Line #45 Film/LittleMonsters2019


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3	''Little Monsters'' (2019) is an Australian HorrorComedy [[ZombieStories zombie film]] directed by Abe Forsythe and starring Creator/LupitaNyongo, Andrew England, and Creator/JoshGad. The film follows Dave, a down-on-his-luck loser who volunteers to chaperone his nephew Felix on a school trip to a petting zoo in an effort to get closer to his teacher, Miss Caroline. Unfortunately, the United States Army base next door is running genetic experiments that have resulted in a zombie outbreak. When the zombies descend on the petting zoo, Dave and Miss Caroline find themselves trapped with egotistical children's entertainer, Teddy [=McGiggles=], and must desperately work together to keep the children safe and ignorant of the danger around them.
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6	Has nothing to do with the 1989 film ''Film/LittleMonsters''.
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8	!!The film features the following tropes:
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10	* ActionSurvivor: The main cast consists of a kindergarten teacher, her class of 5-year-olds, a foul-mouthed wannabe rock star, and a children's television host, and yet in a sudden zombie outbreak they manage to outlast an entire military base of soldiers. [[spoiler: Ultimately only Miss Caroline, her class and Dave qualify, however, as [=McGiggles=] is eaten towards the end.]]
11	* AmusingInjuries: One of the zombies has a face full of quills after eating a porcupine.
12	* AssholeVictim: Even discounting his nearly getting Dave killed, [=McGiggles=] is an alcoholic ChildHater who uses his position to sleep with moms of his fans. A lot of time is given to make sure the audience will despise him, [[spoiler: and rejoice when he gets ripped apart from his zombified puppeteer.]]
13	* BadassTeacher: Miss Caroline is ready to fight the hordes of zombies to keep her pupils safe.
14	* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:After Dave becomes trapped on the [=McGiggles=] Mobile, Felix sneaks out of the gift shop and recovers the tractor, driving it over and giving Dave an opportunity to escape.]]
15	* BigDamnKiss: [[spoiler:Dave and Miss Caroline get one at the end while the military bombs the zoo to contain the outbreak.]]
16	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The military successfully contains the zombie outbreak at the zoo, but not without most of the visitors and animals either getting eaten by zombies or killed by the military... But hey, at least one preschool class lives! {{Lampshaded}} by the military commander when he asks his aide as he goes in to speak to the parents of the class if this is "the good news room or the bad news room," presumably implying there is another room where the loved ones of all the outbreak's casualties are waiting.]]
17	* BlatantLies: Miss Caroline tells her students that the blood all over her dress is just jam. Being five years old, they all believe it.
18	* BrattyHalfPint: While most of Miss Caroline's class are sweet and well-behaved, Max spends most of the movie loudly whining about wanting to play putt-putt golf and bullying Felix.
19	* BrickJoke:
20	** After putting on his Darth Vader costume for the first time, there are a few times throughout the movie where Felix tries to unsuccessfully use the Force. [[spoiler:Later, while cornered by zombies in an animal pen, Felix attempts to close the pen's gate with the Force. As he does this, one of the zombie bumps the pen close, and Felix reacts as if he successfully used the Force to close it.]]
21	** Part way through the film, Miss Caroline revealed she use to be [[spoiler:obsessed with the band Music/{{Hanson}}. At the end, the song playing over the credits is "[=MMMBop=]".]]
22	** Max, the class' resident BrattyHalfPint, spends most of the movie demanding to play putt-putt golf. [[spoiler: At the end, Miss Caroline recruits Max to keep the zombies away from the back of the tractor by bonking them on the head with his putt-putt golf club.]]
23	** Early on in the film, one of the zombies grabs Miss Caroline's fanny pack while trying to grab her and can later be seen wandering around with it. At the end, Miss Caroline manages to snatch it back.
24	* BringMeMyBrownPants: [=McGiggles=] admits to having shit himself at one point and that he was originally planning to blame Dave for the smell.
25	* ButtMonkey: [=McGiggles=] is beaten by Dave and Caroline repeatedly and hurts himself multiple times. [[AssholeVictim Its not like he doesn't deserve though]].
26	* CellPhonesAreUseless: Dave's cellphone doesn't get any kind of reception in the petting zoo. He's only able to get a signal [[spoiler:when he's trapped on top of the [=McGiggle=] Mobile.]]
