1. Zombies Aren’t Real
I’ve heard all the arguments from people who claim to be zombie purists (whatever that means):
“Zombies don’t fall in love!”
“Zombies don’t have feelings!”
“Zombies are meant to kill people and eat their flesh!”
“Zombies don’t look like that!”
Sorry guys, but zombies aren’t real, therefore THERE ARE NO RULES! You can’t dictate a set of rules for a fictional subgenre based on your perception of what YOU think a zombie should be. Remember, it is your opinion, and as they say, opinions are like assholes, and your opinion is no more than that.
If you want to get down to brass tacks, looking at Haitian folklore, zombies were not flesh eaters. In fact, these Haitian “zombies” weren’t even dead, they were heavily drugged people. Also, in early film incarnations (including Romero’s masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead), zombies had an appearance of ashy skin and wide, hypnotized eyes, something that is actually accurately portrayed by the zombies in Warm Bodies.
Also, it has to be said that rules are bullshit. If there had to be rules in place for the horror genre, then there would never be progression in horror and everything would be generic and vanilla. Breaking the rules is the only way we can ever get anything new and different. I’m not saying that Warm Bodies is breaking rules in a way that is revolutionary, but rules are meant to be broken, especially when there aren’t any in the first place.
2. Most Zombie Movies Suck:
SOME horror fans seem to have this illusion that this one film completely ruins the zombie subgenre. Like, because of one movie, the entire landscape of zombie films will be forever changed and now every zombie movie to come will be just like it. Well, I got news for you: it doesn’t change a thing. One movie isn’t going to change the landscape of the genre. If anything, it builds upon it, giving it more variety.
That brings me to my next point: the zombie subgenre is, for all intents and purposes, totally stale, overdone and filled to the brim with a complete lack of originality. There are waaaaaay more terrible zombie films than there are good ones, and that is a fact. For every great zombie movie that’s released, there are 50 more that are absolutely awful, and to believe otherwise is certainly ignorant. Warm Bodies is the least of the genre’s problem, when the genre itself is in fact its own worst enemy.
3. It’s Not Your Genre:
It’s as simple as that: It’s not your genre and there is nothing sacred about it. You don’t own the zombie subgenre nor any genre of film, for that matter. If think you do, then you will have to explain what you did that makes it YOUR genre and what YOU did that makes you so special that you feel any filmmaker or genre owes you anything.
The reality is, the genre is for anyone who want to enjoy it, and there’s no reason that it should have to always conform to your specific taste. If you want it to be your genre, then pick up a camera and make your own film, your own way, but please, don’t make a zombie movie. There are way too many and most of them suck.
*For the record, horror fans in the 1980s thought The Lost Boys was a lame MTV music video*
4. It’s NOT Twilight, No Matter How Badly You Want it to Be:
Of course it’s easy to compare Warm Bodies to Twilight, but it’s also easy to be completely ignorant about something you haven’t seen. It’s a horror inspired romantic comedy based on a novel for young adults, not tweens. The story is, at its heart, Romeo and Juliet, and much like George Romero’s zombie films, there is a nice dash of allegorical commentary to be found, specifically focusing on individuality, conformity and tolerance. It also takes a very witty stab at the mopey emo generation of oh-woe-is-me sad sacks, where even in the afterlife, an emo teen still finds a way to sulk and feel sorry about himself.
Unlike Twilight, Warm Bodies is not some big Hollywood production. In fact, the film is directed by Jonathan Levine, who helmed one of the best Slasher films of the past decade, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. Naturally, most of the horror fans who have complained about “the people behind this crap” don’t seem to be aware of this, but I guess that would require doing things like research before calling something “gay.”
Lastly, The Twilight Saga hasn’t exactly won over critics. In fact, the series as a whole has gotten mediocre to negative reviews, and rightfully so considering the ineptitude on display. Warm Bodies, however, has gotten good to great reviews. Now, I don’t take much stock in critical performance with movies, but there is a clear difference in quality between Twilight and Warm Bodies, and that is for a reason.
5. It’s Not the First and Certainly Not the Last:
It might be difficult to comprehend, but there have been numerous occasions where zombies and a multitude of human emotions have collided together, and in some of the best films the genre has seen.
Here are but a few examples:
Fido: Besides being whip smart and as equally funny, Fido features an emotional (and almost sexual) relationship between Helen and her zombie pet, Fido. There is also a sexual relationship between one of the film’s side characters and a female zombie sex slave.
Dead Alive: In this Peter Jackson zombie splatter classic, there are two zombies who simply cannot keep their hands off one another. Not only do they copulate, but the zombie couple even have a baby together.
Dellamorte Dellamore aka Cemetery Man: Dellamorte Dellamore is a very dark, romantic horror/comedy that features not one but two full-on relationships between a living character and the undead.
And of course the man who made zombies what they are today, George A. Romero, has more than once dabbled in humanizing zombies in his films, most notably with Bub in Day of the Dead.
