Line #23 Film/Cooties


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cooties_poster_horror.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''[[TagLine Please don't feed the children.]]'']]
3	->''"Oh look, carnage!"''
4	-->--'''Doug'''
5
6	''Cooties'' is a HorrorComedy starring Creator/ElijahWood, Creator/AlisonPill, and Creator/RainnWilson. The film centers around an ordinary elementary school that soon changes when a batch of contaminated chicken nuggets transform children both in the school and around the country into ravenous, bloodthirsty savages, and the teachers must fight for their lives.
7
8	The film premiered in 2014 at Platform/{{Sundance}} before being released on digital/VOD formats on September 18, 2015. The trailer can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlClLDC6uuw here]]
9	----
10	!!Tropes present:
11	* ActionGirl: Lucy. She volunteers to follow Clint through the air vents, and during the big fight against the zombies in the schoolyard, she's the only one without a weapon... ''and still kicks ass''.
12	* AirVentPassageway: Played realistically -- they're small enough that Clint and Lucy are the only ones who can fit through them. [[spoiler:So can the kids.]]
13	* AllAsiansKnowKungFu: The janitor. Zig-zagged, in the sense that he only seems to know weapon-based Martial Arts.
14	* AlmightyJanitor: Hitachi can kick some serious ass, and seems to enjoy it to boot.
15	* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler: The film ends with the outbreak still in full swing, and the group headed off to somewhere "where kids won't go". Doug seems to believe that, should they travel to the source of the infection, there's a good chance he'd be able to develop a cure to the virus, so it's at least somewhat hopeful.]]
16	* AssholeVictim:
17	** A lot of the kids who eventually turn into zombies in this movie are [[BrattyHalfPint pretty mean]], so you won't be feeling sorry for them.
18	** Especially Patriot, the kid who calls Arabs, "towelheads," threatens to falsely claim Clint abused him, and bullies Shelley. When [[spoiler:he gets his face impaled at the end]], you cheer, especially since he's a little shit as a zombie, too.
19	* BadassTeacher: A rare example where the students are the enemies. All the teachers manage to hold their own against the students.
20	%%* Bastard Boyfriend: Wade has shades of this at first in regards to Lucy.
21	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Lucy is all cheerful and friendly and seems like the most reasonable member of the group [[spoiler:until she gets fed up with Wade's JerkJock behavior and she snaps at him and the rest of the group except Clint.]]
22	* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler: Wade and Hitachi. With the stoner as the driver.]]
23	* BlackComedy
24	* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Played straight with a black male teacher named Mr. Peterson. Averted with the black male student Calvin.
25	* BunnyEarsLawyer: Doug is a lunatic, but he's also a bonafide genius who is able to singlehandedly decipher everything relating to the virus over the course of the film.
26	* ButtMonkey: As seen in the trailer, Clint has a hard enough time getting respect from the students.
27	* ByTheHair: One kid pulls on the PatientZero’s pigtail [[spoiler:and it comes off [[OhCrap in his hand.]]]]
28	* CampGay: Tracy, although he doesn't actually admit it until near the end. He tries so desperately to hide his blatant homosexuality that he comes across as a very TransparentCloset sort of character until near the end of the film.
29	* CelebrityParadox:
30	** Mr. Pederson is played by Creator/MarkChristopherLawrence, who played a police officer in ''Film/ChildsPlay3'', which is weird considering that Clint's Chucky action figure indicates that the ''Chucky'' series exists in-universe.
31	** It's just a cheeky ActorAllusion, but bringing up [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Hobbits]] in front of a character played by Frodo himself Creator/ElijahWood is this.
32	* CellPhonesAreUseless: The vice principal confiscated all cell phones, which are later destroyed by Patriot.
33	* ChekhovsSkill: Wade's football skills help him get through a playground filled with zombie children.
34	* ChildhoodBrainDamage: It's safe to say that at least a good majority of the things wrong with Doug can be attributed to when he had a 6 inch spike lodged in his skull as a child.