27	* ChekhovsSkill: Felix's obsession with tractors [[spoiler:extends to knowing how to operate them.]]
28	* ChildHater: It's revealed that [=McGiggles=] secretly hates kids and is miserable in his role as a children's entertainer. [[spoiler: This comes to a head when he goes out of his way to kill a group of zombie children.]]
29	* CoolTeacher: Miss Caroline. She’s kind, supportive and loves singing songs to her pupils.
30	* CreatorCameo: The director of the film Abe Forsythe appears as a policeman at the beginning of the film.
31	* CringeComedy: The opening portion of the film is '''full''' of this thanks mostly to Dave.
32	* DarkAndTroubledPast:
33	** Dave's [[spoiler:father abandoned his family when Dave was very young, leading to his mother having a mental breakdown, and forcing his older sister to care for the both of them. This upbringing is the reason for Dave's immature behavior.]]
34	** Miss Caroline [[spoiler:was obsessed with the band Music/{{Hanson}} when she was younger, following them to Australia when they were on tour. Eventually, her obsession grew to the point that she [[StalkerWithACrush broke into their hotel room to get close to them.]] After getting caught, she breaks her clavicle in the escape, and, her family having disowned her for her obsession, she begins working at Felix's school to earn money to pay off her medical bills. Through this, she discovered her love for teaching. She also reveals that her fiancé had cheated in her not too long ago.]]
35	* DeadlyHug: A non lethal variant, but when Teddy [=McGiggles=] freaks out and begins shouting about the zombies, Miss Caroline embraces him, only to reveal she's pressing a sharpened edge of a souvenir into his side, demanding he not endanger her kids or put them in a state of fear, ordering him to pretend it's all a game and twists the souvenir against him to force him to stay in character.
36	* DeathOfAChild: Several children at the petting zoo are killed and [[UndeadChild zombified]], [[spoiler:with the exception of the children in Miss Caroline's class.]]
37	* DepravedKidsShowHost: [=McGiggles=] (whose real name is Nathan Schneider) turns out to be an alcoholic sex addict who mainly uses his gig to bang the mothers of children (and he hates children).
38	* DevouredByTheHorde: Happens to the class's bus driver.
39	* DidntThinkThisThrough: [=McGiggles=] bites the face off a zombie kid, realizing what a stupid idea that was moments later.
40	* DisappearedDad: [[spoiler:Dave's father. He walked out on their family when he and his sister were young, resulting in their mom suffering a breakdown.]]
41	* DyingCurse: [[spoiler:[=McGiggles=] shouts one at Dave as he's being devoured, right after trying to [[KarmicDeath abandon everyone else.]]]]
42	-->[[spoiler:'''[=McGiggles=]''':I hope you die!]]
43	* FleshEatingZombie: The zombies are driven by their need to feed on flesh, be it human or animal.
44	* FreudianExcuse:
45	** [=McGiggles=] put a lot of work into becoming an actor, only to get stuck as the host of a children's television show. His frustration over this is what caused him to develop a hatred of children.
46	** Dave [[spoiler:lost both of his parents when he was very young and had to be raised by his sister.]]
47	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Subverted when Miss Caroline is scolding Dave for his language around the kids, the tour guide approaches one of the zombies thats munching on a sheep, with Dave and Caroline initially unaware as the zombie starts attacking the guide. Though the headset the tour guide wears as she's being torn into gets Caroline's attention, though mainly because she curses, not because she's being eaten alive. Its only when Caroline is up close that she realizes the other is a zombie.
48	* GenreBlindness: The male security guard at the testing facility. Not only does he go for body shots on a zombie, he just stands around confused as his partner drives off without him, unaware of the now zombified scientist behind him until she starts eating him.
49	* GenreShift: The opening half an hour or so of the film is mostly a straight-up vulgar comedy centering on Dave that begins to drift towards rom-com when Miss Caroline is introduced before finally reaching its true genre of horror-comedy when the zombies show up at the petting zoo.
50	* GolfClubbing: A minor example where [[spoiler: Max bonks a few zombies on the head with his putt-putt club.]]
51	* GoneHorriblyRight: Miss Caroline and Dave successfully convince the kids that it's just a game and they're in no real danger. [[spoiler: This means Felix doesn't see any reason why he shouldn't leave to go get the tractor ''all by himself''. He's fine, but only because he was lucky.]]
52	* GroinAttack: Dave delivers one so bad to [=McGiggles=] that he vomits.
