Movie Review – Pride, Prejudice and Zombies

Five sisters in 19th century England must cope with the pressures to marry while protecting themselves from a growing population of zombies.

Based on the Jane Austen masterpiece as retold by Seth Grahame-Smith , Pride, Prejudice and Zombies the movie boasts to be just like the classic Jane Austen tale, Pride and Prejudice, only with some brain eating zombies thrown into the mix. I found this intriguing and was actually interested in watching the film.

While Pride, Prejudice and Zombies bombed at the box office I none-the-less rented it as soon as it was released On-Demand.

Starring the lovely Lily James, who most recently appeared in the live action

version of Cinderella, and is well known for her role as Lady Rose MacClare on BBC’s Downton Abbey. James shed her blonde tresses and glass slippers for auburn locks and a carefully hidden dagger to portray Elizabeth Bennet.

Also starring Sam Riley as Mr. Darcy, who has a listing of credits but PPZ seems to be his first leading romantic role.

First let me just correct myself. Sorry, Sam, this may have been a leading role but it was certainly not romantic.

So let’s begin. I was disappointed in Pride, Prejudice and Zombies not because it took a beautiful classic tale and threw zombies in the mix, heck no, that’s what I was excited about! But because the results were gawd awful. I could redeem Pride, Prejudice and Zombies if it swayed in either direction but it did not. It was a horrid romance and a pansy horror.

The premise has such potential. The mix of the romance and the horror should have been more enticing. Alas anything salvageable was completely lost in the poorly choreographed fight scenes and dispassionate Victorian speeches.

I was hoping for at the very least a humorous showing of entertainment but the funniest scene was Elizabeth killing Darcy’s zombie flies at the bedside of her sister, Mary.

One of the things I do not understand is why they made such drastic changes to the story. It would have been better suited to keep the main romantic story and mix in the zombies for fun and thrills.

I give the movie a single star for the attempt, but alas a failing in the end.

Look out for my review of the Supernatural Horror Novel Moving In by Ron Ripley

To escape the stress of living in the city and the anxiety of his high pressure job, Brian Roy moves his family to the country. His wife loves the easy living, but Brian hates it…especially when weird things start happening in the house. When he discovers a dead body in the woods and a burial ground in his basement, Brian could never imagine the shocking history of the house or its former occupants that comes to light. 

As his life starts to unravel, Brian isn’t so sure living in the country is going to be the oasis of peace he and his wife expected. Lately, his home has become a haunting den of hell.