35	* ChildrenForcedToKill: The idea of children killing (let alone eating) innocent people. That would be any parent's worst nightmare.
36	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Doug. He has terrible social skills, and doesn't even bat an eye when he realizes he wasn't wearing gloves when he examined Clint's fluids with his hands.
37	* CombatPragmatist: The teachers, who weaponize everyday elementary school objects such as jump ropes, cymbals, and baseball machines. Also counts as MundaneMadeAwesome.
38	* CrapsaccharineWorld: The movie's pretty colorful despite all the children zombies trying to kill the teachers.
39	* CreepyChildrenSinging: The opening credits feature the journey of a tainted chicken nugget from slaughterhouse to cafeteria, with all the gory details... which would have been disturbing enough without a soundtrack consisting of children [[OminousLatinChanting chanting gibberish]], grinding synthesizers, and what can only be described as a ''sinister kazoo chorus''.
40	* DeathOfAChild: Taken to the ''extreme.'' Along with all of the zombies [[UndeadChild being children]], a baby is shown being bitten and transformed fairly early into the movie.
41	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment
42	--> '''Clint:''' I mean, I thought I would have free time to write, in my free time ...
43	* DissonantSerenity: Doug’s reaction to the zombie attack, as seen in the page quote above.
44	* DwindlingParty: Inverted. [[spoiler:The group of survivors gradually gets larger as the movie progresses, and everyone who makes it past the first act survives the film]].
45	* {{Eagleland}}: [[{{Jerkass}} Patriot]] and presumably his parents are particularly obnoxious Type II examples.
46	* FailedASpotCheck:
47	** Shelley really didn't see anything wrong with the infected chicken nugget that had strange black-ish lines and dark spots all over it unlike the others, and proceeds to eat it.
48	** Wade is too busy shooting hoops to notice children eating teachers ''right behind him''.
49	** Also, the mom is distracted by a phone-call, to the point that she does not notice her eldest son is zombified and also does not notice the zombification of her youngest son.
50	* FinalGirl:
51	** Genderswapped with Calvin, as well as a rare child example. Calvin is the only kid left who's not infected by the Cooties in his school. He later joins the teachers to fend off the zombies.
52	** Played much more straighter when the group find another uninfected child, Tamra, although like Calvin she is still a rare example of this trope being used for a characters who's far younger than most examples. [[spoiler: Turns out Tamra's immune to the zombifying effects of the Cooties, as she's undergoing the processes of puberty. However, it is never shown or mentioned if Calvin went through puberty.]]
53	* ForceAndFinesse: Wade and Hitachi, the teachers' two strongest fighters, respectively. Wade is a former star football player and human tank, while Hitachi is a mysterious janitor [[AllAsiansKnowKungFu who happens to be a master martial artist]].
54	* TheFundamentalist: Rebbekah, a right-wing Christian who's obsessed with guns and bemoans the fact that she can't teach creationism in her class.
55	* GirlsHaveCooties: PatientZero is (naturally) a girl.
56	* GrossUpCloseUp: A rare live-action example at the end of the opening credits, where the aforementioned soon-to-be-PatientZero picks up an infected chicken nugget, the image of the black-blotched morsel filling the screen and oozing black pus when she takes a bite.
57	* HateSink: While the film doesn't have a central villain, Patriot is shown to be a ''major'' BrattyHalfPint before getting bitten and serves as the most [[MadeOfIron persistent]], prominent and dangerous zombie throughout it.
58	* HeadphonesEqualIsolation: The mother picking up her child is so into her phone call on her headset she doesn't notice [[spoiler: her child attacking her infant.]]
59	* HeroicBSOD: Wade undergoes a brief one when he kills one of the infected children.
60	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Subverted by Wade. When it looks like he's about to to be ripped apart by the infected children, he throws the keys to his [[RunningGag dual rear wheel]] to Clint, but he's revealed to have fought them off.]]
61	* HotTeacher: An example with no TeacherStudentRomance. Both Wade and Clint have fallen for Lucy.
