I first became aware of Warm Bodies while I was playing bingo on one of my favorite sites online, due to its interactive community. When you play on there for a long time you start to build up a connection with some players and regularly exchange recommendations of film titles, music and many other things. This one time, a regular bingo player suggested I should watch Warm Bodies, so once I had finished my game of bingo I began to research more about zombie genre to see if it was something that I was interested in.
If you were to look at it outside of the zombie genre, no it's not particularly original. In fact, if I were to compare it to anything I would call it The Walking Dead version of Beauty and the Beast. Romance between a rotting corpse and a human girl has never been an appealing idea before. Cast Nicholas Hoult in the role of the zombie and make him look a little less disgusting, add some black humor to proceedings, hire Teresa Palmer's pretty girl with an open mind, and you've got yourself a real contender for the most messed up romance you can't help rooting for.
Let's set the scene. The vast majority of the human race has been turned into zombies by a deadly virus, with the last remaining humans taking refuge behind the high walls of their base, occasionally venturing out to find resources. R is a zombie, shuffling his way through his existence, living at an abandoned airport and entertaining himself with his inner monologue of questions and curiosity. That is until he stumbles across the human Julie who warms his heart (literally). It doesn't take a genius to work out that R and Julie are supposed to be a representation of Romeo and Juliet.
It's difficult to describe the film without giving away some of the most surprising and best bits. I will say this though. It's predictable. You know how the ending will turn out. It's how they get there which is the fun part. There are a lot of details which are a tad messed up (you'll understand when you get to the situation with Julie's human boyfriend). What struck me was the thematic social relevance though. With our eyes glued to our smartphones and computers, limiting our social interaction with the human race, are we that far away from being zombies ourselves?
Warm Bodies will be out on DVD and Blu-Ray in June.