Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, 2016

Directed by Burr Steers, 108 minutes

Lily James, Lena Headley, Sam Riley, Douglas Booth, Matt Smith, Jack Huston

Review by Katherine Scheetz

              No, this isn’t a cinematic work of art, written with smooth perfection or breaking new ground. By way of parody’s this falls in step with Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010) glazed with a dose of Jane Austen’s perceptive and provocative prose. The focus of the film is more on the swirl of British insults, ironic propriety and grossly exaggerated characters, than the zombie gore, which might deter those looking for more R-rated entrails.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has retained the skeleton of the story easiest to mock: Darcy (Riley) still swims in the lake, Bingley (Booth) is still the more handsome of the two, Mr. Collins (Smith) still dances like the leprechaun, the proposal scene is still the most interesting part, Elizabeth (James) still speaks her mind and a double wedding rounds things off. There’s just…a little more going on. The main plot change is Wickham’s (Huston) reformed zombies at St. Lazarus’ Church outside London, curbing their appetite with pig brain instead of human – not unlike the Twilight (2008) vampires.

              Of the ensemble of attempted caricatures, one performance is dead on. Matt Smith as Mister, excuse me, Parson Collins is just ridiculous. Bloody, bloody ridiculous.

             

Now for a couple complaints from an Austen purest: any self-respecting fan knows, no matter how the story changes, that Lady Catherine De Bourgh (Headley) would never reveal to Elizabeth Bennet that she admires her, even though we all know she does. The failing of writer/director Steers is most apparent however in the character of Mr. Bennet (Charles Dance), who being the instigator of so much of the lighthearted humor in the original, falls flat as a stoic head-of-the-house here. It is a much missed opportunity.

              The biggest blessing of this film is that it’s exposing Austen to those who would never have read her otherwise. Their reactions are delightful to Darcy fumbling out literatures most insulting marriage proposal and daggers being brandished at “barely tolerable” dance partners. For it is a truth universally acknowledged that watching Austen virgins become enthralled is bloody lovely.

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