SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

PyroSikTh Cooties is yet another in the crop of zombie comedy movies. Thing is I'm a sucker for them, and judged by the trailer this definitely looked to be one of the better ones. I was not disappointed. It opens up with a montage of chicken nuggets being made, from the killing of the chicken all the way to the first bite, except this time it's infected and is enough to put you off chicken nuggets for life. Then we get introduced to Clint, an aspiring writer who's moved back to his sleepy little town from New York and is about to start his first day as a teaching sub at the local primary school.I found myself thoroughly enjoying the movie already, before the zombie infection had even broken out. While no new ground is particularly broken with the cast of characters, they're all a delight to watch. Clint is a positive guy despite being down on his luck, Wade is your typical jock come PE teacher with assholish tendencies, Rebekkah is tightly wound and maybe a little fanatical, Tracy is obviously trying to conceal his blatant homosexuality, Doug has no idea how to interact with real people, and Lucy is...well she's cutesy I guess; smiley, happy, giggly. She comes more into her own later on. While none of these character tropes are particularly new, the way they interact with one another, and the chemistry shared between the whole group, lends to a number of hilarious icebreaker moments, like Rebekkah pointing to her rape alarm when Clint introduces himself, or Wade's inability to pronounce 'dual rear wheel'.Thankfully the humour never really lets up, as it oozes into every moment, making Cooties more comedy than horror. Even in more serious moments, there's jokes squeezed in to lighten the mood and keep the tone more amusing than disturbing. And yet, and most crucially, none of the jokes feel forced. Each one flows naturally from the characters and moments they find themselves in. Often they come completely from the left-field and are funny out of sheer surprise (such as Doug using "gloves" to sift through bodily fluids). It's also hugely quotable, which in my opinion is one of the most enduring aspects for a comedy, as it keeps the hilarity going long after the credits have rolled. I've found myself quoting it all day today, and I foresee it getting quoted more over the next few days. "Follow me, I do crossfit" and "You may have noticed I sometimes say the wrong rowboat" are particular highlights.As I said though, Cooties ends up being more of a comedy than a horror movie, so if you're looking to it for scares, you will be disappointed. Me, I'm a wimp, so I welcomed the toned down horror. Even when the opportunity arises for a cheap jump-scare, they play it slower and less dramatically. Negative for some, but it made it more enjoyable for me personally. This is a zombie movie though, so there is a certain level of gore. A couple of characters get their guts ripped out, and there's a lot of kids covered in blood, but in-all it's fairly light on the gore scale, especially for a zombie movie.The cast are all great. While the characters are tired tropes, each one is made more enjoyable thanks to the acting talent behind it. Elijah Wood is charming as Clint, who is a character who could so easily have drifted into annoyance. Rainn Wilson steals every scene as Wade, with Leigh Whannell's Doug not far behind (seriously, who knew Leigh Whannell was actually funny?). Alison Pill is perfect as the cutesy Lucy who comes into her own later on, and Jorge Garcia enjoys looking stoned and confused throughout most the run time.There is one rather large criticism I have of Cooties though and that's the end. Or lack thereof as the case may be. The survivors manage to escape and leave the town only to reach the next town and find the pandemic is far more reaching than they expected. There's a little hint of finding a cure, but they just blow up a playgym and hightail out of there into the credits, with no resolution to any of the barebones character arcs, or the general story. It just sort of ends, and it feels like they didn't really know how to resolve anything, so just threw up the credits when they reached their allotted runtime. Maybe it was deliberate to leave the door open for a sequel, but it made the whole thing feel a little incomplete, like there was more to come that we just didn't get to see.In conclusion, Cooties is, for once, a very good thing to have experienced. It's truly hilarious and best and mildly amusing at worst. It's a little light on the horror and gore, so not recommended for that crowd, but for anyone just looking to have a good chuckle I couldn't recommend it enough. I give Cooties a solid 8/10.

