Zombies are everywhere these days, and you might be feeling a bit of undead fatigue. With the news of yet another zombie movie headed to the big screen in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, you might be wondering, do we actually need another zombie movie?
Hell yes we do.
I’ll be honest, it’s gonna take a lot to get me tired of zombies, but I realize that people are starting to reach capacity on zombie stories. However, because Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a bit different from your average zombie movie, it’s the perfect story to stick out from the crowd in a highly saturated market. In short, it’s perfect whether you’re suffering from zombie fatigue or you’re like me and are fully obsessed with the undead.
The basic story line for both the movie and the book is derived from Jane Austen’s classic work, Pride and Prejudice (if the title didn’t tip you off), but what’s fantastic is how closely it sticks to the source material. Jane may not have envisioned her story to include a bunch of the undead roaming around, but Pride and Prejudice and Zombies depicts an Austen world that is largely similar to the one in the original novel (plus zombies). It’s weird in the best way possible. The main plot remains pretty faithful to Austen’s original work as well, but the roving undead definitely throw kinks into the everyday lives of non-infected humans. Messages fall to the wayside when a courier gets overtaken by a group of the zombies, but those inconveniences prove to be more of an annoyance than a looming threat, and I kind of love that.
The zombie apocalypse definitely does not stop Mrs. Bennett from trying to marry off her daughters. After all, what better time to have the security of a husband than in a time of emergency, right? The conflict between a highly ordered society and the utter chaos of the dead rising shines through with things like weighing the effectiveness of gun use versus how ladylike it’s perceived, and teaching girls self defense while also making sure they are suitable for marriage. Manners still matter, amirite?
While this is definitely 100% a zombie movie about zombies, it’s also still very much Pride and Prejudice and ultimately, a love story. The social structure, the prejudices against one another (with some added judgement towards those who zombie fighting skills leave much to be desired), and the love story between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are still very much in tact, but the entire story has a few pesky undead shambling about in the background.
The book is an incredibly fun read for fans of the undead and fans of Austen alike, as it manages to bring zombies into Austen’s world in a way that, weirdly, seems totally natural. From the looks of the trailer, the movie will be no different. It’s a fun entrance to the zombie genre for those who prefer period pieces and classic stories and it just might be the best Pride and Prejudice adaptation since Bridget Jones’ Diary… with 100% more zombies. While not every story can pull off a mashup successfully, I think PPZ manages to do so extremely well by respecting both the source material and the zombie genre, and creating a fun adventure for everyone.
Have you read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? Will you be seeing it when it hits theaters on February 5? Let me know in the comments!
Image credit: Lionsgate