Cooties

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.

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

Cooties is about zombie children. That premise alone could come up with a lot of crazy ideas. And the movie does try to add up to that silliness; the characters are often too incompetent to face them. It's fun on paper, but the movie gets too confused by its focus. The characters are tough to care about and yet they get more of the center of this film. While there is some worthy sense of horror and worthy sense of humor, the movie doesn't have an exact direction where to go and it gets even confused with the plot, which eventually keeps stalling to unnecessary arcs that won't go anywhere in the end. Cooties overall feels like it's handling an unfinished script of a potential cult classic.

After the opening credits that reveals the source of this virus, the movie spends most of the time establishing its characters. Not that this is a bad narrative, but the characters it is trying to focus aren't really that interesting. The main protagonist is a writer out of luck, got strung to a love triangle and settle too much on that romance. The side characters are much interesting since they have something to involve in the actual plot; example is the socially awkward teacher who happens to know how to figure out the source and effects of the virus. He's basically a punchline, but he does more to this plot than the groan-worthy love triangle. Another one is a kid who was spared from the infected children who seems to be setup for a suspense of keeping him from becoming one of those zombie children, but that doesn't go anywhere either. And what's with the guy with the shrooms? In the end, these characters are either just one-noted or stereotypes, in both genres of comedy and horror.

When it's all about the horror, there is some really inspired moments; mostly at the night scene where there's a tricycle riding infected little girl wandering around the premises. There is a really effective amount of creeps to be found in those scenes. There's even one where they are being chased in a vent; in spite of its fast pace, the tension still works. But these worthy scenes are kinda few, most of them, while undeniably gross, is just as contrived as any horror film. It even occasionally just hides the monsters and just show their reactions. The cast did try to outweigh their roles, but hardly got the opportunity. Elijah Wood at least made his role sort of more charming than it should be. Rainn Wilson manages to ham it up to a role that doesn't exactly know what it's supposed to be.

Cooties doesn't feel like it has an ending, or at least the movie decided to be lazy instead in this conclusion. And of course, the climax! It's so rushed that it's supposed to be as charming and exciting as, let's say, Zombieland. But it doesn't deserve earning that since it mostly spends its time building up a romance that leads to nowhere. There is so much potential in this film that are mostly left out. While there is still some nice thrills, inspired horror movie moments and even sense of humor having these awkward unlikable comedy movie characters stuck in this darker genre, the film never becomes satisfying. It should have heightened more of its creativity; the tricycle girl is great, but how about an infected baby? I thought they were building that up to something more shocking. It's just ideas and violence being slapped together and never get to flourish. You may get some fine violence, creeps and laughs, but you'll suddenly realize that this atmosphere is hardly engaging.

What a blast!

Never boring. Great cast. Reminiscent of The Faculty (a favorite of mine), because it takes place in a school, yes, but also somehow because of the tone of it. Also, Elijah Wood is in both. He is great.

Cooties is kind of a classic premise, but with a couple of twists that makes it quite refreshing. And even though a good deal of what we see, we have seen before, it's done in its own way that just makes it entertaining. Just well directed, I guess.

It's horror and comedy brilliantly mixed, but also has quite a lot of action and thriller elements. It's not really scary, but has a couple, and particularly one scene that is pretty suspenseful.

The make up and effects aren't incredible, but absolutely gets the job done. One or two scenes I thought lacked the last polish, but nothing major. To sum it up, it's just great fun.

I LOVE the political incorrectness of it, and that must be why the score on here isn't higher.

Many good moments in this movie, I will definitely watch it again.

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.