Hey there, thanks for dropping in for another look at one of the featured Letterboxd Lists! A few weeks back we looked at a list of every A24 film. Well, this week we’re going to take a look at the other indie darling. That’s right, we’re looking at the Every NEON Film list, a list that contains all 141 films. We’ll be focusing on… Little Monsters (2019).
Title: Little Monsters
Director: Abe Forsythe
Released: January 27, 2019 (United States – Sundance Film Festival)
Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes
Available to stream on: Hulu
Dave (Alexander England) is a bit of a man child. He is still holding out hope that his band will one day make it big. Except there’s just one problem, Dave’s band, God’s Sledgehammer, has disbanded. This means that during the day when he’s playing in the streets, it’s just him. Dave, with his amp and guitar, constantly being shooed away by police.
His girlfriend Sara (Nadia Townsend), can’t take it anymore. She makes the decision to break things off with Dave. This leaves Dave crashing with his sister, Tess (Kat Stewart), and his little nephew, Felix (Diesel La Torraca).
In an unfortunate occurrence, Dave learns the hard way that Sara has moved on and is now hooking up with a coworker. This leads to Dave hitting his proverbial rock bottom, though he won’t be there for long. In fact, that ends when he decides to step-up and take Felix to school. Dave is immediately smitten when he sees Felix’s teacher, Miss Caroline (Lupita Nyong’o).
To try and find an in with Miss Caroline, Dave agrees to chaperone an upcoming field trip. The class will be visiting a farm at the same time as beloved children’s host, Teddy McGiggle (Josh Gad).
As Dave’s luck would have it, the farm is next to a military base that has been performing some sketchy experiments on human subjects.
What could possibly go wrong?
For about the first third of Little Monsters (2019), I was pretty sure that I’d been duped. This wasn’t a horror movie. Instead, it laid the foundation for a redemption story where Dave turns his life around.
However, once we get to the farm, the horror elements begin to reveal themselves. At this point, once we’re on the farm, there’s no denying that this is a horror movie.
Well, a horror/drama/comedy, so a hordramedy?
Anyways, while the story might be a bit paint-by-numbers, the performances are what save the day for Little Monsters (2019).
Alexander England is able to make you root against him while he’s self-destructing yet root for him when he starts his redemption arc. Diesel La Torraca is adorable, especially when he’s dressed as Darth Vader. Josh Gad is absolutely hilarious as the narcissistic television host. But let’s get one thing clear, this is Lupita Nyong’o’s movie. Seeing her go toe-to-toe with the zombies, and looking like she’s genuinely enjoying herself, is what makes this so much fun.
Little Monsters (2019) is an entertaining, funny, and at times even heartwarming take on the zombie genre.
If you’ve never seen it, it’s the perfect time of year to correct that.
So, if you have seen Little Monsters (2019), what are your thoughts on it?
Let me hear all about it in the comments below or over on Bluesky!
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