Writer: Leigh Whannell, Ian Brennan, Josh C Waller (Screenplay) Leigh Whannell, Ian Brennan (Story)
Starring: Elijah Wood, Rainn Wilson, Alison Pill, Jack McBrayer, Leigh Whannell, Nasim Pedrad, Ian Brennan, Jorge Garcia, Cooper Roth
Plot: A mysterious virus hits an isolated 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.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Fun But Not Completely Entertaining Zombie Film
Story: Cooties starts as the summer school’s chicken supply gets recalled before we meet aspiring author Clint (Wood) who is a substitute teacher for the summer. Clint meets all the colourful teachers at the school with sports coach Wade (Wilson) old friend Lucy (Pill) Tracy (McBrayer), social awkward Doug (Whannell) and Rebekkah (Padrad) who have to work with all the troubled students.
When the students turn out to be infected and start craving human flesh the teachers are trapped in the school with the crossing guard Rick (Garcia) watching stoned from the outside. The teachers have to survive until school closes before they can escape from the undead children looking for blood.
Cooties has to get praise for trying to take the zombie comedy to a new direction with how the infection spreads with the children being the only ones being infected. The idea of having a miss-mash of teachers that have to keep face when in fact hate each other works too. I didn’t like the romantic triangle which feels really forced for attempted comedy. This is a really simple entertaining comedy horror without being anything special.
Actor Review
Elijah Wood: Clint is the aspiring author that takes a summer job as a substitute teacher at his old school, he is very quiet and is using this job to work on his novel. He has to work with the teachers to survive against the kids that have the thirst for blood. Elijah gives us a performance you expect to see in his new career choices.
Rainn Wilson: Wade is the sports coach, he only seems to care about himself even with his girlfriend a fellow teacher at the school. He doesn’t like Clint as we see the two clash throughout the survival attempt. Rainn is fun as this over the top role.
Alison Pill: Lucy is the old school friend of Clint’s who offers to help him around the school much to the annoyance of her boyfriend Wade. She comes off like the sweet teacher that wouldn’t do anything wrong but by the end we see how tough she is really is. Allison is good in this role with good moments even while dealing with the love triange.
Jack McBrayer: Tracy is one of the fellow teachers that has to survive the attack, he is a concerned teacher and can’t handle the blood. Jack really is only a supporting character that doesn’t get enough time to uses his talents.
Support Cast: Cooties has a group of funny supporting characters and it would be fair to say the kids are all good in this film.
Director Review: Jonathan Milott, Cary Murnion – The pair give us a fun horror comedy from start to finish.
Action: Cooties has good comedy action when it comes to taking out the infected kids.
Comedy: Cooties has good moments of comedy that all work with the genre.
Horror: Cooties has good horror moments where the film creates good tension.
Settings: Cooties has a cool setting for the idea which is original for genre.
Special Effects: Cooties has great special effects for the gore.
Suggestion: Cooties is one to try but isn’t going to be the first one to check off. (Try It)
Best Part: The effects works for genre.
Worst Part: Dual wheel moments.
Believability: No
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: Left open to a new
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Runtime: 1 Hour 28 Minutes
Tagline: Circle, circle. Square, square. Now you have it everywhere
Overall: Basic horror comedy that doesn’t check all the boxes and needs to go back the summer school
Rating