Cooties

Decent horror-spoof that resembles "The Faculty" in both plot and execution; the difference is that this time it's the students going apesh** instead of the teachers.

It has a few memorable moments and a great cast. Catch this decent popcorn flick on HBONow.

A mysterious virus hits an elementary school, transforming the kids into a feral swarm of mass savages. An unlikely hero must lead a motley band of teachers in the fight of their lives.

The start of this film will make you never want to eat chicken again. The cast includes some of my favorite funny stars: Elijah Wood, Rainn Wilson, Alison Pill, Jack McBrayer, Saw's own Leigh Whannell and Lost's Leigh Whannell; with a quick non speaking cameo by Mark Christopher Lawrence who played in chuck. Everyone worked really well together and you can tell they enjoyed doing this film.

The story feels familiar but unique. Cooties is a horror comedy but it's more comedy and less horror but that doesn't talk away from the film. I enjoyed the gore and the practical effects, although there isn't much of a soundtrack, mostly dark ominous tones. The humor is a bit dry and I wish there were more one lines.

The movie is forgettable but is fun and worth a watch. I would like to see a sequel, so don't let this indie film pass you by. Cheers and remember life won't suck as long as there is a good movie to watch.

6 out of 10

edited by Samantha Locke

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So I went into this with fairly high expectations. I love horror/comedies and this one looked very promising, funny premise, great cast, and zombies (who doesn't love zombies?). It wasn't a bad movie by any means but it did let me down a little bit.

First off the main thing that killed my buzz with this was how unlikable Elijah Wood's character was, I get that they were doing this on purpose but the scenes with him in them just made me get more and more irritated with his character. It's not that Wood did a bad job or anything, it's just that some of the lines that were written for his character were almost cringe worthy bad. That character however was more than made up for by how awesome Rainn Wilson's character was, some of his lines were gold.

A lot of the jokes were great, I found myself laughing out loud multiple times, but some of them just fell short and didn't really work at all. For the most part though the humor works well and helps to move along the movie. I think the main thing that really kept this movie from being great is that the Horror concept of it kind of gets put on the back burner to the comedy in too many scenes. I really wish they would have thrown more horror elements in. There are far too many scenes of the survivors just sitting in various rooms of the school trading mediocre-pretty decent dialogue.

Overall this wasn't bad, in fact it was a good movie. I was entertained and had a fun time watching it. But it could have used a bit more gore and horror and a little less mediocre jokes. Still a good ride though.

6.5/10

My quick rating - 5,9/10. Hard to call this horror, but the gore has to put it there. This movie is very original (with a slight homage to Tromas Beware! Children at Play) and is damn funny. Often there are some inside jokes that are dragged out but overall the performances are spot on spoof style. It also helps the movies cause watching a bunch of 8 year old kids running around like animals killing all the adults in sight. Heck, let's also not shy away from killing said children if need be. This movie skates very close to being over the top and if they would've put in just a bit more 'umpphhh' this would've been a classic. As it is, expect cult status out of this one. One "armchair quarterback" call by me when it comes to casting. The big OAF character played by Rainn Wilson really would've been perfect for either Will Ferrell or Brad Garrett. Another slight drawback is it drags a bit in the second act, but started strong and finished strong, so little quarrel with that. Definitely worth watching.

"Cooties" marks yet another rare exception of the "most horror-comedies suck" rule, joining the ranks of other such classics like "Shaun of the Dead" and "Zombieland." Why all three are zombie-themed is beyond me, but I suppose the natural tension of sneaking through and surviving a zombie infestation makes for some exasperated laughs.

Elijah Wood plays a 30-something elementary school teacher who we like because his character, apart from being a typical improbable hero, genuinely enjoys teaching and working with his students. He shares the screen with Rainn Wilson, who is surprisingly endearing, given how his character on the American version of The Office contributed to the awfulness of the show. Alison Pill, Jack McBrayer, and Nasim Pedrad round out the cast of quirky, 30-something faculty members who… don't seem all that great at their jobs. But it's a comedy, so incompetence in the public school system is funny (I guess.) Here's a question: why are none of the teachers 40 plus, and why are they all so trim? That seemed odd to me, but this is showbiz after all, and an elementary school isn't the sexiest of settings.

I enjoyed this movie because of its novel twist on the zombie tale-- children are the zombies. It's refreshing seeing kids twisted into savage monsters, kill violently, and be dealt with accordingly. Hollywood and western pop culture depict children as angelic simpletons: in most media, children are nothing more than vacantly smiling plot devices. But it's untrue: children can be every bit as crafty, cunning, and ruthless as adults. Apart from Lord of the Flies, I can't think of any other media depicting children so savage and cruel.

It's nice to see.