According to Wikipedia, "cooties is a fictional childhood disease, used in the United States of America and Canada as a rejection term and an infection tag game". In comedy/horror movie Cooties, the term is used to describe a very real and very virulent virus stemming from a batch of tainted chicken nuggets, infecting only pre-pubescent children, turning them into bloodthirsty savages.
When the virus breaks out in the small town of Fort Chicken, Illinois, a group of teachers find themselves trapped in their school, surrounded by flesh-eating brats; in order to survive, they must fight their natural instincts and kick some serious kiddie butt.
Children aside, Cooties doesn't offer very much in terms of originality, employing the generic 'siege/fight for survival/escape' set-up used by countless other similar zombie/infected films. It does, however, deliver a likable collection of kooky characters, lots of absurd comedy (the majority of which works very well), and plenty of entertaining gore (can't beat the sight of a little girl using intestines as a skipping rope), all the while breaking that still rather taboo subject, violence against children, the kids getting crushed, sliced, beaten, kicked and set on fire.
Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood heads up the cast as supply teacher Clint, proving that he has a great sense of humour and is willing to take a risk; solid support comes from Rainn Wilson as insecure gym teacher Wade, Leigh Whannell (the movie's writer) as weird science teacher Doug, Alison Pill as Lucy, the love interest for both Clint and Wade, and Peter Kwong as karate janitor Mr. Hitachi.
Cooties does suffer from a rushed ending that leaves the viewer wondering whether they might have blacked out and missed a chunk of the action, but on the whole this is a very enjoyable addition to the comedy zombie genre.
When the virus breaks out in the small town of Fort Chicken, Illinois, a group of teachers find themselves trapped in their school, surrounded by flesh-eating brats; in order to survive, they must fight their natural instincts and kick some serious kiddie butt.
Children aside, Cooties doesn't offer very much in terms of originality, employing the generic 'siege/fight for survival/escape' set-up used by countless other similar zombie/infected films. It does, however, deliver a likable collection of kooky characters, lots of absurd comedy (the majority of which works very well), and plenty of entertaining gore (can't beat the sight of a little girl using intestines as a skipping rope), all the while breaking that still rather taboo subject, violence against children, the kids getting crushed, sliced, beaten, kicked and set on fire.
Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood heads up the cast as supply teacher Clint, proving that he has a great sense of humour and is willing to take a risk; solid support comes from Rainn Wilson as insecure gym teacher Wade, Leigh Whannell (the movie's writer) as weird science teacher Doug, Alison Pill as Lucy, the love interest for both Clint and Wade, and Peter Kwong as karate janitor Mr. Hitachi.
Cooties does suffer from a rushed ending that leaves the viewer wondering whether they might have blacked out and missed a chunk of the action, but on the whole this is a very enjoyable addition to the comedy zombie genre.