Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Runtime- 1hr 48min
Air date- February 5th, 2016
Director- Burr Steers
Writers- Burr Steers, Seth Grahame-Smith
Filming locations- England, UK
Where to watch- Buy/rent on Amazon Prime Video
Starring Lily James as Elizabeth Bennet and Sam Riley as Mr. Darcy
A Brief Summary
A continuous war with France is obsolete for Britain as it now faces a larger, more internal crisis. The undead. Now the ladies of England are expected to broaden their accomplishments to another art. Warfare. The Bennets are anything but idle to protect their home and each other. As the undead increase in numbers, the Bennets see families and establishments fall, except for Netherfield. Surprisingly has risen and been taken by Mr. Bingley accompanied by his good friend Mr. Darcy. A change such as this, gives Elizabeth Bennet, the second Bennet daughter, a new tune and challenges to face other than the undead occupying her time.
“First Impressions”
If you are Tina Belcher, slap on your bra because this is the gem of your fantasies. Zombies, romance, drama. Adapted from the 2009 Pride and Prejudice and Zombies novel, which is a spin on Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride & Prejudice.
I liked it. The casting choices were done well, and all the actors also played their parts well. However, for some reason, I kept forgetting Lady Catherine’s character as amiable.
Lady Catherine de Bourgh
Played by Lena Headey, Lady Catherine de Bourgh is a tough lady who is the best swordswoman in the country. She is highly respected, especially by Elizabeth Bennet. Nothing of the sort like the Lady Catherine we all know in the book. But for whatever reason, after I watch this movie and reflect or when I decide to go back and watch it, I keep thinking that this character is absurd. I think it may have to do with part of a scene, that is for some reason, ingrained in my brain. The beginning of the scene is when Lady Catherine confronts Elizabeth about Darcy’s proposal. Of course, there is a bit of a tiff happening, as expected, but it does end with Lady Catherine having a lot of respect for Elizabeth.
I seem to just be stuck that a character that is molded to be viewed differently than what Jane Austen intended is all of a sudden coming after Lizzie and behaving almost like the original Lady Catherine would have. But it turns out, it was more like a test Lady Catherine put on Elizabeth. I could compare it to the 1940s Pride & Prejudice, but this wasn’t a charming twist. It just ended up having the first part stick to my mind, that I cannot ward off me not liking Lady Catherine in this movie.
The Bennet Sisters
In Jane Austen’s novel, the three younger Bennet sisters are known to be silly girls. The young ladies in this movie are not. For this movie, silly women won’t live too long. The best example was that Lydia was kidnapped instead of foolishly running away with Wickham. I had no qualms about this change, and I liked this choice.
Thoughts on where to categorize this movie…
I thought about where this movie would be classified since it does hold all the same core plot and themes as the original novel, just with added zombies.
Thinking of this adaptation as more of an alternate production is not just a variable that changes the genre but also there is another work in between this film and the original novel.
I am a hypocrite. I did another review of Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe, which was based on a book of the same name and that book was based on Pride & Prejudice. And I categorized that as a “loose adaptation.”
But in fairness, I would not call Pride and Prejudice and Zombies a loose adaptation. I still don’t feel like putting it under a novel-to-film adaptation, for the sake of that there is a “middle man” book, and adding zombies changed the genre.
Some Notable Easter Eggs:
I did notice two scenes that gave homage to BBC’s 1995 and Joe Wright’s 2005 Pride & Prejudice adaptations.
One was when Mr. Darcy dived into the lake. If you see BBC’s 1995 Pride & Prejudice or if you saw a few videos of behind the scenes of the making of the BBC’s masterpiece, diving in the lake is a distinctive creative choice.
The other is Mr. Collin’s proposal to Elizabeth Bennet. In the dining room, the scene seems almost parallel to the 2005 Pride & Prejudice version.
Final Thoughts
With my personal opinion of not being too crazy about horror or zombie films, I did end up enjoying this movie a lot. I think it is one of the better Pride & Prejudice adaptations that is out there.
