Film of the Week: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

It’s hard not to have heard of the famous book by Jane Austin, Pride and Prejudice. First published in 1813, it tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s five unmarried daughters. The two main characters, Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy constantly bump into each other and clash. They each have their own opinion on each other, but that opinion slowly changes, and at the end, Elizabeth overcomes her prejudice, and Mr. Darcy overcomes his pride.

The book is a staple of modern literature and has inspired many over the years, and with many popular books, several adaptations that either closely represent the book, or are a loose retelling much the same as the Lion King is a loose retelling of William Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest.

One adaptation in particular caught my eye, and that’s the parody story, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, written by Seth Crahame-Smith, and credits Jane Austin as co-author. It’s a combination of the original story, but with a zombie element. Mr. Darcy’s a well-trained Zombie hunter, Elizabeth Bennet has exceptional skills much the same, and the two meet and clash and eventually the conclusion is reached by them overcoming their pride and prejudice. The book was well-received, but with most film adaptations, they are reviewed separately, which is what I am going to do here.

The film starts off with an explanation of how the zombies came to be. A plague struck England and started to spread incredibly fast. Once bitten, the dead are filled with a strong appetite for human brains, and the more brains they eat, the more zombie-like they become until they are nothing but zombies. As the plague spreads, a wall was built around London in order to keep as many Zombies away from the living as possible. Since then, anyone who wishes to survive learnt how to fight and fight well. However, as the years went on, the Zombies grew stronger and many battles were had which ended with the living having to increase their offense further.

And from then on it’s just a retelling of Pride and Prejudice but with zombies. A simple concept that comes with its own original story.  When I first saw the trailer I didn’t quite understand it at all, but the more I researched, the more it became clearer and the intrigue started to set in. I was curious as to how that particular story would work, and so I made sure to watch it.

If I were to sum it up in one sentence, I would say: It’s too much like Pride and Prejudice.

The love story and the zombies are two different entities with a small amount of connection between the two and I felt the film suffered as I struggled to keep up with what’s going on. The introductory narration explains away the impact the zombies have had on the country, and then not much happens until the very end. A few times throughout the film, we’re teased with the rise of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. As the film continued, I thought that they would rise and the climatic battle would be the main characters fighting all the zombies, and then get together at the end after overcoming their pride and prejudice – but the film ends with the completion of the love story and only but a brief appearance of the four horsemen and that’s it.

Everyone’s performance as the classic characters were great throughout. The gradual development between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy was told well and followed closely to the original story. The love side of the story was engaging, well-paced, and enjoyable to see flourish. When the love section ended, it felt as if we were reminded that there are zombies, and it is with this sudden reminder – which only lasted for a couple minutes apart from the final battle at the end – when we jump back to the love section, we have to reengage with their story once more. The two elements were too separated, and therefore making the story jump from place to place. When it neared the end, they did have that final battle, but it didn’t last as long nor was it as climatic as it could have been. The two elements did cross over, but only subtly, with the zombies more prominent than the love, which meant they were only just fighting, without much development, therefore making the final fight seem as it needed a lot more than it did.

If you’re the type of person who likes a good zombie story, then unfortunately, this isn’t that. If you’re the type of person who likes a good love story, then you may find this interesting, but may wonder why the zombies are there. It almost felt as if the zombies were unnecessary. They only added the introductory narration and a couple of scenes that subtly set up the ending. But as for adding anything to the continuation of the story, they didn’t do that at all.

With most film adaptations, the books are better. I do understand that with an adaptation, things need to change and scenes need to be cut, but the book includes and blends the two elements together better than the film does.

In conclusion, read the book of the film, and read the original story by Jane Austin.

If you are a fan of the book – you may have already heard, but if you haven’t, there is another that parodies Jane Austin’s story, Sense and Sensibility. It’s called, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. It’s written by a different author, Ben H. Winters, with Jane Austin credited as co-author. It can be classed as a sequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, being both parodies, but they are quite different and worth a read. If that book is adapted into a feature film at some point in the future, I will be intrigued with what they do, but after seeing the other film, I have to say that I can’t get my hopes up.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)