Even when several of the gags completely fall flat - Elijah Wood as aspiring horror writer turned substitute teacher on his first day Clint Hadson forced to crawl out his Prius through the rear door - other jokes quickly swoop in to push them aside - the new age vice principal (Ian Brennan, who also takes co-writing credits) who uses air quotes to explain his teaching methods. It's this type of wink-wink, tongue-in-cheek self-awareness humor that makes this low-budget production a hoot and an entertaining blast. In doing this, the cell phone issue is excused while also later revisited as a plot device for a brave rescue mission. Chicken Elementary are asked to relinquish their phones because it's only fair in the eyes of the kids when the school enforces a strict 'No Phones' policy. Early on, the filmmakers of 'Cooties,' a delightfully twisted dark comedy co-written by Leigh Whannell of the ' Saw' and ' Insidious' franchise fame, address a serious concern plaguing the horror genre for the last two decades: those pesky cell phones, the ruin of many audiences' 'suspension of disbelief.' When trouble erupts on screen, be it the murderous threats of a masked maniac or a zombie epidemic that only seems to affect grade school children as is the case here, why don't characters simply whip out their trusty smartphones and call for help? While other, often less entertaining spooky flicks imagine ridiculously elaborate explanations for a device's failure, Whannell and a pair of directors, Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion, making their debut take a more pragmatic and realistic approach.

The movie cooties kids