From Seth Grahame-Smith, the author of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, comes the next bloody bastardization of history - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
The film is an adaptation of Jane Austen's famous novel about romance and decorum between upper and lower classes during the time of the British Regency. The big wrinkle is that the country is overrun by the undead. In addition to being trained in the ways becoming of wifely young ladies, Elizabeth Bennett (Lily James) and her sisters are highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Their suitors - Mr. Darcy (Sam Riley), Mr. Bingley (Douglas Booth), and Mr. Wickham (Jack Huston) - are all military brats equally skilled at zombie-killin'.
Despite their incessant, well, "pride" and "prejudice" towards one another, I'd still want all these folks on my side during the apocalypse.
The only "lovable loser" who may not be of much service besides cracking wise is Parson Collins, played by Doctor Who's Matt Smith. Each character is relatively consistent with the manner in which Austen originally wrote them, although Smith's version of Collins is made out to be the jovial scene-stealer. Smith seems to have a bit of fun with the idea of a clergyman searching for a wife and plays the role with a bit of sexual ambiguity that the preview crowd found endearing.
Despite relatively strong characters, the story doesn't always support them. It often dabbles too far into either Austen territory or Romero territory, thus ultimately feeling imbalanced. The Austen stuff feels almost too much like a Lifetime Original Movie adaptation, but the zombie action is exciting and often just violent enough to be satisfying. Hardcore gore-hounds will probably be displeased, but again, there's a surprising amount of blood and entrails for a PG-13 film.
Unless you were a fan of Grahame-Smith's book, I wouldn't rush out to see Pride and Prejudice and Zombies in theaters. Worthwhile only as a Redbox rental for this year's Halloween sleepover.
C-
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