Review by C.J. Bunce
Looking for a good horror watch you probably missed? If you liked Shaun of the Dead, iZombie, or Lisa Frankenstein, and you take your zombie fare with more laughs than gore, the 2013 horror comedy Warm Bodies is for you. Starring Nicholas Hoult between his stints as Hank aka Beast in the Marvel universe and before he co-starred in Mad Max: Fury Road, his role as a zombie known as R presaged his comedy horror starring role as Dracula’s undead henchman in Renfield.
Simon Pegg has said there will never be a sequel to Shaun of the Dead–the best zombie show ever–but this is the closest you’re going to find, a genre-bending tale you’ll want to add to your annual Halloween viewing. Warm Bodies is streaming now on Peacock.
Warm Bodies came out before the iZombie TV series but after the comic, and it follows nearly all the rules of zombies from that story, the biggest borrow being the idea that if a zombie eats your brain it takes on your memories. This isn’t an overly dramatic take on the genre like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but it has a strong 1980s romance vibe (think Weird Science) thanks to some great pop music moments and R and his relationship with co-star Teresa Palmer (The Fall Guy, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) as Julie, human/living daughter of the human general charged with protecting the human survivors, played by John Malkovich.
Palmer is a great lead and quickly develops chemistry with Hoult (she is also a bit of a blonde ringer for Kristen Stewart). Malkovich supplies all the street cred the movie needs, and he plays it straight and serious, his most enjoyable appearance since his quirky criminal in a movie adaptations of another graphic novel, RED, and its sequel. Hoult is just as cool as can be, narrating the tale and serving as the viewpoint character.
Supporting characters include Rob Corddry (Hot Tub Time Machine) fully embodying his undead character, a friend–as much as that is possible–to Hoult’s R. Dave Franco (6 Underground) plays Julie’s resistance fighter boyfriend Perry, and Lio Tipton (Limitless) plays Julie’s supportive best friend.
The movie shares many beats with last year’s undead comedy Lisa Frankenstein, starring Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse. Sprouse’s performance and Hoult’s performance go together in the same league with Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands. Those same story building blocks that found Pinocchio in Depp’s character reveal a similar construct with Hoult’s zombie as he is about to go through his own transition from a lifeless form to something real.
Beyond the shambling zombies, villains of this story include the dark and vile Boneys, something out of the Resident Evil Netflix series, these are zombies that haven’t feasted in a while, who take on more power and speed in their pursuit of humans after a critical turning point in the story.
Warm Bodies sports some good special effects (think the level of the alien hounds of Attack the Block) and good set pieces (think The Man in the High Castle and Close Encounters of the Third Kind). This isn’t a big budget zombie movie, more in the realm of 28 Days Later. And it completely works, as horror comedy, as zombie story, and as a strange romance. This isn’t Night of the Living Dead or The Walking Dead, but rings more of Michael Jackson’s music video for Thriller. And that’s a good thing.
It’s an all-around genre-bender and a great Halloween flick full of fun. Catch Warm Bodies now streaming on Peacock.
