From the director of “50/50,” Jonathan Levine, “Warm Bodies” shows us what it is to be human and reminds us that you don’t have to be dead to be a zombie. Adapted by Levine from the novel by Isaac Marion, this story has already been referenced as the “Twilight” of zombie stories. Its an easy assumption to make, however, it is of a higher caliber than “Twilight” ever was. Besides, its more “Romeo & Juliet” at heart.
Enter “R,” a twenty something zombie who has forgotten the rest of his name but who can still think and form the occasional word. Played surprisingly well by Nicholas Hoult (“About a Boy”), he wanders through the airport he resides at with other zombies – including his “friend” M (Rob Corddry). After encountering Julie (Teresa Palmer), ’80s music blares and R starts to like her a lot. He then promises to protect her from the undead, while slowly becoming more and more alive.
The film also stars Analeigh Tipton, Dave Franco, and John Malkovich. Like all zombie films, it says a great deal about life and humanity in general. In this, it suggests love as the fire starter cure for the zombie apocalypse which is the subject of much of our social media. The story is easier to buy into than originally expected, no matter how unreasonable (in zombie terms) it may get. There will be guaranteed gasps and/or screams from the audience at some point.
Being PG-13, a lot of the violence is more implied than graphically shown. There are times of jumpy frights and the zombies aren’t made to look super decayed, for the most part. With all that there is out there, its an interesting film that brings comedy and romance merging with horror that works. Its not super great, but its definitely decent and recommendable – even if all you can think about is the return of “The Walking Dead” this Sunday.
The film made $20 million over Super Bowl weekend, which put it in the number 1 spot at the box office. A nice birthday present for funny man Rob Corddry’s 42nd birthday.
“Warm Bodies” is now playing in theaters everywhere.
