If I had to choose one genre of film as my favourite, I would have to say horror. That’s a bit of a cheat because there are so many sub-genres within the horror genre, but there you go, don’t be unreasonable! Of the sub-genres, one of my faves is zombie. However, I’m a bit of a zombie snob. George A Romero says that zombies don’t run, ergo, zombies don’t run. Stop trying to make running zombies happen! If you think that zombies have to be fast to be scary, you are missing the point of zombies. Don’t even get me started on the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake.
Sorry, for the ranty introduction – what I mean to say is that I love zombie films. I watch a lot of them. I saw three at EIFF last month alone (Doc of the Dead, Miss Zombie and Life After Beth) but I haven’t read many zombie books. So I was pretty pleased that the book I received from the lovely Molly for the UK Summer Book Swap was Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. The film adaptation looks god awful but the book sounds pretty good so I pretty much devoured this as soon as it arrived on my doorstop.
R is a zombie. He doesn’t know how he became a zombie, how long he has been this way or even what “R” stands for. He spends his days either shuffling around an abandoned airport or on hunting trips to the city. Although speaking is difficult due to decomposed faces, the zombies form relationships, have sentient thought and experience something like memory. R is dissatisfied with his zombie life but doesn’t really have a choice – he is a zombie after all. Until he meets Julie.
A regular hunting trips takes an unexpected turn when something prevents R from attacking Julie. He feels compelled to protect her but also be near her. R already has glimmers of humanity within but Julie awakens this more fully and R begins to feel hope for his future.
The Zom-Rom-Com is beginning to be a sub-genre within the sub-genre of zombie media and, along with Shaun of the Dead and Life after Beth (seems this genre loves a good pun), Warm Bodies is central to this. Told from the viewpoint of a zombie, it adds some great details to the zombie legend. For example, the fact that zombies eat brains to experience the memories that lie within and get an intense and addictive high along the way, is an idea that I personally love. It explains their single-mindedness (lolz) and love for brraaaaiiiiinnnns.
Overall, I thought Warm Bodies was a fun read. I cared about the characters and it was fairly pacey which allowed me to forgive the somewhat predictable plot. Still not gonna watch the film though.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. What are your opinions on Warm Bodies (book or film?). Also, the crucial question: where do you stand on fast zombies?
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I totally thought of World War Z when you mentioned fast zombies, that film was…interesting… I really want to read this book, I actually really liked the film, it was sweet and funny, although I can see the trailer making it a bit off putting… :)
Maybe I should give the film a chance then. I guess if I have low expectations, I won’t be disappointed :)
Haha. I don’t blame you for not wanting to watch the film. It looked so awful! I might consider this for a fun holiday read if I spot it next though, so thanks for the tip :)
Definitely a good holiday read if you’re not into the usual holiday romance!
I haven’t read the book yet but I didn’t think the film was too bad :-P Fast zombies are a definite no-no, the way they drag themselves around is half of what makes them terrifying!
Thank you!! They’re slow but they’re relentless, and if you let your guard down for a second they’ll get ya!
Did not know that this was a book. I did actually enjoy the film though I wasn’t expecting to. I love zombie films and I do agree that zombies shouldn’t run. I enjoy the running “zombie” films too but I don’t think of them as zombies, just something different. Haven’t seen world war z yet, just because it’s completely different from the book in a way I don’t like. It just looks like another generic zombie film while the book was a different angle on the whole genre. :) x
I think the classic example for that is 28 Days Later – amazing film, but they’re not zombies, they’re the infected. I guess I just like the whole “When’s theres no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the earth” sthick.
Might check out the Warm Bodies film now, a few people seem to like it :)