Meanwwhile the student Shelly Linker (Sunny May Allison) eats a chicken nugget contaminated with a virus. He meets his former schoolmate and crush Lucy McCormick (Alison Pill), who is also a teacher and is dating the strong teacher Wade Johnson (Rainn Wilson). Chicken, Illinois, to write a horror novel and work as substitute in the local elementary school. The teacher and aspirant writer Clint Hadson (Elijah Wood) returns from New York to the house of his mother in Ft. We've seen lots of 'killer kid' films over the years, from recent British chiller THE CHILDREN (a personal favourite) to oldies like WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? And THE CHILDREN OF RAVENSBACK but there's no sense of menace or suspense here, just lots of bloodshed and fighting back which just sort of washes over you.

I did like the humour in the first half hour and Wood is typically good - one of my favourite Hollywood stars, if I'm honest - but once the action kicks in I felt it lost its way somewhat.

Wood is supported by a cast of familiar comic faces (Rainn Wilson, Alison Pill) while the script goes for knowing laughs and quirky one-liners throughout. Unfortunately for horror fans, the emphasis here is very much on the comedy rather than the horror, similar to SHAUN OF THE DEAD in that respect. This one's an American comedy/horror starring Elijah Wood as a substitute teacher who's unfortunate enough to turn up on the same day as a rabies-style outbreak spreads through the kids at the school, turning them into zombie-style killers who like nothing better than tearing their teachers into little pieces. My second in a double-bill of school-set horror stories, and COOTIES (2014) is a very different beast.

The movie cooties sucks