WARM BODIES
***
Director: Jonathan Levine
Screenwriter: Jonathan Levine
Principal cast:
Nicholas Holt
Teresa Palmer
John Malkovich
Dave Franco
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 98 mins.
Australian release date: 11 April 2013
Previewed at: Dendy Newtown, Sydney, on 31 January 2013
Aptly labelled by comedian Graham Norton as a “zom-rom-com”, Warm Bodies, directed by Jonathan Levine, covers that well-worn theme of what life would be like if the world’s population was reduced to a minority of humans at the mercy of hordes of zombies - sometimes a walk around my local neighbourhood makes me wonder if that situation doesn’t exist already, however, I digress.
As in the Twilight franchise, Warm Bodies centres on a good-looking, young, mismatched couple falling for each other; in this case, it’s a zombie simply called R (Nicholas Hoult) and the human Julie (Aussie actress - Teresa Palmer). They meet under ‘zombie’ circumstances, when Julie’s boyfriend Perry (Dave Franco) has just fallen prey to R - as in ‘Aargh’, get it? - while on a hunting party for medical supplies outside the safety zone. R ends up fancying Julie - any hot-blooded male, zombie or human, would do the same thing - and as their affection for each other develops, so does the rest of the storyline.
It’s a sub-genre that’s nearly as old as Hollywood itself, horror and comedy rolled into one, and although this film doesn’t have many LOL moments, Levine’s screenplay, adapted from Isaac Marion’s eponymous novel, contains enough dry humour to make it work. And it’s helped by a cool performance from John Malkovich as Teresa’s father, who’s able to retain an air of malevolence even when playing the good guy.
With long visual effects and stunt credits lists and great cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe, who also worked on a couple of the Twilight films, there is enough in this film to keep you intrigued. Unlike many zombie tales from the past, the mood is pretty laid back and this is not a white-knuckle experience. Based loosely on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet story, you kinda know that love will conquer all; in this case it’s all in the eyes… but you’ll have to go see Warm Bodies yourself to find out why.
Screenwriter: Jonathan Levine
Principal cast:
Nicholas Holt
Teresa Palmer
John Malkovich
Dave Franco
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 98 mins.
Australian release date: 11 April 2013
Previewed at: Dendy Newtown, Sydney, on 31 January 2013
Aptly labelled by comedian Graham Norton as a “zom-rom-com”, Warm Bodies, directed by Jonathan Levine, covers that well-worn theme of what life would be like if the world’s population was reduced to a minority of humans at the mercy of hordes of zombies - sometimes a walk around my local neighbourhood makes me wonder if that situation doesn’t exist already, however, I digress.
As in the Twilight franchise, Warm Bodies centres on a good-looking, young, mismatched couple falling for each other; in this case, it’s a zombie simply called R (Nicholas Hoult) and the human Julie (Aussie actress - Teresa Palmer). They meet under ‘zombie’ circumstances, when Julie’s boyfriend Perry (Dave Franco) has just fallen prey to R - as in ‘Aargh’, get it? - while on a hunting party for medical supplies outside the safety zone. R ends up fancying Julie - any hot-blooded male, zombie or human, would do the same thing - and as their affection for each other develops, so does the rest of the storyline.
It’s a sub-genre that’s nearly as old as Hollywood itself, horror and comedy rolled into one, and although this film doesn’t have many LOL moments, Levine’s screenplay, adapted from Isaac Marion’s eponymous novel, contains enough dry humour to make it work. And it’s helped by a cool performance from John Malkovich as Teresa’s father, who’s able to retain an air of malevolence even when playing the good guy.
With long visual effects and stunt credits lists and great cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe, who also worked on a couple of the Twilight films, there is enough in this film to keep you intrigued. Unlike many zombie tales from the past, the mood is pretty laid back and this is not a white-knuckle experience. Based loosely on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet story, you kinda know that love will conquer all; in this case it’s all in the eyes… but you’ll have to go see Warm Bodies yourself to find out why.