Review: Warm Bodies

            It has been done! A worthwhile supernatural romance in a post-Twilight world has been released, and it goes by the name of Warm Bodies. Trailers for this film painted it as tacky, quirky, and one-dimensional, but thankfully, what is presented in the actual picture is far more than what was to be expected. When taken at face value, Warm Bodies is a tender, hilarious ball of undead fun.

            Based on Isaac Marion’s novel of the same name, Warm Bodies is the comedic tale of R, a self-aware zombie who falls in love with a living girl in a post-apocalyptic world. When the words “zombie” and “comedy” are mentioned in the same sentence, thoughts often go straight to 2004’s brilliant Sean of the Dead, as it remains the last word in the niche horror-comedy genre. Where Sean treated the re-animated dead with faithful accuracy to horror canon, however, Warm Bodies diverges and throws a massive wrench in the system. R is a rarity in that he knows that he is dead, he is mostly self-sufficient, and can even utter small phrases. This would never happen in any of George Romero’s zombie flicks, but Warm Bodies doesn’t try to fit that mold. Largely self-deprecating and satirical, this movie focuses on being as witty and romantic as possible in a world filled with walking corpses.

            Strange as it may sound, the love story that unfolds over the course of the film is truly very sweet, and somehow the undead element takes a back seat to the human element. Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer sell their characters perfectly, especially Hoult, who brings R to life with little more than grunts and facial expressions. This isn’t much more than a paycheck movie for John Malkovich, but he does what he does best in the scenes he’s given. All-in-all, Warm Bodies is a story-driven movie, but the acting never leaves anything to be desired.

            I’m still a fan of the Romero zombie, and wish with everything I am that the characteristics in Warm Bodies do not become canonized, but in this one-off flick they work great. From start to finish this is an entertaining zombie romance, which is something that if someone had told me beforehand, I would have checked their pulse.

Score: 3.4/5