Cooties (2015)
Horror, Comedy
Directed By: Jonathan Milott & Cary Murnion
What happens when the creator of Saw and the creator of Glee come together to write a new movie? We end up with a highly original, action packed, tonal roller coaster that also happens to be one of the best horror comedies of the year. Leigh Whannel (Saw) and Ian Brennan (Glee) combine their sensibilities with near perfect harmony to create a movie that pushes the limits of traditional horror. This movie is as dark as a horror movie can be yet you will find yourself smiling and laughing more times than not throughout the brisk eighty eight minutes, and for good reason.
As far as plot goes, this movie is quite simple. A mysterious new virus is sweeping through a small suburban elementary school and it appears to be turning the students into blood thirsty savages. The illness seems to only be affecting the children though and before long a group of confused teachers find themselves held up in the teacher's lounge, trying to figure out a way to make it out of the day alive. When it becomes apparent that these children are no longer actually human beings they decide to take action and fight their way out of the school. Never in horror has killing children been so much damn fun.
Right on the surface Cooties is tackling a brand of horror that has been sort of taboo for the genre since its inception, killing children. The death of youth has always been something horror filmmakers have avoided in fear of losing their audience, but this film takes it head on. They don't use it as a way to shock the audience or go for a cheap trick, they use as the basis for the story and shape it into something we can all enjoy. This is why it works so well, the filmmakers handle the topic responsibly and are even sure to reflect on the taboo when the first child is killed in the film. This allows them to go bonkers in the final act and create a blood ridden finale that is sure to make any genre fan smile.
This movie isn't all blood and guts though and with the amount of laughs in the film they needed a cast of talented actors able to pull of the comedic timing. They got a laundry list of them. Elija Wood, Rainn Wilson, Alison Pill, Jack McBrayer, and Jorge Garcia all add their own style and personality to the film to create something special. I'd be remiss though not to credit the best comedic timing and probably the biggest laughs to both Leigh Whannel and Ian Brennan, who both also star in the film they wrote as two of the funniest characters. What they have done here is damn impressive and I hope the two work together again in the future.
Ultimately what makes this film work so well is the genius blending of horror and comedy to create something different and all around unique to the genre. We see dozens of horror and horror-comedy movies a year, some great and some not so great so to stand out among them all you need to do something that hasn't been done before. Cooties does just that, and it does it by taking a situation we have seen done before and turning it on its head. With beautiful gore and carnage, and a seamless blend of both dark and slapstick comedy this film is a must see for genre fans and a great start to the Halloween horror season.
As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on Twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!
No comments:
Post a Comment