Seth Grahame Smith has written a number spoof book based on classic literary novels. His latest parody is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is a combination of Jane Austen’s 1813 novel with some modern zombie stories thrown in for good measure, and his crediting Austen as the co-author of this book.
The plot of this particular book follows closely the one of the original literature Pride and Prejudice, but puts it in an alternative universe of the Regency period of England where zombies ran amok through the land. They were called the stricken, sorry stricken, undead, unmentionables or zombies, who were their deceased ancestors and were considered a deadly nuisance. Their presence in the novel changes the plot somewhat in some significant and subtle ways. The zombies are openly discussed and judged for their fighting abilities, the women are considered unladylike because they carry and use muskets (rifles) and some characters are captured and eaten. The main character is Elizabeth Bennet along with her four sisters, who live on an estate in the country with their parents. The girls are taught the martial arts and the use of weapons, while Mrs. Bennet tries to marry all the girls to wealthy men. When Charles Bingley moves into a nearby house, Mrs. Bennet sees a chance to have her daughters attend their first ball and meet Bingley. The zombies attack the party and while the girls defend those there, Bingley is attracted to Jane Bennet, but unfortunately, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth do not do so well in that department.
Bingley and company suddenly leave the country home and return to the safety of London. The local militia then shows up to destroy all the dead bodies before they turn to zombies, and Elizabeth befriends George Wickham, a soldier, who informs her that Darcy has cheated him of an inheritance. This strengthens her feelings toward Darcy especially when she finds out that he plans to break up Jane and Bingley. Elizabeth decides to kill Darcy while visiting her newly married friend Charlotte who is turning into a zombie. Before she attempts to behead Darcy with her traditionally made Japanese sword, he asks her to marry him. This infuriates her and they end up in a ferocious fight, where she wounds him. He leaves and sends a long letter to her explaining his actions toward Jane and Bingley. He feared Jane had contracted the plague. As for Wickham, Darcy tells her that Wickham had attempted to elope with Darcy’s sister and steal her inheritance.
While traveling with her aunt and uncle, she fights zombies along the way and comes across Darcy who helps her fight off a large group of them. Her attitude toward Darcy changes and she considers starting a relationship with him, when unfortunately, Wickham elopes with her youngest sister Lydia and they move to Ireland. Darcy set up this marriage, hopefully saving the Bennet family from financial ruin. Elizabeth’s friend Charlotte has turned and her husband beheads and burns her body, then hangs himself.
Darcy and Bingley return and Bingley resumes courting Jane, while Elizabeth renews her relationship with Darcy, but his aunt, Lady Catherine, interferes, stating that her daughter Anne has been promised to him. Challenged to a fight, Elizabeth defeats Lady Catherine in the fight Catherine initiated. Darcy, who is impressed with Elizabeth’s generosity sparing his aunt’s life, marries her and they begin a long future together fighting zombies.
Grahame Smith has written a few other books paired with classical literature and modern horror, such as Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (already made into a film)
The film adapted from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is an intermediate translation of the book and was written and directed by Burr Steers. It stars Lily James as Elizabeth Bennet, Sam Riley plays Mr. Darcy, with Jack Huston as Mr. Wickham, Douglas Booth is Mr. Bingley, Bella Heathcote as Jane Bennet, Matt Smith is Mr. Collins. Charles Dance as Mr. Bennet, and Lena Headey is Lady Catherine.
So what is this film about and why did it do so poorly at the box office? The exposition starts with the nineteenth century, in England, with Darcy traveling to a wealthy family, investigating rumors of newly infected zombies. He releases carrion flies that can find the undead. The flies light on the head of the house and Darcy kills him while discovering that this man’s niece has also turned and is “eating” one of the servants. The four Bennet sisters were sent to China to learn the martial arts, but Mrs. Bennet only wants her daughters to be married to wealthy men. As luck would have it, a wealthy family, the Bingley’s, have moved to the countryside and are throwing a party, where, Mrs. Bennet is hoping one of her daughters will attract the Bingley’s young son and Jane does. Darcy, overheard by Elizabeth, makes unfavorable comments about her and causes her distress, leaving the party and encounters a zombie, that is killed by Darcy. Then a group of zombies attack the ball and are defeated by the Bennet sisters. Darcy is impressed with Elizabeth’s fighting prowess.
Jane, on her way to tea with the Bingley sisters, is attacked by a zombie. She fires her gun, but it backfires, leaving a wound on her hand that resembles a zombie bite. Viewing the wound, Darcy insists that Jane be confined to her room, but she catches the flies he releases which prove that she has not been bitten. After she recovers, the sisters attend another party held at the Bingley’s where Elizabeth meets a charming and polite soldier named Mr. Wickham. He informs her of his history with Darcy while another band of zombies attack, resulting in Bingley getting hurt and Darcy helping Elizabeth fight them.
Parson Collins (comic relief) who has every intention in marrying one of the Bennet sisters, especially Jane, finds out that she is with Bingley. He then turns his sights on Elizabeth and even though he proposes to her, she tells him that her life is dedicated to being a warrior, he settles on Charlotte, Elizabeth’s friend. Traveling with Wickham, they go to a church filled with zombies, who eat only pig brains to keep from eating human brains. He asks Elizabeth to join with him helping the zombies and that she run away with him. It is here that she, along with Wickham, meet Darcy’s wealthy zombie-killing aunt, Lady Catherine, to persuade her to accept the more civil zombies. Both Darcy and his aunt refuse to help.
Arriving home, Elizabeth learns that the Bingleys have move back to London at Darcy’s insistence. She is furious, fights him in a duel and he leaves for London. He writes an apology letter to her and tells her that he believed that Jane only wanted to marry Bingley because of his money and explains the situation with Wickham about Wickham’s attempt to elope with Darcy’s fifteen-year-old sister for her inheritance. Lady Catherine’s bodyguard attacks Elizabeth, who beats him, but helps Lady Catherine to decide to help and protect Elizabeth’s family at her home. Wickham, however, has taken off with Elizabeth’s youngest sister. Darcy is in London and Elizabeth joins him to fight the zombies. Wickham and Darcy meet at an old church where Darcy rescues Elizabeth’s sister, but in the fighting, Darcy injures Wickham and shows a bite mark on his chest, proving that he is a zombie. But Elizabeth saves the day, and chops of Wickham’s arm, knocking him unconscious as well. Darcy and Elizabeth ride across the bridge to London as the army destroys the bridge, trapping the zombies. Unfortunately, Darcy is hurt, but Elizabeth admits she loves him. A recovering Darcy finds Elizabeth, kisses her and marries her, sharing a joint wedding with Bingley and Jane, presided over by Parson Collins. At a mid-point in the credits, a one-armed Wickham is leading a horde of zombies, getting ready for a war (and a planned sequel)?
There are a number of reasons why this film did so poorly at the box office; the main reason to this writer is the storytelling and the weak dialog. The visual effects, CGI, cinematography, costumes and continuity were okay. The zombie makeup was fine, but the other actor’s makeup needed some help as did their extremely white teeth! I know that seems minor, but it was very distracting as was the dialog during the fight scenes…more better audio editing? I liked the idea of using out-of-focus to show what the zombies saw, but again, it was not handled well, so it became distracting.
The deadpan humor and the kookiness suggested by the title (book and film) fell short on many occasions throughout the movie. I enjoyed the book much better. It had a very simple premise: Jane Austen’s book Pride and Prejudice (and Zombies)! Undead bad guys and some amusing comedic romances and relationships that could have been perhaps adapted better to television. It was funny (at times), bloody (at times), but just missed the mark (most of the time). GRADE: 2 of 5 crowns
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