It shouldn't be as hard to mix comedy and horror as the dreadful "Cooties" makes it look.
In an Illinois elementary school, a virus spread by bad chicken nuggets causes the fourth-graders to become flesh-devouring zombies who start feasting on the playground monitor and the vice principal. The surviving teachers — including failed author Clint (Elijah Wood), preening gym teacher Wade (Rainn Wilson), and Wade's girlfriend, Lucy (Alison Pill), on whom Clint has a crush — band together to fight off the little biters and escape the school.
The script, by "Saw" writer Leigh Whannell (who plays a creepy science teacher) and "Glee" co-creator Ian Brennan (who plays the vice principal), is a mishmash of horror clichés, presented with ironic winks to the genre that aren't nearly as clever as the writers imagine. First-time directors Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion can't balance the screams with the chuckles, and their stop-and-start pacing makes this short movie feel like an eternity.
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'Cooties'
Opening Friday, Sept. 18, at the Tower Theatre; rated R for horror violence and gore, language including sexual references, and some drug use; 88 minutes.
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