Wicked Little Things (DVD)

Now's your chance to see the new Laurie Strode's acting chops — before she was cast in Rob Zombie's upcoming remake of Halloween, Scout Taylor-Compton starred in Wicked Little Things, a moody zombie film directed by J.S. Cardone (who previously took on the vampire genre with The Forsaken). The movie played last year at the After Dark HorrorFest, but not many people saw it — however, it's worth a look on DVD as long as you know you're in for a very nontraditional zombie flick.

The story begins by showing a flashback to a 1913 explosion in the mountains of Pennsylvania which caused the demise of several children whose destitute families had basically sold them into slavery to the local millionaire mining baron — flash forward to the present, where the small town, still owned by the same greedy family, is in the grip of fear of undead, flesh-eating kiddies who are seeking vengeance for their untimely deaths. Enter a new family on the block: recently widowed mom Karen Tunney (Lori Heuring), and her daughters, surly teenaged Sarah (Taylor-Compton) and cute, doll-toting Emma (Chloe Moretz, from The Amityville Horror remake).

Before long, Emma strikes up a friendship with a local little girl… who just happens to be no longer living and hangs out with a pack of bloodthirsty zombie brats. When Emma disappears one cold and lonely night, Karen moves hell and earth save her daughter. The supporting cast — rounded out by Geoffrey Lewis (The Devil's Rejects), Ben Cross (Dark Shadows), and Velizar Binev (Man with the Screaming Brain) — is good, but the story is definitely more about the townspeople and our protagonists than the creepy creatures who stalk them.

The director mentions in the commentary that showing more of the wicked little things doing their wicked little thing would have seemed like child "pornography", so he decided to leave all the graphic killings to the viewers' imaginations. Therefore, Wicked Little Things wastes a lot of potential; but if you approach it more as a supernatural drama and not so much a horror film, it's not altogether bad for the price of a rental.

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