Warm Bodies

I like zombies. I’ve been catching all the latest zombie movies, 28 days later, zombieland, “… of the Dead” original series from George A. Romero, Walking Dead TV series and even the aberrant Resident Evil. You might then find it surprising that I am quite fond of the Warm Bodies, and its peculiar genre: Teen Zombie Romantic Comedy.

Meet R. R used to be living. Now he lives out his afterlife at an airport and eats humans for sustenance. But R is not very dead. His mind is burdened with contemplations of life death and conflictions about eating people. He actually narrates the entire movie, to effective comedic result. But he has no memory of his old life. Interestingly, zombies in this movie are highly functional, probably reliving their previous jobs to the point where even zombie infested zones have limited electricity supply.

R is truly unique but not alone. He has a best friend where he has almost-conversations with. The oddest thing is R lives alone in a marooned airplane right on the runway. He needs it, of course, to keep all the junk he has been treasuring like watches, sunglasses, and a vinyl collection which he plays (with limited electricity) to lighten up the mood a little. For a person who’s dead, R is livin’ the life.

This light hearted mellow comedy doesn’t follow the regular zombie lore. For instance zombies eat brains so that they can relive the memories of those they eat. This apparently compensates for the lack of the zombies’ ability to dream. And all zombies degrade into a malicious skeletal form – sans eyes and skin – eventually, they are called boneys. But other zombie conventions hold true – they won’t die unless they have their brain damaged otherwise they’re practically superhuman. The notion of zombie apocalypses doesn’t make much sense anyway, so the authors of Warm Bodies have my blessing.

Julie, our protagonist’s romantic love interest, hails from the city, a walled territory that keeps the dead out. She was on a foraging mission out in the dead zone for medical supplies. That day she met R. R was chomping down on her Julie’s boyfriend’s brains when his once dead heart throbbed a beat at the sight of her. Th- thump. He fell in love. He starts to live.

Given the film’s premise, I dare say this is the most interesting zombie movies I’ve seen ever. We have only ever seen the beginning of the apocalypse, and never the reverse. But Warm Bodies is at the end of the day, mainly a love story. And no, it is not like Twilight. If anything, this movies romance is inspired by Romeo and Juliet. (R and Julie, get it?) Furthermore, Nicholas Hoult’s spot-on portrayal of R as the perfect zombie boyfriend lends the film legitimacy as the most original and awesome zombie cum rom-com ever. 10/10.