So if a zombie can have emotional relationships, sex, babies, play video games (Shaun of the Dead), and remember their past lives, then why can’t some of these themes be featured in Warm Bodies?
In conclusion:
There’s a certain level of pretension and insecurity among the horror fan base, and I believe that most so-called horror fans bash Warm Bodies as a way to make themselves look cool. Well, it doesn’t. In fact, it makes you look ignorant, especially if you haven’t even seen it. This piece is going to piss some of you off greatly, and it should. I’m full-on calling you out on your bullshit. But guess what? I’ve been watching horror films for many years, and I could give a crap what anyone else likes or dislikes, because I can judge a film for myself, not based on what I think other horror fans will think.
Now, to be fair, there will be those of you out there who did see Warm Bodies and hated it. That’s fine. You have a right to your own opinion, and I’m not saying you are wrong in that opinion. In fact, I applaud you for at least seeing it before bashing it, unlike 90% of the other knuckleheads who see fit to shit talk a movie they haven’t seen or know nothing about.
Lastly, if you’re concerned with having “horror credibility,” then you sir or ma’am, have none. Warm Bodies doesn’t ruin the horror genre… lame horror fans do.
First of all, you’re coming off way too mean and over opinionated here. Lets get that straight, because you are and that is wrong,
Second of all of course there isn’t any “rules” per say, but there is guidelines (that aren’t obviously written anywhere) that movies tend to follow. For what zombie movies have become over the past years, they certainly didn’t get that popular/way over having movies with a zombie and human loving each other.
Of course, why not try something new and that’s all fine and dandy, if it works out, awesome! A good movie, if not? Well, they tried and that’s all that matters.
But the thing you have to understand is, big horror movie fans (myself included) have had the vampire named “ruined” (somewhat) because of Twilight and I don’t think much people can debate that. And people are nervous over this plot and what this could do to the zombie genre, and you know people are entitled to feel the way they do. They had vampires ruined on them, aren’t they allowed to be defensive?
But like I said, if it turns out to be a great movie then that’s good. But what I am saying here is, people are entitled to feeling worried and saying they don’t want movies like Twilight because that movie already ruined something for horror fans.
But like I said in the opening, you come off way too mean and over opinionated in this article. And I’m not trying to be mean myself here, just being honest.
great comment Andrew. This topic is a hot button one people are getting really angry on all sides. i wouldnt take what Matt says as being nasty I think hes just intense
Twilight didn’t ruin Vampires any more than Buffy, My Best Friend’s a Vampire, Love At First Bite, Once Bitten or, god help us, Dracula, Dead and Loving It did. Despite the doomsaying, theaters haven’t been flooded with Twilight-esque vampire films. The vamps in the Fight Night remake were violent and nasty, but honestly, by the time Twilight came out, vampires had already hit a point of super-saturation. Not that I care. I’ve been a fan of vamps since the early 80s and my three favorite vampire movies are still Lost Boys, Near Dark and Dracula 1979. Nothing I’ve seen since then can touch any of those three for me and I’ve seen (and enjoyed) a metric ton of vampire films. I would actually say movies like Blade and Underworld did more to subvert the vampire genre than Twilight ever did. All Twilight did was deliver a bad tween version of an Anne Rice novel.
So, yes, I can and will debate whether Twilight ruined vampires for the simple fact that it hasn’t had that much of a noticeable effect as far as I can see. The people going to see Twilight, by and large, aren’t horror fans and the people making actual horror movies aren’t going to try and target that audience. Horror movies for people that don’t like horror movies have always been and will always be around. They don’t hurt anything, they rarely change anything and within a decade of their release, no one will remember that they existed.
Thanks for your feedback, Andrew, and intense is a perfect way to describe my intentions with this article! You are half right and half wrong about me being “mean and over opinionated,” and the reason I say that is because this whole thing is geared towards very specific people. People who have shown a complete lack of respect for the opinion’s of others as well as the horror genre itself.
The catalyst for this entire piece is reading numerous comments on a bunch of different Facebook horror fan pages, Horror-Movies.ca included, where a handful of “fans” have criticized the film based on nothing more than what they “think” the movie is, not what it actually is. There’s a crazy level of close-mindedness behind many of these comments, and worse yet, the lack of respect is pretty pathetic.
The venom I have seen in numerous comments from so-called hardcore horror fans is incredible. I have seen many comments claiming that the film is “gay” and for “pussies” and things of that nature. Someone even went as far as calling John from Freddy in Space a “faggot” for showing some support for the film. Any horror fan who uses words like that to describe a film as well as attack other fans in such a nature is not only an idiot, but insecure, weak minded, and not at all a horror fan who has a relevant “opinion.”
This article was written for those people, and for those people it was written for it was indeed intended to be mean. I have no respect for people who have no respect, therefore I have no problem with calling them out in a way that is, admittedly, aggressive. However, if you read the article again, I’m never actually being rude or disrespectful to anyone who has an actual opinion based on having some knowledge of the film.