62	* HypocriticalHumor: The vice principal who confiscated all of the cell phones is seen using them when no one's around.
63	* ItCanThink: The infected children display a degree of intelligence, particularly Patriot, who manages to rip out the phone lines and mount the dual rear wheel just as the team is leaving the school.
64	* JadedWashout: Wade, an all-star high school athlete who’s now the gym teacher, is heavily implied to be one; he notes that it took this crisis for him to realise he actually liked his co-workers and his job.
65	* {{Jerkass}}: Patriot, a particularly mean-spirited child whose EstablishingCharacterMoment is to say "Fuck you" to his own mother. And he just gets worse in his next scene, calling Shelley ugly to her face, and spending the last few minutes before he was bitten belittling Clint.
66	** And Wade, to a lesser extent, although his reasons were at least understandable and he becomes more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold at the end.
67	* {{Jawbreaker}}: [[spoiler:The infected Patriot has his jaw severely mangled after being thrown from the SUV and hitting the road face-first. He doesn’t seem to care that much about it.]]
68	* JerkJock: Wade is a rare adult example.
69	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: See {{Jerkass}} above. Wade is an abrasive asshole whose relationship with Lucy verges ''very'' closely towards abuse, but he's also shown to genuinely love his job as a teacher, care about his peers and have the qualities of a reliable leader. And in the end, he even ultimately redeems himself in Lucy's eyes as well and learns to be a better boyfriend to her.
70	* KidsAreCruel: When they’re zombies, of course, but they really aren't that much better beforehand, bullying each other and being assholes to the teachers - see AssholeVictim, above.
71	* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler: Wade gets rid of the remaining zombie kids by setting ablaze the indoor playground he blocked them into.]]
72	* KnightTemplar: {{Invoked}} by Patriot's blatantly racist goals for his future, which was apparently to become a Marine [[SociopathicSoldier just so that he can kill Arabic people]]. Judging from his aforementioned goals, Patriot wanted badly to grow up into this. Too bad for him that it's not that kind of movie.
73	* LockAndLoadMontage: Lampshaded by Wade.
74	-->'''Wade''': Remember that suiting-up montage in every action film? ''This is that scene.''
75	* LoveTriangle: Between Clint, Lucy, and Wade.
76	* ManOnFire: [[spoiler: In the ending one of the infected kids set ablaze by Wade succumbs to the flames and collapses to the ground after attempting to pursue the survivors leaving Danville.]]
77	* MoodWhiplash: The trailer first plays out like a typical family film taking place in an elementary school, from teachers getting no respect from the students to bullies picking on a girl for her odd blemishes on her face... [[spoiler:until one of them accidentally yanks out a pigtail from her scalp and realizes too late that something is wrong.]]
78	* MostWritersAreWriters: Clint is a writer, working on a book. The movie pokes some fun at writers asking for criticism from people who don't want to give it, and writers who will take any opportunity to talk about what they are writing.
79	* NauseaFuel: InUniverse, the teachers nearly vomit when Doug shows them his hands. His messy, filthy hands covered in Clint's "fluids".
80	* NotUsingTheZWord: No one suggests the kids are zombies.
81	* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Of the [[TechnicallyLivingZombie not undead but rather virus-infected variety]]. It turns the brain's grey matter into a gooey, black mass and causes the infected to become vicious, biting, scratching, and tearing apart any adult they can get their hands on. While it’s stated that anyone who [[spoiler:went through puberty]] is immune to the ''zombifying'' effects of the virus, only experiencing mild flu-like symptoms, they aren't safe from being mauled to death.
82	** Also, [[spoiler:the zombies are intelligent. They turn the power off, smash the cell phones, and hide in the vents, and they still exhibit a childish playfulness, although their attention has shifted from playground equipment to parts of their slaughtered victims...]]
83	** Although they display some signs of undead-ness, such as being able to shrug off blunt force trauma that would kill a normal human (eg. Patriot), so it's likely that this virus only makes you undead in the later stages....
