dropping the boy off at kindergarten one day, Dave is captivated by the beautiful ‘Miss Caroline’ (Lupita Nyong’o), Felix’s teacher, so when the opportunity arises, he volunteers to assist on a class outing to a nearby farm. When they arrive at the site, they are surprised to learn that popular children’s TV host Teddy McGiggle (Josh Gad) is filming an episode of his show there. Around the same time, a horde of zombies, the result of some kind of experimental tests at a secret US base adjacent to the property, escape and head for the farm. After much mayhem, during which Teddy shows his true colours and Miss Caroline pretends to the children that it’s all a game, à la Roberto Benigni in Life Is Beautiful, the three adults and their young charges hole up in the gift shop for the night. Their desperate position, surrounded by the ravenous un-dead, forces Dave to take charge and start behaving like an adult, the very thing he has been avoiding for most of his life.
The best thing about Little Monsters are the performances, given that some of the lines the actors have to deliver are execrable. Nyong’o is a sheer delight although you wonder why the Oscar-winning actress accepted this role in a small film by a relatively unknown filmmaker when she could have had any part in any production by any director she chose. Perhaps she just wanted an all-expenses-paid holiday down under? Alexander England comports himself well as a guy who has to grow up in a very short space of time. Most of his career to date has been for television but judging by his work here, and in Danger Close: The Battle Of Long Tan, released earlier this year, one suspects that we’ll be seeing more of him on the big screen in future. Josh Gad makes the most of a thankless part as a selfish, egotistical character prepared to sell out anyone if it means saving himself. Maybe he just wanted a trip down under too?
Little Monsters is having a very limited season on a small number of screens around the country, so you suspect that the distributor couldn’t decide who the film was aimed at either. Although there are laughs to be had, it’s a disturbing film, though for all the wrong reasons. It’s not the violence but the ‘f’ language and crude, sexualised humour delivered in front of such small children, that make it so weird.
Screenwriter: Abe Forsythe
Principal cast:
Lupita Nyong’o
Alexander England
Josh Gad
Kat Stewart
Diesel La Torraca
Stephen Peacocke
Country: Australia/UK/USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 93 mins.
Australian release date: 31 October 2019
Previewed at: Sony Pictures Theatrette, Sydney, on 22 October 2019.
We’ve had zom-coms and zom-roms before - think Shaun Of The Dead and Warm Bodies - but there haven’t been too many zom-rom-coms featuring a class of small children like Little Monsters. It’s a strange concoction, written and directed by Abe Forsythe, who’s last directorial effort was the 2016 Cronulla riots comedy Down Under. You’ve got to ask yourself, who was this film made for? What audience did the producers have in mind? Because this is an odd mix of very adult jokes and very young kids - jokes about vaginas out of the mouths of seven-year-olds? Not everyone’s cup of tea, one would think.
Little Monsters starts well enough, with a very funny montage of scenes involving Dave (Alexander England) and his girlfriend having fierce arguments in a variety of situations. It seems they fight whenever they are together, regardless of the circumstances. When their inevitable break-up occurs, Dave, a wannabe rock star and something of a loser, moves in with his sister Tess (Kat Stewart) and her son Felix (Diesel La Torraca). Dropping the boy off at kindergarten one day, Dave is captivated by the beautiful ‘Miss Caroline’ (Lupita Nyong’o), Felix’s teacher, so when the opportunity arises, he volunteers to assist on a class outing to a nearby farm. When they arrive at the site, they are surprised to learn that popular children’s TV host Teddy McGiggle (Josh Gad) is filming an episode of his show there. Around the same time, a horde of zombies, the result of some kind of experimental tests at a secret US base adjacent to the property, escape and head for the farm. After much mayhem, during which Teddy shows his true colours and Miss Caroline pretends to the children that it’s all a game, à la Roberto Benigni in Life Is Beautiful, the three adults and their young charges hole up in the gift shop for the night. Their desperate position, surrounded by the ravenous un-dead, forces Dave to take charge and start behaving like an adult, the very thing he has been avoiding for most of his life.
The best thing about Little Monsters are the performances, given that some of the lines the actors have to deliver are execrable. Nyong’o is a sheer delight although you wonder why the Oscar-winning actress accepted this role in a small film by a relatively unknown filmmaker when she could have had any part in any production by any director she chose. Perhaps she just wanted an all-expenses-paid holiday down under? Alexander England comports himself well as a guy who has to grow up in a very short space of time. Most of his career to date has been for television but judging by his work here, and in Danger Close: The Battle Of Long Tan, released earlier this year, one suspects that we’ll be seeing more of him on the big screen in future. Josh Gad makes the most of a thankless part as a selfish, egotistical character prepared to sell out anyone if it means saving himself. Maybe he just wanted a trip down under too?
Little Monsters is having a very limited season on a small number of screens around the country, so you suspect that the distributor couldn’t decide who the film was aimed at either. Although there are laughs to be had, it’s a disturbing film, though for all the wrong reasons. It’s not the violence but the ‘f’ language and crude, sexualised humour delivered in front of such small children, that make it so weird.