This whole thing is certainly not geared towards respectable horror fans, which is what I believe you are based on your respectful comment. The problem isn’t someone like you, who seems to have an open mind; the problem is the fans who will spew hatred and venom at the drop of a hat, without any real argument or basis for spewing such “opinions.” It’s not an opinion to say “I don’t have to see it to know it ruins the zombie genre,” that’s a statement based on ignorance.
Again, thanks for your feedback, and hopefully this comment somewhat makes the intent of this article a little more clear!
I totally get where you are all coming from, Twilight ruined vampires forever they will never be good again, just like Batman & Robin ruined Batman movies forever. How about Freddy’s Dead the Final Nightmare, after that piece of trash no decent Freddy movie has been made. (Anyone catching the sarcasm yet?) Twilight is shit, there’s no doubt about it, but it’s a little late to the game to ruin vampires. Dracula 2000 was a travesty but it was never claimed to have ruined vampires. Both Buffy (TV show) and My Best Friend’s a Vampire both feature vampires who refuse to feed off humans or even drink human blood yet they were never called pussies. In fact the only 2 real differences between Edward & Bella and Buffy & Angel are that Bella’s pathetic and Angel doesn’t sparkle other than that the 2 relationships, separated by a decade are pretty much the same with similar stories. If Twilight “ruined” the vampire name then I’m sorry to say that the vamp name has been ruined for decades. One bad series and more specifically one bad film does not trash a genre forever. If you all hate humanized zombies so much than you most loathe the Resident Evil movies and Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead, in all of these movies zombies think, some feel, and some even use tools! But we draw the line at a somewhat comedic movie from the point of view of zombies who want to become human again. It’s a fantasy movie! There are no rules, no guidelines! That doesn’t even make sense to think that a fantasy movie has to go down a certain path. While we’re at it why don’t we all bitch about Toy Story and it’s highly unrealistic portrayal of toys that think feel and move! You can’t put rules on things that don’t exist. But I’ll tell you what if there ever is a zombie apocalypse and not one zombie has any form of humanity left I will then completely concede that you all were right until then however if you don’t like the concept of a movie don’t watch it, it’s that simple.
Well said Matt! I really enjoyed Warm Bodies. My friend and I laughed all the way through it. Why is there this growing trend of people judging and hating on movies before they have even seen them yet? Those memes of Warm Bodies were circulating the internet before the movie even came out! I love a good gory Zombie movie like Day of the Dead or Fulci’s Zombi, but I also enjoy a well made Zom-Com too. Warm Bodies is not going to “ruin” the Zombie genre any more than Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, or Deadheads did!
Thanks a lot! I find it unfortunate and frustrating that a segment of horror fans are constantly on attack mode with what seems like every film that comes out. If it’s not something like Warm Bodies, it’s PG-13 or remakes, and so on and so forth. Some fans seem to be more interested in hating everything as opposed to loving the genre and showing it support.
But I’m with you; I had a really good time with Warm Bodies and I think it was a mostly refreshing zombie film. The humor hits its mark and the characters are pretty well written.
i am a zombie fan (on my 63rd novel right now) and i am somewhat of a zombie purist but this movie is not going to ruin the zombie genre anymore than twilight ruined movies like 30 days of night.simply put it was a modern fantasy movie that used horror elements to tell the story much like the underworld movies.neither movie scared anyone but it was a good time for those willing to open up their minds a little and let themselves be entertained.zombies should be kill on sight in normal circumstances (if it WAS real) but these type of movies still belong in the list as a welcome change from the norm
You hit the nail on the head, Mike. It’s something different from the horde of zombies movies that have come out, and it’s mostly successful in what it was trying to do. It won’t do anything to change the genre, but it does expand it and give it a little more variety, and to me the variety is certainly welcome! Thanks for the comment!
I think you are the one taking it too seriously.
We, the fans, have the right to defend what we believe. All we are saying is that movies like this one, and Twilight do a big damage to the horror legacy, as they present some of the icons in a way, that is to say the least, disrespectful.
When they take some of the horror icons, and put it in a teen soup, changing every aspect that made it awesome in the first place, it does a big damage to the horror legacy, and we do have the right to defend it. Specially when they put it out in a big marketing scheme brainwashing stupid teens to watch it.
I would have to strongly disagree that most zombie movies suck, but this one certainly does suck.
So all we are saying, is if those filmekers did a bit more of their homework, they could explore the horror genre in a intelligent way, instead of this lazy, lame exploitation of the genre.
I appreciate your feedback, Tiago, however, I feel as if you probably didn’t fully read this article because some of my rebuttals to your comment are already in the piece itself. Also, I have a very distinct feeling that you did not see the film. If that is indeed the case, then you are basing your opinion that Warm Bodies ruins the zombie genre on nothing more than speculation. If I’m wrong and you did see the film and didn’t like it, then that’s fine and I totally respect your thoughts, but nothing points to that fact in your comment.