53	* HarmfulToMinors: Miss Caroline realizes that her class not only runs a risk of being eaten by the zombies, but also of being traumatized by the experience, which is why she works to keep them ignorant of what is truly going on.
54	* HeelRealization:
55	** Over the course of the film, Dave comes to realize he was an insensitive, ungrateful, irresponsible, childish jerk and takes steps to become better.
56	** [=McGiggles=] has one where he breaks down crying about sleeping with a large number of married women and seeing that as the sole benefit to his celebrity status. [[spoiler:Unlike with Dave, [[IgnoredEpiphany his doesn't stick.]]]]
57	* HypocriticalHumor: [=McGiggles=] repeatedly pokes fun at Dave's weight, despite clearly being the more heavyset of the two.
58	* IncongruouslyDressedZombie:
59	** While most of the zombies are either dressed in casual clothes or military fatigues, one dressed in a koala mascot costume is spotted several times throughout the film.
60	** [[spoiler: The zombified puppeteer of Frogsie keeps the puppet on his arm after turning-specifically the arm he uses to rip Teddy [=McGiggles=] to shreds. He usually enters shots puppet-arm-first, which makes it look like ''Frogsie'' is the zombie.]]
61	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Miss Caroline does this to a zombie with a pitchfork, [[PinnedToTheWall pinning it to a tree in the process]].
62	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Dave may have commitment issues and a fear of parenthood, but even prior to his character development he tried to bond with Felix and offer his own unconventional form of support to his nephew, even if he was really bad at expressing it.
63	* LaserGuidedKarma: Happens to [=McGiggles=]. [[spoiler:The moment after he locks Dave out of the [=McGiggles=] Mobile, his zombified puppeteer emerges from the back and tears him apart.]]
64	* MamaBear: Miss Caroline definitely counts, as she does everything to protect her class and keep them from finding out how much of a threat the zombies are, treating it like a game and even threatening to [[FedtotheBeast feed [=McGiggles=] to the zombies]] if he reveals they're real, all while jabbing his side with a broken souvenir.
65	* ManBitesMan: [=McGiggles=] bites one of the zombified children to give them ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine, before [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizing]] what an [[TheVirus incredibly stupid idea that was.]]
66	* {{Manchild}}: Dave isn't the most mature guy, though he was basically a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who cared about his nephew and improved over the course of the film.
67	** When the zombies attack, [=McGiggles=] reveals himself to be a selfish, petulant asshole with the emotional maturity of a teenager.
68	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: PlayedForLaughs when [=McGiggles=] drunkenly bites one of the zombie children and has this reaction.
69	* NeverMyFault: When [=McGiggles=] is [[spoiler:attacked by Frogsie in his car, he acts as though Dave is deliberately choosing not to help him when [=McGiggles=] is the one who locked himself in the car and now can't unlock it to let Dave in to help him]].
70	* NoodleIncident: The commander of the US forces imposing the quarantine evidently has killed children before. [[spoiler:[[MyGreatestFailure Not that he's proud of it]], which is what leads to him allowing Miss Caroline's class to exit the quarantine zone.]]
71	* NoZombieCannibals: While the zombies happily attack humans and animals alike, they show no interest in consuming one another.
72	* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: When Miss Caroline has to go get the backup [=EpiPen=], she finds herself confronted with a hoard of zombies on her return trip. She hoists her shovel, lets out a battle cry, and charges. Next time we see her she's climbing back into the gift shop, covered in blood but otherwise fine.
73	* OurZombiesAreDifferent:
74	** The zombies in this film are mostly Romero-type slow zombies, but [[spoiler: become docile if music is performed in front of them.]]
75	** This is a ConversedTrope in the film as well. One of the soldiers asks as they are setting up the quarantine if they're dealing with fast or slow zombies, and is grateful that they turn out to be the latter.
76	* ParentalAbandonment: [[spoiler:Dave and Tess' father abandoned them both when they were young, directly leading to their mother being institutionalized for a nervous breakdown.]]
77	* PinnedToTheWall: Miss Caroline uses a pitchfork to pin the first zombie the class encounters to a tree.
78	* PlagueZombie: If a victim isn't devoured by the zombies, then they inevitably rise as one of the undead as well.
79	* PrecisionFStrike: In contrast to Dave and [=McGiggles=], Miss Caroline only swears twice in the film, both times to emphasize her point.
