Killing the Dead all Over Again

As far as zombie movies go, World War Z is a good watch. I must now confess that this is a sentence I never thought I’d write in this blog, given that zombie movies aren’t something I’m prone to watch. The horror movie genre is not at the top of my list of preferred genres and the zombie movie sub-genre tends to be at the bottom of that short one. This week, however, thanks to my daughters and to my favorite movie critics, I actually saw two zombie films: Warm Bodies and World War Z.

World War Z, directed by Marc Forster, is in the vein of Danny Boyle’s 28 days Later or Francis Lawrence’s I am Legend, where the suspense and action supersedes the gore and bad makeup of many zombie movies; hence, they are fun to watch. The plot has its similarities to those movies as well, in particular in constituting a caution against meddling and altering viral and bacterial genomes, something it seems we humans are increasingly prone to do.

Cillian Murphy in 28 Days Later

In 28 Days Later, a mysterious virus called “Rage”, which stemmed from chimpanzees being used for medical research, spreads to humans  in the UK and basically turns most everyone but a handful of survivors into rabid zombies.  In I am Legend, a genetically-engineered variant of the measles virus is created as a cure for cancer, but mutates into a lethal strain killing almost everyone or turning others into vampire-zombie-like predators.  In World War Z no explanation as to the origin of the virus is given, although many “clues” are spread throughout, linking it to rabies, animal flus and genetic experimentation; this time the virus spreads faster than the Rage virus –about 12 seconds- and the zombies transmit it by biting their victims. Oh, and it is also world-wide.

Will Smith in I am Legend

In the American movies, World War Z and I am Legend, the hero who works towards finding a “cure” is endowed with very particular survival skills. Will Smith is Lieutenant Colonel Robert Neville in I am Legend, a military virologist and apparently the last survivor in New York City. Brad Pitt is Gerry Lane in World War Z, a former United Nations employee involved in high risk missions. Both are family men and predisposed to martyrdom. In 28 Days Later, the heroes are refreshingly women, though Jim, played by Dark Knight’s Scarecrow Cillian Murphy, the lone survivor rescued, is still the central figure in the movie.

Brad Pitt and Will Smith - Family Men with a mission

I think this is why I enjoyed Jonathan Levine’s Warm Bodies all the more. This is a zombie movie with a twist: it is a romantic comedy.  There are human-flesh-eating zombies, there are still a bunch of military guys determined to shoot at zombies (I never get that: if they are dead, how is shooting bullets at zombies going to make a difference? You’d think an amphibious rifle or flamethrowers would be more effective at slowing them down), but the zombies in this movie have a comedic voice over by actor Nicholas Hoult which really brings them to life (pun intended). What’s more, Warm Bodies is actually a sort of zombie Romeo and Juliet (“R” and “Julie” in the movie), with a balcony sequence and all! As corny as it sounds, it is love that “warms” the zombies and starts their hearts beating again. It is caring human beings and not guns that actually “exhume” the world; it is tearing down the walls built to keep the zombies out that serves to create a new world; if only the Israeli’s in World War Z had known that!

Teresa Palmer and Nicholas Hoult in Warm Bodies

Maybe Warm Bodies is part of a shift in young audience’s attitude and attraction towards the undead, also present in the Twilight vampire series. Throughout the years, because of the fear of our own mortality, the stories about those who refused to die were cautionary ones, ones of terror, in fact, of the monsters and creatures that refuse death becoming predatory vampires and zombies; like scientific tinkering with mortality that gave rise to Frankenstein or such monsters. This fascination has led good directors and actors into the horror movie genre, producing great films, which I hope to write more about in this blog.

Zombies and monsters aren’t what they used to be, it seems.  And that’s a good thing too.  Again I am in gratitude to my young daughter who had me see Warm Bodies, and who actually took me to see the monster movie that I most enjoyed this week: Disney’s Monsters University!

Mike Wizowski (Billy Crystal) in Monsters University