My second in a double-bill of school-set horror stories, and COOTIES (2014) is a very different beast. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. 5/10 and could have been better.

The teacher and aspirant writer Clint Hadson (Elijah Wood) returns from New York to the house of his mother in Ft. Chicken, Illinois, to write a horror novel and work as substitute in the local elementary school. 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). Meanwwhile the student Shelly Linker (Sunny May Allison) eats a chicken nugget contaminated with a virus. During Clint's class, Shelley is bullied by the boy Patriot (Cooper Roth) and bites him on the face. During the playtime, the infection is spread in the yard among the students that eat the school staff. Soon the teachers find under siege of the zombie students. Will they survive the attack?

"Cooties" is an independent film lost between horror and comedy. The scenes supposed to be funny are actually unfunny and the only freshness of the story is the virus attacking inly child. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Cooties: A Epidemia" ("Cooties: The Epidemic")

The best bit about Cooties is the title sequence as maggot infested chicken meat is processed and turned into chicken nuggets and consumed by a schoolgirl as school lunch.

The only other bit the viewer might like depending on your mileage is schoolkids attacking and devouring the school teachers or alternatively teachers sadistically beating up the crazed infected kids.

Elijah Wood has descended so much from his The Lord of the Rings days. He plays Clint a struggling author who has come back to live with his mom and substitutes as a teacher at the local school.

At least he has a memorable first day as a mysterious virus grips the schoolkids turning them into blood crazed monsters as the teachers are trapped inside.

Cooties is supposed to be a comedy horror but it is a poorly structured film, a lot of the action is in the dark in order to save on the budget. I found the teachers irritating and I was upset that the Wade character was not the first one to be ripped apart.