Cooties

Child actors come and go, and only a few manage to continue their careers after they grow as adults. We all know what happened to Macaulay Culkin. In the end of the 80´s, we noticed his potential in Uncle Buck with John Candy. He became a superstar in the comedy Home Alone, and seemed to be unstoppable. The sequel Home Alone 2 also was a massive hit in the box office, but things were about to change. When he did a thriller called The Good Son, in 1993, the audience, or the critics were not so pleased. I remember the film, and to be honest, it was not very good. At that time, when i was 16 years old, i might have enjoyed it. But looking back, i feel that it was just a try to make a simple thriller, just to make money at the box office. Speaking of the film The Good Son, we also noticed another child actor named Elijah Wood. You could tell that they were both different, from an acting perspective. While Macaulay Culkin´s career was going down the drain, Elijah Wood managed to continue working in the movie industry, and made himself known for his acting ability. One of the earliest proofs where Elijah Wood showed his acting skills, was in a film from 1997, called Ice Storm, by director Ang Lee. This is a very good drama film, with really good acting also from Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Christina Ricci, Tobey Maguire and Joan Allen. The film was a box office bomb ( unfortunately ), but critics loved the film. It is one of those films not many people heard about, that should have found a bigger audience. The whole world probably knew who Elijah Wood was, when he took the role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson´s version of The Lord Of The Rings. With 2 more sequels, that became massive box office hits all over the world, Elijah Wood was now on everyone´s lips. Some actors might just go and make films, that are guaranteed to be box office hits, but Elijah proofed himself by doing smaller films, most of the time. One of the films, that had an amazing cast, for such a limited budget, was a film called Bobby. Some of the actors in this film is Sharon Stone, Anthony Hopkins, Christian Slater, Shia LaBeouf, Helen Hunt, Laurence Fishburne, Ashton Kutcher and many more. If you have not seen this one, i recommend that you do rent it. Not that long ago, Elijah Wood was the lead actor in a very good thriller called Grand Piano. I simply loved this film, because it had a very intelligent plot. How many of you would have guessed that Elijah Wood would show up in a zombie film ? I never would have guessed, but with the film Cooties, it looks like he is trying this genre. Since he is such a great actor, and have tried so many different characters, and genres, does he fit into the zombie horror genre really well, or should he have stayed away from this ?

In the small town of Ft. Chicken, horror writer Clint Hudson ( Elijah Wood ) have moved back to his hometown, after trying to live in New York. He agree to work extra, as an teacher at Ft. Chicken Elementary. There in the coffee room, Clint meet his high school crush, Lucy McCormick ( Alison Pill  ), who works here as an teacher. It seems that he still have feelings for her, after all these years. One of Clint´s students called Shelly Linker ( Sunny May Allison ), have eaten a chicken nugget with black spots. She begins to act strange, and her face is changing. Not knowing what is happening to her, Clint is shocked to see Shelly attack a student, biting a flesh wound in his face. This is just the beginning of a virus outbreak, where the kids are becoming affected, and turned into zombies. Clint and Shelly, get together with the other teachers Wade Johnson ( Rain Wilsson ), Tamra ( Morgan Lily ), Tracy Lacy ( Jack McBrayer ) and their collegues, just to hide and protect themselves. They have no idea how to stop these infected kids, and they have no idea how to get out. They will have to figure out, how to survive, without any help from the outside.

Some of you might think that this is a pure horror film. The fact is that this is more of a horror comedy. There is an horror undertone within the plot, but it is basically mostly built on comedy material. If you are not a fan of zombies, i doubt Cooties will change your mind. Besides, you have to appreciate this genre to enjoy the substance. One of the things that makes Cooties a fun experience, is the mixture of classic horror ingredients, combined with characters that have some serious big problems, on a personal level. One of the funniest scenes in the film, is when the teachers meet Elijah´s character in the coffee room, where he finds out they love Jason Patric, especially from his films The Lost Boys and...Speed 2. I just love it when they look serious, as if they loved Speed 2, when in fact most people in this world hated that sequel. If you by some reason have not seen Speed 2, be happy that you skipped it.  The biggest advantage of Cooties, is the teacher characters, especially the character known as Wade Johnson, played by Rainn Wilson. His 80´s style fits the school so bad, you just have to love him, and of course the fact that he loves Jason Patric. I also enjoy the character Tracy Lacy, played by Jack McBrayer. He both looks feminine, and i just love the scene where he says that he played with his tennis coach hairy balls. Of course, that is the first thing you want to tell your collegues at work. Director Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion have made a film, that reminds me of another version of The Faculty meets Dawn Of The Dead. It is not hard to understand that we are not dealing with anything original, but that is ok. This is still a fun tribute to many films from the past, and who does not love zombie kids ? There is blood, guts, flesh wounds, and other classic elements here that we have seen many times before. But from a B movie perspective, Cooties deliver, especially thanks to the great cast. Shaun Of The Dead is still the funniest horror comedy in modern times, and it looks like no title will beat that film. Still, i do enjoy a good time, and Cooties does not fail to please me. I am pretty sure i could be the greatest zombie killer ever, besides, i have 3 seasons on dvd with Miami Vice. I have learned everything i need to know from Don Johnson.

Rating: DDD