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03 Nov 2011 1 Comment

Zombie Love Comes to the Big Screen with Warm Bodies

Does he want her for her brains, her body, or both???

With a glance at the bookshelves, it’s easy to tell that zombies are the ‘in’ thing these days, and now it looks like the walking dead are trying to win their way into your heart as romantic leads. The world of paranormal romance has had vampires and werewolves stealing the hearts of mortals for a while now, but is the world ready for a woman to hook up with a zombie?

Summit Entertainment is hoping the answer is yes as they bring Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies to the big screen with Nicholas Hoult (Hank McCoy/Beast in X-Men: First Class) in the role of ‘R,’ a zombie that falls for a girl named Julie after he eats her boyfriend’s brain and absorbs his memories. Maybe it’s just me but that seems like a shaky foundation to build a relationship on.

‘R’ eventually regains the ability to think clearly and even learns how to talk again while trying to win the heart of Julie, and he goes the extra mile by swearing off the eating of human flesh… but the guy is still dead. Of course, this didn’t slow Edward Cullen down so being ‘life-challenged’ might not be that big of an obstacle.

In addition to the love-story twist, Warm Bodies introduces a group of new bad guys called Boneys (I kid you not) that are the next evolution of the zombie process. ‘R’ has to prove his love to Julie, keep the humans from putting a permanent end to his existence, and save the human compound from Boney attack. It sounds like enough to kill a guy… if the guy wasn’t already dead.

I haven’t read Warm Bodies so can’t really say if the whole zombie love story thing works or not, but I still think it will be a hard sell in theaters. How attached can you get to a main character that can’t even talk at first? Will there be voice-overs revealing his thoughts?

I think the concept of the new bad guys is interesting, and have actually wondered why this hasn’t been touched on before. After all, zombies are rotting cadavers. Eventually all that decomposing flesh has to fall off, right? Are Boneys animated skeletons? While I like the concept, I get an eerie chill every time I say Boney. Really? We couldn’t come up with a better name? I guess cool labels take a backseat to survival when you’re busy living through the zombie apocalypse.

I’m sure there was a time when someone said, ‘Blood-sucking vampires as a romantic interest? Ewww, no way,’ so there’s a chance the concept could work, but I’m going to have to reserve judgment until I see a little more… or at least until I read Warm Bodies. It’s sitting right there in the TBR pile, just staring at me and waiting for me to turn my back so it can eat my brain… or ask me out on a date. It’s getting hard to tell these days.

What do you think? Can you watch The Walking Dead and then switch over to ‘R’ wooing Julie?

Warm Bodies is expected to hit theaters on August 10, 2012.

by Marty in From Page to Screen, News Tags: Isaac Marion