The horror genre has relied on the idea of a zombie apocalypse for some of its most ground-breaking films for a number of years now, beginning all the way back in 1968 with George A. Romero’s ‘Night of the Living Dead’. What no one ever really expected was the blurring of the zombie sub-genre lines with other genres, like comedies, but that is exactly what happened in 2004 with ‘Shaun of the Dead’, a bit of a spoof of the zombie film.
Despite the cult-like success of ‘Shaun of the Dead’, no more films have really delved into a cross genre nature for a zombie apocalypse film, creating almost a one-off like nature. What has happened though is a movie has come out to try and blur the lines not only between zombies and comedies, but romantic-comedies as well in ‘Warm Bodies’.
‘Warm Bodies’ is one of the most refreshing new films that I have seen in a number of years now. Whether it was due to the blending of traditional genre lines, the nature of the story telling itself, or the far-flung of the actual story, I enjoyed all of the elements of this film.
The first-person narration is what really nailed this film for me. Told from the point-of-view of the zombie R, it explored just what it means to be a zombie. What that enabled ‘Warm Bodies’ to do is to create an attachment between the audience and the main character, portraying them more as victims of a disease as opposed to just being mindless flesh eating machines.
While the basis for the story is nothing new, essentially a retelling of William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, just set during a zombie apocalypse, the way it was flushed out is what really impressed me the most.
The fact that being a zombie was portrayed as almost a reactionary measure to the world at large, and that under the right circumstances it could be reversed, by what can only be termed as a kick-start to the heart was also an interesting and fresh idea for ‘Warm Bodies’.
Bye the end of this year, Nicholas Hoult could be one of the biggest young actors in Hollywood, and that will be based not only off of his role as R in ‘Warm Bodies’ but also as Jack in the upcoming ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’. If Hoult manages to score a hit with the upcoming ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’, he would manage to avoid the pratfalls that befell Taylor Kitsch last year.
I really enjoyed “Warm Bodies’, and as a good change of pace movie I would highly recommend this movie as an early 2013 hit.
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Mayer on Movies 