Paul Magne Haakonsen First I must say that oddly enough it has taken me 3 years to get around to watch "Cooties" for some reason. And that is strange when I do like anything even remotely zombie. I just never got around to watching it for some reason.The pacing of "Cooties" was actually surprisingly nice. The movie starts out well enough as it establishes some characters, but it quickly delves into the action and the stuff that us zombie aficionados crave and hunger for - pardon the pun.Storywise, then I only knew that it was about some kind of virus infecting children in a school, but aside from that then I had no idea of what to expect from directors Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion. But I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of "Cooties"."Cooties" had a good ensemble of acting talents on the cast list; a list which included really great performances by Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson. Aside from them, then I was fairly unfamiliar with the rest of the cast. But people were doing great jobs with their given roles and characters.As for the characters, well then I have to say that the character gallery was quite colorful and each character was distinct and unique, easily standing out from the rest of the characters individually.It should be said that there isn't an abundance of gore, mayhem and mutilation in "Cooties", which works out well enough. There was some, of course, and it was enough to satisfy my cravings. And it was especially good because the special effects and make-up effects were well done and straight to the point.Now, "Cooties" doesn't really have the contents to become a classic within the zombie genre, nor did it really manage to separate itself from the herd. In that aspect, then it was a fairly bland and generic addition to the genre. Sure, the movie was enjoyable and watchable, just don't expect to be blown away.

mistoppi The setting of the movie is brilliant. There's always something creepy about zombie children. Yes, all zombies or infected or whatever is your preferred term for these horrifying creatures, are of course terrifying, but the children are even more so. It's like when children are singing in horror movies it's million times creepier. When ghosts are children, they are creepier. When any kind of monster in a horror movie is a kid, it's always like... yikes.The main characters are such a strange bunch, it's a delight. They are all such stereotypical teachers. There's that cheerful, happy teacher, grumpy coach, different kind of creepy teachers and that one sub who asks students to call him by his real name. They make a weird team of survivors, and they are freaking hilarious. Most of the humour comes from their archetypes, and of course the dialogue is amazing. It most often is in actually funny horror comedies. Cooties is funny and thrilling while it's also wonderfully disgusting. Also if the beginning of this movie won't make you a vegetarian, then nothing will.

Argemaluco Unlike other films about zombie kids (such as The Children or ¿Quién Puede Matar a un Niño?), Cooties employs a humorous tone which partially reduces the moral dilemma of killing children, even if they are living dead. But it doesn't completely trivialize it either, because it allows the characters feel doubts and remorse when they are obliged to take such drastic measures under life or death situations. This delicate balance of comedy and drama avoids Cooties from becoming a simple gore caricature, and it creates an appropriate atmosphere to develop pleasant characters, with a well defined humanity behind the stereotypes... something weird in zombie cinema, which is usually satisfied with a provision of disposable victims in order to show a bloody death every 10 or 15 minutes. On the opposite, Cooties prefers to focus on the interaction between the teachers during their terrifying situation, and that strategy improves the film... even though it makes it less satisfactory on the simple visceral level. I think co- screenwriters Leigh Whannell (who also plays Doug, the eccentric Science teacher) and Ian Brennan should have gone much farther in the combat between zombies and humans... or, to be more precise, teachers against students. I have never given any class, but I have some friends who work or have worked as teacher, and their opinion of the students is... unfavorable, to say it in a kind way. So, I think Whannell and Brennan wasted the opportunity of making Cooties an intense catharsis for teachers around the world who have the secret fantasy of smashing the skull of a particularly rude student with a fire extinguisher. That intensity would have made the film much more memorable and shocking; and I say it with a maximum respect for teachers and the responsible and educated students (I hope this disclaimer avoids the adding of my name to some FBI list). On the positive side, Elijah Wood, Rainn Wilson, Alison Pill, Jack McBrayer, Nasim Pedrad and Jorge García bring good performances in their roles, and co-directors Jonathan Millot and Cary Murnion find the adequate balance to make us laugh during scenes which would seems tasteless in a more serious movie. To sum up: horror, humor and social commentary. Cooties has it everything. I just wish it had more of everything.