80	-->'''Miss Caroline:''' Stop ''fucking'' swearing.
81	* PromotionToParent: [[spoiler:Tess was forced to take care of Dave when their father abandoned them and their mother suffered a nervous breakdown.]]
82	* PuppyLove: Between Felix and his "girlfriend", Beth.
83	* QuarantineWithExtremePrejudice: The United States forces have this as their orders once they set up a perimeter around the petting zoo. [[spoiler:In the end, the commander can't bring himself to give the final order when he realizes that there are [[WouldntHurtAChild children among the survivors]].]]
84	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The military leader is shockingly pleasant and reasonable for a zombie film, letting the tractor with the kids pass without incident and only placing them in quarantine for 48 hours after.
85	* RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain: While never directly said, it is repeatedly shown that headshots and decapitations will immediately kill the zombies.
86	* RockersSmashGuitars: Dave is a wannabe rocker and ends his fight with [=McGiggles=] by breaking his guitar over the other man's head.
87	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After hearing reports of numerous other containment breaches over the radio, the female security guard jumps back into her vehicle and drives off, leaving her dimwitted partner behind.
88	** [=McGiggles=] tries to ditch everyone the first chance he gets. Running to the roof when he thinks there is a rescue helicopter coming [[spoiler:and trying to abandon everyone else when he gets to the [=McGiggles=] Mobile.]]
89	* SecurityCling: Miss Caroline seems to be giving Teddy [=McGiggles=] a hug when he's breaking down after cursing and yelling about the zombies. She speaks comfortingly, but her tone and words makes it clear that she believes he's a liability and if he puts her kids in danger, she will throw him to the zombies without hesitation.
90	* ShovelStrike: Miss Caroline uses one to carve a path through the zombies in order to get Felix's [=EpiPen=].
91	* SirSwearsalot: [=McGiggles=], with Dave as a close second.
92	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
93	** Dave doesn't do much to help take care of Felix, and has never administered an [=EpiPen=] before. When he tries, he's so panicked that he screws it up and stabs himself in the finger, forcing Miss Caroline to get another.
94	** Towards the end of the film, Dave and Miss Caroline realize [[spoiler:that the zombies can be made docile via music. Dave happily shouts this to the military as they let them through, only for the commander to order his soldiers to open fire on the zombies anyway as soon as the tractor gets through.]]
95	** While the outbreak quickly overruns the military base next to the petting zoo, the military response is organized quickly [[spoiler:and successfully quarantines the outbreak to the zoo grounds. Much like ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'', the military actually proves up to the task of handling a zombie outbreak, even if they did start it inadvertently.]]
96	* TheVirus: One accidentally created by the United States Army in an apparent effort to create SuperSoldiers.
97	* TitleDrop: The title comes from the lullaby Tess sings to Felix before he goes to bed each night. Dave reveals he knows all the words because she used to sing it to him too.
98	* UndeadChild: Miss Caroline's class was not the only one visiting the petting zoo that day, and thus a number of zombified children can be seen throughout the movie.
99	* VomitIndiscretionShot: Happens twice with [=McGiggles=], once when Dave hits him in the balls, then again later when he induces vomiting after biting a zombie child.
100	* VorpalPillow: Attempted by [=McGiggles=] when Dave breaks into the gift shop and they fight. However, the pillow is a tiny gift shop souvenir and doesn't even cover half of Daves face.
101	* WeaksauceWeakness: [[spoiler:The zombies are rendered docile by music, even participating in a rendition of "If You're Happy and You Know It."]]
102	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
103	** We never find out what happened to the one Chinese tourist who avoided being eaten or infected. She was either killed by the zombies or rescued by the military.
104	** After Felix briefly finds the baby goat while [[spoiler: running to save Dave]], it's not seen again. [[spoiler:It most likely dies when the military bombs the area.]]
105	* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler: [=McGiggles=] goes out of his way to attack some zombie children to relieve some pent-up frustration]]
106	* WouldntHurtAChild: The commander of the United States forces [[spoiler:who can't bring himself to [[QuarantineWithExtremePrejudice enforce the quarantine]] when he discovers the group approaching the perimeter contains a number of children. Though it's implied to be guilt over [[MyGreatestFailure having had to kill children before.]]]]
107	* ZombieGait: The zombies in this film are directly referred to as the slow kind. They are not even capable of climbing over small obstacles.

Context Film / LittleMonsters2019