Cooties (2015) – Review
The zombie film is the perfect trope to play with, look at films like Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead. We have become so familiar with the ideas and storylines of a zombie apocalypse that creating comedy out of it has become second nature. Even with a serious show like The Walking Dead, we find ways to poke fun of some of its most serious moments. It is a surprise that there aren’t more movies like Cooties out there.
Starring Elijah Wood, Rainn Wilson, and Alison Pill as teachers at a nondescript elementary school. When a batch of virus filled chicken nuggets gets eaten the kids begin to exhibit homicidal tendencies. From that point on the characters are in survival mode. How can they get out of the school to safety?
What follows is a hilarious movie that plays off of all the ideas that you see in zombie movies. Weapons crated from household items, over the top archetypes of characters that have seemingly magical abilities, a badass gearing up scene. All played for laughs. The situation may be dire, but we are enjoying every minute of it.
At the heart of it is the Wood, Wilson and Pill love triangle. Wood who is an aspiring author, who can’t come to terms with the idea that his book isn’t good, intentionally took a job as a substitute to be close to Pill, who obviously is dating Wilson. The two men vie for her affection through the whole film in the strangest action/romantic comedy way that in the end doesn’t even have a satisfying conclusion.
This is popcorn fluff at its finest. The kind of movie that you want to watch with a group of friends, or while enjoying the finer aspects of THC consumption. It is a laugh, and at no point does it aim to be anything more than that, and that is the highest of praise for a movie that was designed to be just pure entertainment.