Anywho, as you said, I am taking it too seriously, and that’s because I do take the horror genre, and film period, seriously. And because I take horror seriously, I have the wherewithal to not completely judge something (like Warm Bodies) based on my thoughts about another film (like Twilight). I could actually give a shit about Twilight. It does nothing to hurt the horror genre because it’s not a horror movie, and it doesn’t ruin vampires because, well, quite frankly, it hasn’t. What vampire movies over the past 5 years (since Twilight was first released) have been like Twilight?! The answer is none. And that is a fact.
As for most zombie movies sucking, well, that is a reality, and if you disagree, then that is simply because you have not seen enough zombie movies. And honestly, if that’s the case, then you should feel lucky. As someone who has written for horror/movie websites for around five years, I have been subjected to dozens of zombie films of all shapes and sizes, and most of them are awful, unoriginal and far from intelligent.
I understand your passionate, but I think you could better spend that passion on enjoying the genre instead of complaining about it.
“All we are saying is that movies like this one, and Twilight do a big damage to the horror legacy”
Pure, 100%, unadulterated horseshit. No they don’t, and they can’t. Warm Bodies has no power whatsoever to “do big damage” to Romero’s classic films and their legacy except the power “purists” like you choose to give it. Your attitude is exactly what the original article is taking apart, and it’s clear that you didn’t absorb its message.
For some reason, there are a group of horror “purists” whose approach to their “fandom” involves declaring “All zombie movies must be X and only X, and any attempt at Y is IMPURE and must not be tolerated, otherwise the great legacy of X is forever tarnished.” This kind of “fandom” is the worst there is: an insular fandom that seeks to stagnate, rather than innovate, the genre it claims to love. That isn’t being a fan, it’s being a fanboy.
I agree with Matt-suzaka that you almost certainly haven’t seen Warm Bodies, and are in no position to say it “certainly does suck.” You’ve just decided that the only “real” zombie movie is the same one that’s been made 20,000 times (bunch of survivors barricade themselves in a building while aiming for the heads of the ravening hordes outside), and the fact that somebody’s made one that icky girls might like is giving you nerdrage. That’s your problem, not the movie’s.
Warm Bodies wasn’t a bad movie because it tried to do something different with the genre. It was a bad movie because it sucked the big one! I agree with Tiago in the previous post, this was a lazy, sloppy and infuriating film. It contradicted itself consistently. I hate to see a film that feels like it’s milking the ca$h cow and nothing more. Look at how ‘Let The Right One In’ tackled a different take on the vampire genre. This was a very adult film for sure, but it had a poetic vision, real conviction and integrity. Warm Bodies has none of this and is a film for kids that plays around in Adult territory. Which isn’t something the fans like to see, but if done well, I’m sure could be accepted. It’s being rejected because it’s so bucking fad.
To be fair, people aren’t rejecting Warm Bodies because it’s bad, they are rejecting it because they have closed minds and would rather complain about something that they know nothing about, as opposed to seeing it and building a real, thoughtful opinion.
Now, I assume you have seen the film and clearly didn’t like it, and that’s fine. You actually saw it, so you’ve earned the right to an opinion on whether or not you think it’s good or bad. I thought it was pretty good, but I do respect your opinion. I do disagree that the movie is a cash cow because there are no big stars, it’s not based on a very well-known source material, the director isn’t a gun for hire, and it’s a genre bender (comedy, romance, horror), which can sometimes alienate both sides of the audience. To me a cash cow is Transformers.
As for Let the Right One In, I am a huge fan of the film and consider it to be one of the best ‘movies’ (not just horror) of that decade. It is poetic, it is poignant, and it is beautiful. However, I would never even think to compare LTROI to Warm Bodies because there is nothing there to compare; they are completely different types of movies. Sure, both movies deal with an unconventional love story, but that’s about where it ends. Comparing the two is like comparing Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy to Ghost World.
As I said, I’m happy you shared your thoughts because you actually did take the time to see the film, but I hope you understand where I am coming from in my defense of this film.
Great article! Sometimes the most infuriating thing about horror films are the fans. I did a similar article for this site when the Hunger Games came out and everyone and their mother was screaming about Battle Royale. The truth is The Hunger Games was a very good book, derivative yes, but a good book and film none the less. But this criticizing over things that you haven’t seen, based upon some preconceived notion is asinine.
The folks screaming about Warm Bodies are the the same folks who scream over PG-13 horror. I used to be one, bitching and moaning because of an arbitrary number. Then I wrote my own film….and it was rated PG-13.
Sure, Warm Bodies doesn’t particularly excite me. But who’s to say this isn’t the first zombie film a 15 year old girl will see. It may be a gateway film for her. Maybe she discovers Romero and Fulci. Maybe she doesn’t. But I seriously doubt the first horror film anyone saw was Cannibal Holocaust. Gremlins scared the shit out of me growing up. As did Ghostbusters, American Werewolf in London, and any number of films that aren’t considered “hard core horror”. But they opened up something inside of me. I would never have dug deeper if those seeds hadn’t been planted.
