30 seconds into Warm Bodies I had no idea how I would write a review for it. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a bad movie, but it wasn’t a horror movie — it was only a zombie movie in the most basic sense of the word (they were walking and they were dead.)
The screenwriters immediately threw all rules we’ve ever known of zombie lore right out the window (I attempted to keep a running tally of broken zombie rules, but I couldn’t keep up.) Now if you can get past that and put yourself in the mind of a 14 year old girl with posters of Robert Pattenson and One Direction on her wall, then you may be able to enjoy the film. It was as if Stephenie Meyer (author of the Twilight novels) ATTEMPTED to channel John Hughes and TRIED to write a zombie love story.
A poor attempt.
I should say that the film is based on a novel of the same name, written by Isaac Marion — I know nothing of the book — I can’t really draw any comparisons. The book could be good for all I know. If you could take the zombie aspect out of the movie, it would be another teenage romantic “comedy.” But alas, it was a “zombie movie,” so it was another teenage romantic comedy that is trying to take advantage of the current popularity of the undead.
If I took one thing from Warm Bodies, it’s that love and acceptance conquers all… ugh, I need a few beers and viewing of a Stallone movie to retrieve my manhood.
Like I said, it wasn’t a bad movie. It is, however, a BAD horror movie and a BAD zombie movie and there’s definitely an audience that will enjoy it, but it just wasn’t me and, probably, not any of the 40oz. of Horror loyalists. The zombie culture was already becoming over-saturated, which happens to everything as it becomes more mainstream.
Let’s just hope that Warm Bodies isn’t a sign of the beginning of the end.
Warm Bodies, directed by Jonathan Levine and starring Analeigh Tipton, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich, Nicholas Hoult, and Lizzy Caplan, in theaters everywhere Friday, Feb 1.
Let us know if you plan to see Warm Bodies and/or what you thought.
It may be a bad movie. i haven’t seen it yet. But I’d actually like to see a zombie movie that is centered around some young adults who reluctantly team up, and eventually fall in love, but then one of them dies a horrible death. More drama, less action. Kind of like a Grave of the Fireflies kind of movie where the characters are in huge trouble, but there’s really nothing they can do about it, and there has to be a sad ending.
Saw this with my son who has a brain injury. We found the movie campy and fun, stupid in some places. My son commented, “this is dumb.”
While not really a Zombie movie per se, the message “If we ban technology love will rule the world,” certainly rang through. Music was interesting along with “other” asides.
We laughed, which is rare in most Zombie films, usually a moment of laughter is a much needed break. Truly Warm Bodies is not a scary flick at any point in time.
The brain eating sequences were interesting and the ‘feelings’ were also kind of interesting; however, traditionally Zombies have no feelings.
For light-heart and differing movie – Warm Bodies works. For thrill-seeking horror, it is not on the charts. And, it is a kind of Twilight goes Zombie. Very neatly packaged meaning – there are no loose ends and horror usually features more loose ends than an Irish woman camping.
Thanks for the review!
I will probably see it so that I can make educated remarks and comparisons about the film. But, I hold the same opinion about the film in general as Mr. Chad Butrum.