Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o a great get for biting Sydney zomedy

Star goes from performing Taylor Swift numbers on the ukulele to decapitating zombies with a shovel in this dark Sydney-shot zomedy

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LITTLE MONSTERS

Three and half stars

Directed: Abe Forsythe

Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Josh Gad, Alexander England, Kat Stewart

Rating: MA15+

Running time 94 minutes

Verdict A funny Aussie zom com

YOU may know Lupita Nyong’o as the formidable star of Jordan Peele’s Us, playing both a terrified mum and her scratchy-voiced evil twin.

An Oscar winner for 12 Years A Slave, her ability to be both sweet as pie and tough as nails makes her a great get for this made-in-Sydney zomedy, in which we see her performing Taylor Swift numbers on the ukulele and decapitating zombies with a shovel, as circumstances demand.

Lupita Nyong’o and Josh Gad in Little Monsters.

Nyong’o’s Miss Caroline is a kindergarten teacher whose field trip to a petting zoo goes awry when the walking dead break out of the US Army facility next door. Luckily the zombies are of the slow, lurching kind familiar from Night Of The Living Dead rather than the fast, bitey kind from 28 Days Later and World War Z, otherwise the kids would have little chance of surviving when they’re surrounded and holed up in the souvenir shop.

They and Miss Caroline have other problems to contend with, namely a visiting US children’s TV star called Teddy McGiggle (Josh Gad). If you’ve ever wondered if the Wiggles might be monsters away from the spotlight, Teddy confirms your worst fears, going from “hi-ho, kiddywinks” to “Santa doesn’t exist, we’re all going to die” as soon as the undead lurch into view. Gad, best known for voicing the lovable snowman in Frozen, gives a gleefully vile turn.

Lupita Nyong’o takes on a zombie horde in Little Monsters.

Then there’s the ‘hero’, Dave (Alexander England), who’s only a slightly better human than Teddy. A directionless would-be rock’n’roller reeling from a relationship break-up, he’s staying with his sister Tess (Kat Stewart) and being a being a terrible influence on her five-year-old son Felix (Diesel La Torraca).

He has volunteered to help chaperone the field trip in order to get close to Miss Caroline — lucky her — and treading the path of a man child who has to look after some children in order to grow up himself, like Jack Black in School Of Rock, minus the talent or charm.

Lupita Nyong’o as Miss Caroline.

Writer-director Abe Forsythe skewered racism and toxic Aussie masculinity with his 2016 Cronulla Riots film Down Under. Here he uses zombie tropes to spotlight the vast gulf between the everyday heroes who raise young children — usually undervalued women — and the narcissistic, pampered men who never have to.

And he does it with plenty of dark ocker humour. We get to see, for instance, what happens when a zombie tries to eat a spiny echidna, and it ain’t pretty.

In cinemas October 31