Field-Trip Day of the Dead: A game, winning Lupita Nyong'o slays zombies in cheerfully guts-filled "Little Monsters"

Little Monsters (2019)

93 min.

Release Date: October 11, 2019 (Hulu)

Lupita Nyong’o starring in a zombie comedy might be all one needs to know to check out the cheerfully guts-filled Australian import “Little Monsters” (which, no, has nothing to do with the 1989 Fred Savage-Howie Mandel comedy of a ‘90s kid’s childhood). Written and directed by Abe Forsythe, the film begins as an “About a Boy”-ish story revolving around a sadsack growing closer to his nephew before a kindergarten-class field trip curdles into a day of survival from flesh-eating zombies. Frequently cheery and ultimately sweet, “Little Monsters” is a hoot in the tonal vein of 2004’s “Shaun of the Dead” and even last year’s delightful “Anna and the Apocalypse.”

Washed-up musician Dave (Alexander England) has been recently dumped by his girlfriend, who has wasted no time shagging another man, and has tried beginning a solo act after his band, God’s Sledgehammer, broke up. When he goes to live his older, more responsible sister, Tess (Kat Stewart), Dave is tasked with helping her out with his 5-year-old nephew, Felix (Diesel La Torraca), and taking him to school. As soon as Dave meets Felix’s kindergarten teacher, the radiant, optimistic, ukulele-strumming Miss Caroline (Lupita Nyong’o)—she insists that Dave call her Audrey—he jumps at the chance to chaperone a class field trip to petting zoo Pleasant Valley Farm. Unbeknownst to any of them, a zombie invasion breaks out, leaving Dave and Miss Caroline to keep the kids safe. 

The very game Lupita Nyong’o (2019’s “Us”) is a ray of sunshine as Miss Caroline, a warm, upbeat teacher so devoted to her job that she will do anything to protect her students; her energy and dedication are infectious, as is her sing-along of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” on the ukulele. When she returns to the souvenir shop where they’ve taken refuge after beheading a bunch of zombies with a shovel and getting blood splatter on her yellow dress, Miss Caroline tells her class she just got caught in a strawberry jam fight. Nyong'o is so wonderful here that it's a shame her work in a genre piece will probably fall under the radar. Positioned more as the lead, Alexander England (2017’s “Alien: Covenant”) makes Dave a likable slacker man-child, particularly as the character evolves over the course of a zombie-filled day. Proving to be a child actor’s director, Abe Forsythe also knows how to pull bright performances out of no less than ten child actors without letting them be annoyingly cloying moppets.

And then there is children’s television star Teddy McGiggle, played by Josh Gad (2017’s “Murder on the Orient Express”), who’s creepier than most of the zombies being covered in make-up as if encased in wax. There’s the sneaking suspicion that Gad’s crass, grating, selfish Teddy McGiggle will make or break the film for some. Gad plays it to the hilt, unapologetically swearing in front of little kids when his life is at stake (followed by whispered threats from Miss Caroline) and he’s not putting on his over-the-top Teddy McGiggle persona, and yet, his satisfying just desserts won’t be too far away.

Writer-director Abe Forsythe doesn’t try to rewrite the rules of the zombie-comedy subgenre, and he doesn’t have to when Lupita Nyong’o gives such a winning turn and there are spot-on running jokes that involve Darth Vader, Taylor Swift, and ‘90s band Hanson. “Little Monsters” not only works as a blood-soaked zombie movie with a delightfully profane sense of humor, but also a positive tribute to educators. The film is mostly just a good time, with a little downtime during the zombie apocalypse for Miss Caroline and Dave to expose their peccadillos that got them to where they are now. If another kindergarten class were to be put in danger by a different class of monsters, Miss Caroline and Dave would make great company again as our tour guides.

Grade: B