The Grateful Dead

Warm Bodies

*** out of ****

Directed by: Jonathan Levine

Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Rob Corddry, Analeigh Tipton and John Malkovich

Running time: 97 minutes

More attuned to the biting humour of Chuck Palahniuk’s satires than to Stephenie Meyer’s narcoleptic revisionist creature romances, Warm Bodies is a mostly successful zom-rom-com that gets the heart right even though its PG-13 rating ensures that it does not unleash a lot of blood.

The film is adapted from a novel by Isaac Marion that itself gleans much of its structure and characterization from Romeo and Juliet. Except, here, Romeo is a zombie who just goes by his first initial, the rest of his name unbeknownst to him.

With bad posture, glazed eyes and a veiny neck, R (Nicholas Hoult) lives in an abandoned airplane in the part of town overrun by zombies, eight years after a mysterious plague infects much of American society. His daily routine includes grunt-filled conversations with M (his Mercutio, the comic relief appropriately played by Rob Corddry) and heading out in packs to feast on human brains.

On the other side of a giant dividing wall is Julie (Teresa Palmer, with a more full-bodied range than her doppelganger Kristen Stewart). She travels with a pack of her human companions to hunt zombies. Her father is an army general, played by John Malkovich, who wants the zombie scum eliminated so that the human contingent can rebuild the ‘dead zone.’

On one excursion, Julie and her team confront R and his undead crew. R feasts on the brains of her boyfriend, Perry (another half-clever Shakespearean allusion played by Dave Franco). During his meal, he digests memories of Perry’s relationship with Julie, the visions presented in saturated colours. Awestruck by their romance, R’s heart begins to get warmer.

When he takes Julie captive, he vies to create a compatible friendship between human and zombie. Julie soon develops a convenient level of Stockholm Syndrome and starts to become curious about the corpse’s chivalry.

R’s sarcastic, although comatose voice-over helps the audience submerge into his conflicted state: his hunger dissipates as he develops feelings for Julie although he has to feel the rejection of his romantic partner early on.

The modifications that Julie makes to resemble a zombie get a few chuckles, although the film earns more of its power from the poignancy of Hoult and Palmer’s performances. The burgeoning young actors treat the subject matter with seriousness but also just the right smidgen of incredulity, to ensure Warm Bodies doesn’t become unsavoury melodrama (I’m looking at you, Twilight and facsimiles thereof).

Jonathan Levine’s film does not have a wasted moment, condensing the history of an endemic so that the audience knows just enough to buy into the underpopulated landscapes. Meanwhile, the decaying set design (from Martin Whist, who also worked on Cloverfield) is impressive enough that the film distinguishes itself from other post-apocalyptic universes.

Although Warm Bodies lacks the gore and grit that enthusiastic fans of undead lore probably hope for, the film works superbly due to strong performances by the romantic leads and the sly screenplay. Its obvious dues to Shakespeare aside – it even has a balcony scene – the film’s universe isn’t skimmed over, the characters are appealing and the stakes are real. Rarely have the undead seemed so emotionally viable.