So settle down. There are no rules. It’s art. Maybe not good art. But art none the less.
Thanks a bunch, and I couldn’t agree with you more. I’m just like you in that all of those same films were the movies that basically got me into horror, and it wasn’t long before I started exploring the genre more and more until the point where I became the hardcore fan I became. Everyone has to start somewhere, and people don’t seem to realize that what’s happening now with horror is the same as what was happening 20, 30 and 40 years ago. like you, I used to complain about some types of movies, but as I grew older, I realized I was being ignorant. Horror is so much more fun when you simply stop hating so much of it.
Well, I take horror cinema seriously as well. what I am saying is that you take our criticism about that movie too seriously. There is nothing wrong with making something new, and great like Zombieland, or Tucker and Dale vs Evil. I like those movies, and they are clearly made by people who love the genre. And like warm bodies, they are NOT horror movies.
If you humanize a zombie, than whats the point?
It IS like a vampire who walks on the sun.
You are taking away the main characteristic of a character and changing it to the opposite.
So it is like Twilight. Those movies are target for teen audiences, and not horror fans. I do agree, it’s much better than Twilight, but what isn’t?
And I never said it ruined anything, I said its harmful and disrespectful. I ignored a lot of what you said, because I don’t think it makes sense. Of course it is not Twilight, of course no one owns a genre, I think that is childish argumentation, so I didn’t bother to consider most of it. Sorry, I am not being a bitch here, I am just speaking my mind, no offense, please.
I have watched a lot of zombie movies, from all times, hundreds maybe, and I think even the worst of all has it’s charm. Even the cheesiest zombie movies are fun, to me.
Perhaps we have a different appreciation of the genre, as you did not understand I am not complaining about the genre, I absolutely love it. I am complaining about movies that wants to be different but absolutely suck. If zombies having feelings were something cool, I am pretty sure Mr. Romero would have tought about it. They are zombies, BECAUSE, they have no feelings, otherwise, they are sick people, not zombies.
I did watch the movie, but I wouldn’t blame someone who will not. I encourage zombie lovers NOT to watch, it is a waste of time.
It is like saying to a Christian go watch The Last Temptation of Christ, he will say: no, I am not going to watch a movie about that.
Just to point out, I strongly disagree with most of what you said, but I do respect and appreciate your criticism.
Thanks for your response, Tiago, and I am happy that you did actually see the film before pooping all over it.
In the article, when I talked about people saying it’s Twilight and how fans don’t own the genre was geared towards a number of the negative comments I saw in different places, so they likely didn’t pertain to you so much as they did other people.
I agree with you that there are specific characteristics that come with both zombies and vampires, but as i went over in the article, these characteristics have been blurred in numerous films over the years. For example, many of the Jean Rollin and Jesus Franco vampire films featured vampires who sometimes would go out into the sun and sometime didn’t even have fangs. And of course there are movies like The Hunger and even Romero’s own Martin that completely break the mold of what a vampire is.
While I’m on Romero, he did attempt to humanize his zombies on a few occasions, with the most obvious one being Bub. But he also did it in Land of the Dead, where the zombies actually began to almost think for themselves, making them all the more threatening to the characters. I’m willing to bet if h had been given the chance, he would have loved to direct Warm Bodies because it would give him a chance to stay in his world while doing something very different.
Anyway, I do appreciate your criticism of my criticism, if that makes any sense, and I am glad that we could have a good open dialogue about the whole thing, even if we do disagree!
I would like to re-highlight the character off Bub. Romero definitely tried to humanize him. In fact I would argue Bub is even more humanized by Romero than the character of Capt. Rhodes in his original Day of The Dead. Matt makes a good point about early zombie cinema aswell.
Honestly, What I am more concerned about today is the over saturation of remakes.
Any true genre fan directors will disregard films like Twilight and Warm Bodies. Therefore it is up to these people and we the community to raise our game and not let such films overshadow the true horror. If anything it only makes the horror community challenge itself even more. Saying that however you could say that horror has never been a mainstream genre and therefore because these films are for a more mainstream audience then they probably wont have a significant impact on the horror genre. Furthermore I remember loving Stakeland which came about around the time of Twilight. Now that is quite a brutal vampire film. For horror fans It would be, and would have been a far more usefull use of time to support that film than continue to moan about Twilight.
Stakeland is fan-fucking-tastic. Bravo for bringing that one up. I was kinda sad that the best example I could pull out of my ass was the Fright Night remake, even though the point I made stands. Fright Night overall was just not great, whereas Stakeland was damn good.
Thanks for the comment, Vasquez! I wholeheartedly agree that there needs to be more focus by horror fans on supporting great, low-budget and, also, foreign horror. There are so many great films to be seen and championed, but too many fans spend too much time worrying about Twilight. And Stake Land is great example of a great vampire film that, like some of the best monster films, focuses on the characters and their journey more than the vampires themselves. I also really enjoy Jim Mickle’s other film, Mulberry Street, which is and interesting take on the zombie genre.
