Breathing new life into this 'corpse' of a genre

Rating: 8/10 (6 November 2014)

I don't want to mention Twilight, but, let's face it, it was 'vampires for teens,' just like Beautiful Creatures was 'witches for teens.' The 'teen market' is very profitable when it comes to film-making. Therefore, what with the trend in zombie movies in the last decade or so, it was only a matter of time before someone made a 'zombies for teens' movie.
Amazingly, it's actually pretty good.
It starts in a decimated world where the undead outnumber the living (nothing new there then, eh?). Only one - former teenage boy - zombie is starting to have 'feelings.' These remembered emotions lead him to make contact with the last few human survivors and strike up a friendship with a living girl.
It plays out like Romeo and Juliet (check out the unsubtle nod to the Shakespearean play in the 'balcony scene') where the boys 'zombie family' don't take too kindly to a living human among them (that they can't eat) and the girl's human settlement doesn't relish the possibility of a brain-eating flesh-eater wandering among them.
If you can move yourself out of the typical 'dumb' zombie world we're used to from George Romero and The Walking Dead etc and step into one where zombies can now talk, reason and even love, then you should give this one a go. It's not just for teens - zombie/horror fans like myself are treated to a healthy dose of gore and skeletons ripping people apart. There's a small helping of humour in it too and, on a personal level, I actually preferred the film when it was being an out and out comedy, but there's not too many laughs, so don't expect them coming thick and fast.
In a market saturated by one rubbish zombie movie after the next, fair play to Warm Bodies for trying - and succeeding - in bringing something a little different to the genre.