Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is coming out for blu-ray and digital download next week on May 31, which made me realize that I never said anything about it here on Blogging Dead. So here are some thoughts on a marketing piece released with the film and a brief review of the movie itself.
Zombify Yourself
Since I’ve extensively covered The Walking Dead’s Dead Yourself app, I thought I’d check out a similar feature that Sony Pictures released as part of the film’s marketing called Zombify Yourself. The press release announcing said feature said that after users visit the site they can upload or take a photo and facial recognition software will create a gif of them transforming into the decaying undead. That gif can then be shared easily across social networks or via text with friends.
My attempt at Zombifying Myself
I was skeptical, but I gave this feature a shot anyway, only to find out that it’s pretty boring. All you really do is upload the photo and the feature does the rest. There’s no personality or customization. And it doesn’t even really look that cool. The resulting gif might be sharable, although I don’t think I’d really want to show it to anyone. I’m reluctant to even share it with you. The transformation part happens so quickly and looks like such crap. It might be better if it was more gradual. My main issue with it though is basically the same one I have with the movie itself, it doesn’t to commit enough to the zombie premise to be engaging. So on that note, I will share my brief review of the film.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Review
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies doesn’t have enough Pride and Prejudice or zombies fully please fans from either camp. On paper, the mash up of Jane Austen and the undead seems entertaining, and for the first few minutes of the film it is, as you see the comical juxtaposition of 19th century English propriety against the brutal utility of what’s needed to the survive the zombie apocalypse. However the entire thing feels like one joke that overstays its welcome, just like the flamboyant character played by Matt Smith, who shows up in way too many scenes. The movie doesn’t deliver nearly enough action or contribute anything interesting to mythology to be a good zombie movie. In fact, it gets so hung up laughing at its own joke that it forgets to even explain how the undead are dispatched in this world. It also doesn’t give you enough of Austen’s characters or plot to be engaging. The only decent performance comes from Lily James as Elizabeth Bennet, who has almost no one to play off aside from her father (Charles Dance) or a warrior woman (Lena Headey). Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has a zombified 19th century exterior, but it’s missing the substantive guts to make it a memorable, satisfying experience.