On this very day, I did go forth and see Warm Bodies. It’s a terrible zombie movie. That’s ok, though, because it’s a pretty fantastic whatever the fuck kinda movie it IS that isn’t a zombie movie. I laughed out loud through most of the first half and by the end of it, I was getting pretty nervous about the fate of our two leads. Boneys were (ready for this?) a pretty neat addition to the overall notion of zombie storytelling.
Did it make sense? No, it’s a movie about zombies (still not a zombie movie). Did it have to? No, see previous answer. What it was was cute, charming, funny and downright clever in some spots. It built on some of the ideas from movies like Fido and evoked the memory of Bub on many occasions throughout the first 30 minutes or so. As a matter of fact, it pulled from Romero’s first three Dead films quite heavily, what with the zombies shuffling through the routine of the lives they lived before they died.
If all you like is gore-filled, brainless zombie drek with no discernible plot and god awful acting/writing, then no, you won’t like Warm Bodies. If, like me, you enjoy a wide range of all kinds of stories and don’t mind it when genres get thrown into a cage match to fight it out, you could have a good time with this. It’s well shot, well acted and well written. I honestly don’t understand how someone with a general appreciation for film wouldn’t, at the least, not hate this.
I’m glad you dug it! I think part of the appeal and the reason I enjoyed the film is due to it not being easy to define. It feels very different from any other zombie movie because it wasn’t trying to be just another zombie movie. If anything, I think making the film that they did was riskier than just making the typical been-there-done-that zombie gorefest.
I think you also hit on something with the last line of your comment, specifically the “general appreciation for film.” I think that is exactly the problem with a handful of the horror fans who have bitched about the movie (without seeing it) simply lack passion for film. It’s the immature horror fan who doesn’t care about anything but “hardcore horror,” which is unfortunate because there is so much great cinema out there to enjoy, as you and I both know, so long as you are open to new things.
Lastly, concerning Warm Bodies, the Pretty Woman scene was fucking brilliant!
To say that this movie is Twilight is wrong. However, there are huge similarities between the two that are obvious. These similarities, in my opinion, are related towards the current trends of the romantic demographic. Warm Bodies targeted girls in their teens and twenties. The most profitable romantic movie of the decade toward that demo is Twilight. If there is any similarity between the two it would be purely for marketing and profit. The love story is totally romeo and juliet (as stated above). The only question that I have is, What does George Romero think of this? Now, don’t go overboard with anger, this is just a hypothetical question. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see the father of zombie movies comment upon how humanizing Warm Bodies portrayed zombies? Instead of taking Romero’s idea of brainless man-eating nightmares, they spun the movie around how love can make us alive. It in fact, succeeded in humanizing what is normally seen as nightmarish.
I’m not saying that this is my favorite movie ever, but it wasn’t bad. In the famous words of the internet.
Still a better love story than Twilight.
Thanks for the feedback! I think you touched on something interesting: the marketing. Even though there aren’t any actual similarities between Twilight and Warm Bodies (outside of there being a love story), the target demographic can be the same so long as the studio markets it that way. You could probably say that if it weren’t for the success of Twilight, Warm Bodies might not have been released in theaters at all, let alone widely (which actually surprised me that it was).
Matt, that’s what I was referring to in my post earlier when I called the movie a cash cow – making the next teen love story and replacing vampires with zombies. I did see the film and it was terrible, really bad. I can understand your frustration at people dismissing a film they haven’t even seen. I was actually quite keen to see it myself as I’ll watch anything with a zombie in it
but it wasn’t the film I was hoping to see. My earlier comment regarding Let The Right One In wasn’t meant as a direct comparison. I was just referring to how a genre can be successfully played with in order to create something different and the two both contained a love story at it’s core. Not a direct comparison by any means. Bottom line, you enjoyed it and I loathed it. Marmite movie 
I was looking up memes and came across your first picture of Warm Bodies for some reason…
Anyway, I wanted to drop by and say this was a great article- not just about the zombie genre, but vampire and horror in general. (I like this site period, haha) I didn’t read reviews/comments on Warm Bodies because I knew- knew- people would compare it to Twilight, and I had a feeling I would love Warm Bodies- which I did.
I know you’ve seen Warm Bodies, but I didn’t see this mentioned: See how ‘Reality’ is in the picture? I first thought- but there were zombies that looked like that in Warm Bodies. One guy was tearing his face off in the beginning. And then there were the Bonies/Boneys?
Then I was like- and you or a comment touched on this- many zombies didn’t start looking like that atrocity until later movies. And earlier movies had few ghastly rotting zombies. Then, if zombies did have ghastly rotting zombies- like The Walking Dead- even months after the breakout, the zombies don’t look nearly as decomposed as they should.
But yea, old article is old, and I shall be going now… haha
Ha ha, I appreciate the feedback, Shinashi, and happy you enjoyed the film and the article! And yeah, the whole “reality” of the way zombies look is pretty ridiculous as you mention. There were numerous zombie types in Warm Bodies as well as in the genre proper, and even R, who was clearly the main target of the negative comments, looks just like the types of zombies found in classic zombies films.
