Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Year: 2016
Director: Burr Steers
Country: UK
Language: English

Quirk Books' idea was simple; take advantage of public domain laws pertaining to classic literature, add a schlocky spin to a classic text and draw readers more interested in genres other than Jane Austen. It was an oddball concept book that managed to be successful and mass produced. It inspired other hybrid books like Android Karenina & Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. It was a refreshing novelty...back in 2009. Unfortunately the idea lost steam quite a few years ago. 

The original source material being Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, the film follows five sisters in 19th century England, who must cope with the pressures to marry while (twist!)protecting themselves from a growing population of zombies. 

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies would have been welcomed in the immediate years following the book's release, but in 2016 the hybrid gimmick has long worn out its welcome. A similar film, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter left a sour taste in our mouths, being both a critical and commercial failure. With Walking Dead satisfying the palates of our zombie obsessed culture, do we really need this picture? 

Lacking both the ability to charm its audience &  the ability to be even somewhat humorous, Zombies is a lackluster affair at best. The gimmick could have worked if it was self aware of its satirical quality like Ash vs Evil Dead, but this tonal mess of a film doesn't know what it wants to be. One moment the characters are waltzing at a ball or debating the merits of marriage and the next the film devolves into a zombie-slashing horror romp. Is it scary? No. Is it funny? No. Is is dramatic? No.

The action feels incredibly repetitive; someone is faced with a snarling zombie, freezes in fear, and then is saved at the last moment by a convenient gunshot or axe-throw from offscreen. Far too many scenes are showed in slow motion for an effect known as "bad film-making". Zombies manages to disappoint both fans of Jane Austen and the undead.