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Zombie love story? The roots behind WARM BODIES

Chris Well

“George Romero tried to touch on the humanity of the zombies.”—author Isaac Marion

The 2013 zombie movie Warm Bodies is a romantic comedy based on Isaac Marion’s 2010 novel—which, itself, is inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. “I don’t buy the notion that a zombie can be truly ‘mindless,’” Marion told Monster Complex. “The actions they perform in most zombie fiction require some form of consciousness. I find it telling how quick people are to dismiss them as non-human cannon fodder the moment they stop behaving in ways we understand.”

Watch the video to see the trailer, then scroll down for more info about the movie and for the author’s comments on the book series…

The film zeroes in on the developing relationship between Julie a live young woman, a zombie, and their eventual romance, which brings the zombie back to human form. The film is noted for showing human traits in zombie characters—and being told from a zombie's perspective. Directed by Jonathan Levine, the film stars Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Rob Corddry, Dave Franco, Lio Tipton, Cory Hardrict, and John Malkovich.

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The original Warm Bodies novel, by author Isaac Marion, started out as the short story “I Am a Zombie Filled with Love.” Marion has now written four novels in the series.

The author said in an interview with Monster Complex that his biggest peeve with regular zombie fiction is just how nobody seems interested in the zombies themselves. “They’re used as props and obstacles for the living characters,” Marion said, “and rarely ever explored individually.”

Marion said that many zombie stories make the distinction between “zombie vs human”—but, in fact, zombies are human. “They’re people in some kind of horrific altered state,” he said. “I don’t buy the notion that a zombie can be truly ‘mindless.’ The actions they perform in most zombie fiction require some form of consciousness. I find it telling how quick people are to dismiss them as non-human cannon fodder the moment they stop behaving in ways we understand.”

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