It was only a matter of time before someone took the Stephanie Meyer path of selecting classic horror-film characters, poaching them from their usual mythology and forcing them to fit in other played-out genres, like love stories about ignorant, inexperienced, whiny teenagers. It was only a matter of time before someone saw Heathers, The Breakfast Club, or Pretty in Pink and said, “Zombies could work well in that story.”
That matter of time has dissipated. Johnathan Levine, whose previous films include the underrated 50/50, has directed a film based on Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies, a book that embraces the familiar trop of boy-in-high-school-who-everyone-dislikes and adds some zombie flare. The boy is R (Nicholas Hoult), a brain-eating zombie infatuated with Julie (Teresa Palmer), a young girl filling the shoes most often worn by Molly Ringwald.
In an interview with Movies.com, Levine notes “What we’re trying to make here is very different, very unique — the tone is a little ballsier.” On a captious note, something can’t be very unique. It’s unique, or it’s not. Second, this endeavor is hardly ballsy. If anything, it’s gimmicky. The world has found itself in a zombie-apocalypse craze that can be blamed on Night of the Living Dead, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, World War Z, 28 Days Later, or The Walking Dead (graphic novel or television show). Injecting zombieism, zombie love, or zombie makeup into a movie about unrequited love is not ballsy. It’s a cliche cash grab that plays on contemporary phenomena.
He also reminds us that “it has more elements of humor; it’s got cynicism and irony and cultural commentary.” I’m sure it’ll be funny. What isn’t funny about a zombie having his but cheeks glued together. And, what about death – or un-death – doesn’t scream cynicism? That’s practically built in. However, I’m most impressed with the “cultural commentary” that will certainly run through the topics of bullying, ostracism, and high-school hierarchy – things that are certainly “very unique” and haven’t been done ten to twenty dozen times over. At least, not with zombies. With football players, cheerleaders, rebels, vampires, Saturday morning cartoon characters, but not zombies.
In a sense, I suppose zombies are a safe target. There are no races or creeds involved, only schoolmates’ objections to maggots, decomposing flesh, an abhorrent stench, and the threat of being eviscerated in study hall.
This might be the only saving grace: R (like “rated”?) becomes so fed up with being dismissed that he goes on a carnage-based rampage and just scratches, licks, and bites everyone to zombifie (?) them. If he goes too crazy, the film will be panned – more so than I assume it will be, given the topic and its February release – on the ground of encouraging school violence. If he merely scratches everyone with a pinkie nail and spits in their mouths (I’m not super sure about the zombie indoctrination procedure), then it’s more about equality, not violence.
Though forced assimilation could draw some comparisons to fascism.
Huh, I suppose if Warm Bodies takes this route, then it will be unique. Ish.