Thanks for stopping by!
After reading this article over aswell as the comments and you replying to them, Ive come to the conclusion that you sir could help me with something ive been struggling with for years. Ive been the sole defender of a movie, a movie that I would greatly appreciate if you gave me your proffessional opinion on. You are not required to do this, I am not demanding this of you. I am simply pleading you watch a movie, or if having watched it, told me your complete and totally honest opinion. Would there be some way for me to contact you for this? It would clear my mind for all the anguish ive gone through for having to be the only person to defend this because of “fanboys”. It is NOT horror, though some people call it Horror-ible. Bad joke I know. If this is against the rules then I see good reason to simply remove my post, But could you settle this with me please? I want to know your thoughts on.. Dragonball:evolution..My issue is I see it for what it is..Not for what fanboys want it to be..Yet for this simple fact ive been horribly bashed by friends and family alike..People who won’t even watch it…If not, I understand.. If you care to tell me. I would greatly appreciate it, Please and thank you
Hey Ted! Thanks for the comment, and to answer your question, I actually have no opinion on Dragonball: Evolution because I have not had the opportunity to see it for myself. I feel like I’m letting you down with that answer, but it’s the unfortunate truth.
I will say this, however: it sounds like you really enjoy the film, despite the negative fanboy opinions, which is honestly all that really matters. If you dig it and enjoy watching the film, no one else’s opinions about it can take that away from you. It can be frustrating to have a movie you love be crapped on, especially when it’s unfairly crapped on, but that’s just the name of the game when it comes to cinema; it’s very subjective. So long as it makes you happy, then you should be okay!
Thanks for the comment!
I consider myself an open minded horror fan, always loved zombies, Night of the Living Dead is one of my favourite movies ever, and I still really enjoyed Warm Bodies. I thought it was sweet. No harm done.
As for Twilight… while the movies are complete drivel, and the books probably are too (I don’t know as I’m never going to read them) Twilight isn’t responsible for ruining vampires. I place the blame on Anne Rice and every vampire novel she wrote after Interview… and also on her rabid goth wannabe fan base. Good god. Sorry if I sound like an ass but I don’t think I’ve ever encountered more insipid people. Blame them. Twilight is just the sad end result of all that dickery.
Thanks for the comment, and I completely agree with you. People act like romance and vampires are some new thing that started with Twilight, when in fact Rice made an entire career out of such stories. I remember reading complaints about er work in the letters section of the Fright Night comic book series nearly 25 years ago. Heck, even Stoker’s Dracula is, at heart, a romantic story.
The issues with Twilight aren’t the fact that the vampires have relationships or that the vampires are not that scary, it’s that the stories and characters are poorly written by a bad author. I wish more horror fans would complain about the horrific portrayal of women instead of sparkling vampires, because that is the real problem with Twilight.
I 100℅ agree with this post, to the people who are saying it was only made to make money. that’s just stupid, its based on a really good book, there’s nothing in the movie (I’ve seen it) that actually makes zombies look bad. Just because the main character “refuses to eat brains” um no, there is literally a scene where he eats a human brain, and just because his flesh isn’t falling off and decaying, ? No again, there are zombies in the movie who are decaying and stuff, he’s not one of them because he refuses to give up on his own humanity and judgement and keeps feeding. I really don’t see what peoples problems are.
I suppose some people just need something to complain about, as opposed to enjoying all the good things that the genre brings. I know I love the horror genre now as I did growing up, and that’s because I focus my sights on the good films that are coming out, not wasting time complaining about the ones I don’t like. Glad you dug the article and the film, and thanks for the comment!
Its more about people who love the genre want something that is considering horror to stay horror. and not being filled with emotions and “girly” stuff…
Like in twilight. Before vampires were an evil creature not a sparkling little boy that want love. And werewoles were people who transformed and had no control of what they did. Now daysthe people who loved that have more or less lost interest because the genre was taken over by teens. And thats what people hate
Zombie lovers lost the interest in werewoles and vampires since “what they were” changed and got made for teens. I have seen many examples of how a vampire is to day and its nothing like before :/
And thats what Im afraid of and probably the rest of all zombielovers are too. That zombies will be something for girly teens and not at all what they were supposed to be. dead and rotten but sparkling and full of emotions…
and yes, twiligt and warm bodies are the same, just another genre and changes to fit the genre more… Cant really say that i agree with this article at all…
Well, I appreciate the feedback, Matt, though I feel like you completely missed the point of the entire article, which is why you disagree with it. To make things a little easier, I will simply quote some of your comments with my thoughts:
“Its more about people who love the genre want something that is considering horror to stay horror. and not being filled with emotions and “girly” stuff…”
I’ve been a “hardcore” horror fan for 25 years, so I think it’s safe to say that I love the genre, and I see absolutely nothing that indicates that the genre is going extinct. I mean, are there no more horror films being made now because of a few Twilight movies? Think about it for a second…
“Like in twilight. Before vampires were an evil creature not a sparkling little boy that want love.”
