Like its decomposing antagonists, ‘Little Monsters’ starts slowly and lurches around a bit. For the first 20 minutes or so, you wouldn’t guess it has zombies, and will be wondering as to the whereabouts of its two biggest stars (Lupita Nyong’o and Josh Gad). Australian writer-director Abe Forsythe’s scrappy film opens with an overlong introduction to failed death metal frontman – and failed man in general – Dave (Alexander England), who falls for his five-year-old nephew’s ukulele-strumming teacher Miss Caroline (Nyong’o). But once the needy man-child volunteers to help on a fateful class outing to a petting zoo, the film finds its rhythm and ultimately proves to be a bloody charmer.
Much of this is down to Nyong’o, who’s as adept at decapitating zombies as she is at strumming the ukulele, as Miss Caroline and Dave attempt to protect their confused young wards from the grasping dead after a mishap at the zoo’s neighbouring military base. Gad makes intermittent appearances as a children’s TV entertainer named Teddy McGiggle – the joke being he’s a sweary, alcoholic sex addict – but the focus is on Nyong’o and England, who manage to summon up some endearing double-act chemistry amid all the f-bombs
and guts-spilling.
Despite the prevalence of pre-schoolers in the cast, this is a firmly grown-up horror-comedy, featuring a few ‘did they really just go there?’ belly laughs. But it’s the movie’s non-saccharine warmth which really impresses. As Miss Caroline and Dave grow closer, the film reveals what it takes for an arrested-development loser like Dave to become a real man.