Just when you think The Walking Dead rode the zombie train all the way into the ground, 2019 brings us a slew of zombie comedies to revitalize the genre. First we had the dry, sardonic The Dead Don’t Die, later this year we have Zombieland: Double Tap, and now we also have Little Monsters, a zombie comedy starring Lupita Nyong’o as a kindergarten teacher trying to protect her class during an undead outbreak. Little Monsters premiered at Sundance, and also played at SXSW, earning raves at both festivals. The red band trailer was released yesterday, and this entire movie is one big YES PLEASE.
I really like the concept of a sweet, wholesome teacher trying to save her class from zombies. That’s a great setup, and it gives Lupita the chance to both kick ass AND be adorable. Every joke in this trailer lands because this is such a good premise. It reminds me of Shaun of the Dead in that way. I’m also digging this as a new side of Lupita. Comedy is also not something we’ve really seen her do. She can be funny, she has done funny bits in movies—especially Star Wars, where Maz Kanata borders on comic relief—but we’ve not seen her do a straight up comedy like this. Of course, she looks as reliably fantastic as ever, I don’t think anything is outside her range. I am very much here for zom-com Lupita.
