“Warm Bodies” has something for everyone. Films like “Twilight” have made the vampire out to be a fantasy that all women want to be a part of. This movie, based off a book of the same name written by Isaac Marion, doesn’t try and romanticize a fictional horror movie monster.
The movie is narrated by the main character, R, played by Nicholas Hoult (“X-Men: First Class”). He starts off by saying that he’s dead, and he can’t remember his name, but he thinks it started with an R. A lot of fans of zombie films like to know what caused the virus that wiped out the planet, but this film doesn’t go into much detail. R briefly describes how he thinks the zombie apocalypse happened.
R explains that he has a best friend, named M, who is played by Rob Corddry (“Hot Tub Time Machine”). He says that they usually grunt at each other to communicate, but occasionally a word or two comes out. The two of them lead a pack to find “food,” and this is where the story begins to progress. R meets Julie, who is played by Teresa Palmer (“I Am Number Four”), and instantly develops fond feelings for her. Also, John Malkovich (“Red”) has a small, but significant role in the film as Julie’s father.
The zombies themselves have similar mannerisms from past films. They are fast like in Zack Snyder’s 2004 “Dawn Of The Dead” remake and Ruben Fleischer’s “Zombieland,” and they can smell humans like those in Frank Darabont’s “The Walking Dead.”
One thing that separates “Warm Bodies” from other zombie movies is that they added something to the zombie mythos. By consuming the brains of their victims, the zombies regain their memories.
Furthermore, there are several references to other zombie films throughout the film, such as Julie holding up a Blu-Ray copy of the Lucio Fulci 1979 movie, “Zombie,” and other subtle references to past genre films as well.
While the buzz around this movie says that it’s a “zombie romance” movie, I wouldn’t look too far into it. The movie makes it easy to glance past that with its humor and excellent soundtrack. The whole “zombie romantic entanglement” thing has been tried before, and failed miserably (see David Gebroe’s “Zombie Honeymoon”), but that’s because they didn’t have the right mixture. Bring a date, enjoy the movie, and don’t go into it expecting it to be the next “Dark Knight,” and you will be just fine.
