Little Monsters (2019)

    David, a failed musician and foul-mouthed man-child, has an ugly break-up with his girlfriend forcing him to couch surf at his sister’s place. 

    To help out, he agrees to drive her five-year old son, Felix, to school. In doing so, he meets and immediately falls for Felix’s teacher, Miss Caroline.

"Shake It Off!"

    In an attempt to impress Miss Caroline, David volunteers to chaperone on that day’s field trip to a petting zoo. Seems harmless enough, yeah? Well, it just so happens that this is the day of a zombie outbreak at the nearby military facility, and calamity ensues. 

    Soon, Felix, his well-intentioned and Flying V-packing Uncle-David, and the ever-cheerful and fiercely protective Miss Caroline team up with Teddy McGiggles, a self-centered children’s television star, to fight off this swarm of undead.

This is a very charactered-driven movie. From David’s cringeworthy missteps in attempting to do the right thing, to Miss Caroline’s upbeat ukulele strumming, and even Teddy McGiggles’ self-loathing and cowardice, all combine to make these people very watchable. Especially the near-frantic focus of Miss Caroline to not only protect her class from being devoured, but also from being frightened by their situation.

The zombies are straight-up Romeros, (see Zombie Classifications Chart) and although menacing and scary, (especially to a 5-year old!) the film’s gore levels are fairly mild.

    Obviously there is blood, and biting, and zombie kills, so there IS some ‘blood & guts,' but Miss Caroline successfully convinced her students that this is all just make-believe, and the blood is “just jam… But don’t eat it!”

    Held up to my Zombie Movies Rubric and Little Monsters nabbed itself a 3.22 out four points! This equates to a full and hearty recommendation, (and very likely repeated viewings!)

    Part zombie flick, part romantic comedy, (or ZomRomCom, if you will,) Little Monsters one is far more along the lines of Shaun of the Dead than it is Zombieland, but either way, that is some good company!

    And, of course, YouTube has a number of awesome trailers - See for yourself. 

LITTLE MONSTERS 

Zombi 4: After Death (1989)

    Our story opens on a non-specified jungle island where armed scientists are confronting a voodoo witch doctor who blames them for the death of his daughter at their hospital. In retaliation, he opens the doors to hell and the dead rise.

Jumping straight outta Hell comes the witch doctor's wife.

    Flash forward 20 years and we find a group of fun-loving mercenaries on vacation with a couple of chicks. As they go boating past the island, which now lay abandoned and in ruins.  their engine inexplicably dies on them and they must make for shore...

    Simultaneously, on the other side of the island, some explorers find a “Book of the Death” and, of course, decide to read it aloud. Well, bad turns to worse, as bad tends to do, and soon, we have these survivors attempting to fortify the abandoned hospital from a siege of the undead, while also trying to close the doors to hell.

    Like its predecessor, ‘Zombi 4’ provides its own backstory with no relation to previous films. As such, it is not really a sequel than a new standalone zombie flick.

    Speaking of the zombies, the ones here are a cross between Romeros and Russos, (see 'Zombie Classification Chart HERE!) They are undead, attack and eat the living, zombism is transmitted through bites, and can only killed with headshots. However, these guys are NOT the shambling, foot-dragging kind! These guys show some extreme agility and stealth - running, jumping, and diving in for the attack and retreating when needing to. Combined with the dark rags and hoods that they wear, and they seem more like cannibalistic ninjas than the living dead.

    They also possess the amazing ability to jump in from just outside of the camera frame!

The minimalistic zombie make-up works fairly well here.

 

   This aside, the oozing, and festering, and drooling of all matter of materials, they do make an effectively scary bunch! Especially in the perpetually foggy jungle. 

    As I mentioned, lots of jump scares from the dead, but creepiness as well - The grave emerging  scene in the rotted, old cemetery looks pretty neat-o in the thickly fogged night, despite the ‘graves’ being no deeper than your average flower bed.

    Oh, and fear not, gore fans, eye-gouging and flesh-tearing are a-plentiful!

    The musical score, while sounding like an imported release of Miami Vice soundtrack b-sides, actually works to convey the action and drama, if now dated. It's worth checking it out if only for some decent images of the film. SOUNDTRACK 

    According to the ZMR, ‘Zombi 4: After Death’ got itself a 2.2 out of 4 points. For a change, I would agree with this rating. I enjoyed the movie despite its flaws, and would even recommend it… If only to die-hard fans of 80s, Italian zombie movies! 

    By no means a great movie, but a heckuva lot stronger film than it’s predecessor,

    Of course there’s a trailer on YouTube!!! ZOMBI 4:AFTER DEATH