84	* PatientZero: Shelley Linker is the first student to contract the virus from a contaminated chicken nugget. During class, she infects Patriot. During recess, Patriot’s friend, Dink also becomes infected while confronting Shelley. Within minutes of becoming infected, Dink converts the entire playground into a horde of feral monsters who quickly devour Mr. Peterson, an unnamed female teacher, and Vice Principal Simms.
85	* [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Politically Incorrect Jerkass]]: Patriot before zombification, as shown by the way he describes Arabic people.
86	* PreAssKickingOneLiner:
87	-->'''Wade''': Naptime, motherfuckers! (Throws match onto gasoline.)
88	* PreMortemOneLiner:
89	-->'''Clint''': [[IronicEcho Eat a cock.]] ''(drives truck forward and impales Patriot [[VisualPun on a chicken ornament]])''
90	* TheProblemWithPenIsland: Dink points this out when Clint writes his name on the board. The capital "L" and "I" make it look like "CUNT".
91	* RefugeInAudacity: The whole movie runs on this, what with not just having violently psychotic children, but having them swear, generally act extremely inappropriately long before they go crazy.
92	* RunningGag: Several, like Wade's inability to pronounce "Dual rear wheel" and Doug telling people to be quiet when they're not talking.
93	* SequelHook: The movie ends with a cryptic comment that hints at the possibility.
94	* ShoutOut:
95	** In Clint's PosterGalleryBedroom there's various of shout-outs, like a Franchise/{{Godzilla}} figurine, ''Franchise/StarWars'' and horror movie posters and merchandise of [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Michael Myers]] and [[Franchise/ChildsPlay Chucky]] among others.
96	** Wade references other films like ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'', ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'', ''Film/{{Commando}}'', tells Clint that the premise of his book is similar to ''Literature/{{Christine}}'' and brings up ''Rush'', ''Film/TheLostBoys'' and ''Film/Speed2CruiseControl'' when proclaiming that he's a huge fan of Creator/JasonPatric.
97	** The movie theater in Danville has a posters advertising ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', ''Film/TheExpendables3'' and ''Film/AGirlWalksHomeAloneAtNight'', which was produced by [=SpectreVision=], Elijah Wood's production company (which also produced ''Cooties'', making it a [[CompanyCrossReferences Company Cross Reference]] to boot).
98	* SmallTownRivalry: Danville's sign actually ''proclaims'' "At least we're not Fort Chicken!"
99	* TheSmartGuy: Doug the science teacher.
100	* SoleSurvivor: Calvin is the only student to not get infected. Tamra also counts, although because she’s a post-pubescent, she already has immunity to the virus.
101	* TheStoner: The shroom-using crossing guard.
102	* TheVirus: Like most modern zombie stories, these zombies are caused by a virus. Unlike most zombie stories, this zombie horde is comprised of only one age group (children who have not gone through puberty yet).
103	* TitleDrop:
104	-->'''Calvin''': That girl Shelley has cooties.
105	* TongueTwister: Betcha had never tried to say "dual rear wheel" before this movie, huh?
106	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trailer gives a lot more away than you’d think.
107	* TransparentCloset: Tracy, see CampGay above. So transparent it's barely a closet. Subverted when he finally admits that he is gay before the first night battle with the zombie kids.
108	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: See the page quote.
109	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The Helmet Kid's fate is never revealed.
110	* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: Lampshaded with Patriot.
111	* WouldHurtAChild: JustifiedTrope, as these specific children are flesh-eating zombies in this case.
112	* WrongGenreSavvy: Patriot seems to think that this is his origin story before he becomes a badass Marine. Boy, is he wrong!
113	* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: Wade’s reaction to immunity simply being [[spoiler:having gone through puberty.]]
114	* ZombieApocalypse: Several radio broadcasts reveal that the plague has spread citywide, [[spoiler:and by the end, it's spread across America, or at least the midwest.]]

Context Film / Cooties