What if zombies had feelings too? That’s the basic concept behind Warm Bodies, Jonathan Levine’s romantic comedy with zombies (or rom-zom-com for short). Based on the successful book by Isaac Marion, it follows R (Nicholas Hoult), a zombie who while out on attack one day falls head-over-heels in love with human, Julie (Teresa Palmer). At first resistant, Julie learns to care for R while her military father leads the survivors.
The film puts a neat new twist on the well-trodden zombie genre, filled with genuine wit and knowing humour. It attempts to rewrite the rules of the zombie movie (George A. Romero I’m sure will be thrilled!), almost rebooting the whole thing; Dawn of the Dead for the Internet generation, if you will.
Even if the concept leans heavily on the comedic side, and indeed many of the zombie tropes are played for laughs, it’s quite respectful of the popular horror sub-genre. The actual zombie effects and performances are extremely impressive (it’s not the goriest horror out there but certainly doesn’t shy away from it) and it takes that aspect seriously enough to allow us to believe in the post-apocalyptic world while never forgetting to have fun with it.
It follows in the footsteps of such zom-coms as Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland, with its savvy humour and references, but this time giving us the zombie perspective. Or rather the zombie monologue, as R’s experience is relayed via his voice-over describing what he’s thinking at any given moment. Outside he’s a grunting corpse, on the inside he thinks, feels and speaks just like anyone else. Almost. Hoult is brilliant as the unusually conflicted zombie; naturally he doesn’t have many actual lines, just the odd word here and there, but it’s an effective physical performance.
I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that a further twist – the twist within the twist if you will – on the zombie apocalypse scenario is that they can be cured through the power of love, leading the film to focus on a forbidden romance. This immediately invites comparisons to Twilight but this has the heart, soul and wit that the successful vampire franchise seemed to crucially lack. We believe in the connection between these two characters and however ludicrous the concept may sound, writer/director Jonathan Levine (50/50, The Wackness) has the courage of his convictions with it, managing to make the unusual romance work. It’s a clever concept and Levine gets the most out of it without overdoing things.
The film makes use of an inventive flashback conceit in that when R eats the brains of his latest victim he instantly absorbs their memories. Not only is this an imaginative way to include flashbacks as a storytelling device but a nice way to develop R’s character and his reason for being so infatuated with her. This is love at first sight with a difference.
It shuffles its way towards a conclusion that’s all too easy to see coming, wrapping things up a bit too neatly for its own good. For a film that up until that point was anything but generic, it would have been nice if it had been a little bolder at the finish line. But nitpicks aside Warm Bodies is a hugely enjoyable experience that has enough smarts to keep it from being smug with the concept.
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