I mean, I guess you’ve never heard of Dracula. Minus the sparkling, Dracula is a character who is driven almost entirely by love. Vampires have been romanticized characters since they were created, and well before Twilight ever came around. I guess you’ve never heard of Anne Rice, either.
“And werewoles were people who transformed and had no control of what they did.”
Teen Wolf
“Now daysthe people who loved that have more or less lost interest because the genre was taken over by teens. And thats what people hate
Zombie lovers lost the interest in werewoles and vampires since “what they were” changed and got made for teens. I have seen many examples of how a vampire is to day and its nothing like before :/”
You’re going to have to explained to me how both vampires and werewolves have been changed since Twilight? What are your examples? Seriously, I would love to hear them. If you really think that the genre is taken over by teens, then why is it the only film you can seem to talk about is Twilight? Twilight is self contained, and it’s influenced does not at all effect the genre. It is a genre unto itself. Twilight is not a horror film, so how can it be hurting horror?
“And thats what Im afraid of and probably the rest of all zombielovers are too. That zombies will be something for girly teens and not at all what they were supposed to be. dead and rotten but sparkling and full of emotions…”
Well, then according to your argument, The Walking Dead is set to become a show for teenage girls. The writers, producers and AMC are, at this very moment, making changes to the show so it’ll be more like Warm Bodies. Based on your thinking, I am willing to bet that World War Z isn’t gong to be released. Instead, the studio is fast tracking a zombie love story called World Love Z. I heard there’s a new Zombieland TV show… I wonder how many scenes of zombie romance they fit in, you know, since Warm Bodies has ruined everything.
Please, take a moment and think about how things have changed?
“and yes, twiligt and warm bodies are the same, just another genre and changes to fit the genre more… Cant really say that i agree with this article at all…”
Have you seen either of them? I mean, if you did, you wouldn’t say that they are the same, because THEY ARE NOT. And if you didn’t see Warm Bodies, you don’t have the right to an opinion.Sorry, but to have an opinion you need to have something for that opinion to be based off of, and basing an opinion off what you THINK a movie is isn’t how opinions work. That’s like saying you hate tacos, but you’ve never even had them before.
Before I sign off, I will say that you really need to stop giving a shit about Twilight and focus on the good films that come form the horror genre. There is plenty of great horror cinema being released, so enjoy it instead of wasting your time crying about a movie that doesn’t even matter to the genre.
The strongest point made is that zombie films are stale. I’m so ridiculously bored of zombies that I won’t even watch The Walking Dead. But as for a lot of your other points ,you’re coming off as an enraged moviegoer, just like those you accuse. “It’s not your genre,” while true, no one can “claim” it, zombies, by definition in most places, even voodoo, are dead. When you’re dead, things rot. Capable of emotions? Well, probably depends on the length of deadness. But to say go and make a film but not a zombie film nullifies your defense.
I appreciate the feedback, Mike. In my defense, it’s hard not to be a little enraged when being constantly assaulted by ignorant horror fans whose best arguments are that “it’s gay.” The difference between me and the handful of ignorant horror fans is that I can compile a reasonable argument as opposed to these people who live in a fantasy world where Twilight and Warm Bodies has completely turned all horror into a tampon commercial for 12-year-olds. Which is simply not true. These sheep live in a bubble where they live to hate everything.
As far as it not being anyone’s genre, well, it’s not. No one person has the right to say that zombies are supposed to be this or should be that, because they can be whatever the person who writes a story wants them to be. If people conformed to these ridiculous, non-existent rules that the “zombie community” think are in place, then there would never be progression in storytelling, and if there’s no progression, then it all become stale. Furthermore, if people followed rules then there wouldn’t even be zombies as we know them in the first place. In fact, the Voodoo zombies you mention are not actually dead, but people who are under a spell; more specifically people who are drugged to the point that they look like they are the walking dead. White Zombie covered this, and that is the first full-length zombie film ever made.
When I say that people should make their own film if they want to do zombies how they personally like them (because this is all personal preference we are talking about here), then tell them not to make a zombie film, was meant as a joke and referring to the point you mentioned about the genre being tired.
this was clearly a romance movie, uh Duh………
I am a diehard zombie fan, one of the “purists” and I loved the book “Warm Bodies”. I watched the movie today, and was generally pleased with it. This is something different – one of the few movies that actually finds a humanistic solution to the zombie problem – and is a hundred times better than many other zombie movies that have been released in the past few years.
It is nothing like twilight. Watching the two films or reading the two books will clear that up right away.
Oh, and it certainly wasn’t written for “teenage girls”.
*Applause* love it! Hats off to you! Well, assuming I was wearing a hat. It doesn’t make the compliment any less valid! Pretend it was a really big, pompous hat!
I too, am “zombied” out. They’ve been over-used and over done. When they start showing up in car insurance commercials, it’s just too much. Fido is still one of my favorites, though.