Zombies (aka Wicked Little Things)

Introduction

Zombies (aka Wicked Little Things) tells the story of Karen Tunny (Lori Heuring) who, following her husband's lingering and ruinously expensive death, has to move with her two daughters to the house her husband left her in the Pennsylvania mountains.

Teenager Sarah (Scout Taylor-Compton) tries to make friends in the remote location whilst her younger sister Emma (Chloe Moretz) begins wander off into the woods alone to play with her imaginary friend, Mary.

Karen and Sarah learn that the locals will not venture out after dark because of the superstition that the children who died in a mine explosion in 1913 have returned as zombies, to kill and devour the descendants of those responsible for their untimely deaths. They laugh it off as nonsense but they soon realise it's no joke when a gang of zombie children attack Sarah and eat her friends.

Video

A very clear picture, with good atmospheric nighttime scenes and great visual SFX. However, the 'pale face' zombie make-up on the children is more like Romero's Dawn of the Dead than recent films but whether this is down to budgetary constraints or a deliberate homage is hard to say.

Audio

A good and equally atmospheric soundtrack, with satisfying use of the surrounds, especially on weather effects, like the thunderstorm.

Extra Features

Wicked Little Zombies is a decent making of featurette comprising interviews and behind the scenes footage.

Conclusion

The zombie sub-genre of horror is old and varied, dating back to the 1940s and beyond, so to come up with an original take on ghouls - making them all children - is refreshing and welcome.

Nothing in J.S. Cardone's previous work gave me any hope that Zombies would be little better than clichéd rubbish, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is eminently watchable and well acted. This is not to say it is without clichés - you have the creepy shopkeeper, the suspicious mountain-man and the house with a history, to name a few - but I enjoyed Zombies for what it is.

If, like me, you have seen your fair share of zombie flicks, there's not much new here (apart from the undead army of infants) but it is entertaining and worth watching.