LOVE AND MONSTERS (12A)

AVAILABLE FROM WEDNESDAY ON NETFLIX

Keep your socks dry.

That is a rule of survival in Michael Matthews’ irreverent post-apocalyptic romp, which relegates humans to the bottom of the food chain after the chemical fallout from a rocket salvo to blow up a planet-killing asteroid mutates harmless critters into gargantuan, flesh-hungry predators.

Love And Monsters wedges tongue firmly in cheek as an unlikely 20-something hero with a “pretty severe freezing problem” embarks on a suicide mission through hostile territory to reunite with his high school crush.

En route, he encounters a dazzling menagerie of supersized bugs, insects and amphibians, brought vividly to life by Oscar-nominated special effects that keep our adrenaline pumping in breathlessly staged action sequences above and below terra firma.

Dylan O’Brien oozes likeability and charm as the weakling adventurer, drawing on the athleticism from the Maze Runner films and the deadpan dorkiness he honed during six series of supernatural TV drama Teen Wolf. Scriptwriters Brian Duffield and Matthew Robinson borrow liberally from I Am Legend, A Quiet Place, Tremors and Zombieland for family-friendly scares and they shamelessly leaf through the playbook of Pixar computeranimated weepie Up for a satisfying pluck of the heartstrings.

Sixteen-year-old Joel Dawson (O’Brien) and sweetheart Aimee (Jessica Henwick) are poised to consummate their relationship when their California home of Fairfield becomes ground zero for the apocalypse and they become separated.

After seven years cowering in fear, Joel plucks up the courage to run the gauntlet of fleshhungry beasties above ground to reunite with Aimee.

Love And Monsters is a freewheeling delight, anchored by O’Brien’s endearing lead performance. Familiar end-of-the-world tropes are polished to a crowd-pleasing lustre by the impressive visual wizardry and director Matthews keeps the pace brisk and the tone predominantly breezy.