By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
The gimmick of marrying Victorian age attitudes with pop culture is nothing new. Neither is trying to sell Shakespearean stylized takes on Star Wars, but woe be thy author who tries to find innovation in this weird mash-up genre where a famous piece of literature is married with geek culture. The movie version of Pride & Prejudice and Zombies does not add upon what Seth Grahame-Smith wrote in his twist of Jane Austen’s classic. A few minor changes exist to make the on-screen version palatable, including tossing every single variation of a zombie (from a baby to a butcher) into the presentation, but they feel minuscule when compared to the concept that’s being presented at large.
Burr Steers provided the screenplay adaptation of an action-comedy adventure where Elizabeth Bennet (Lily James) refuses to marry. Like the book, to improve their station in life, both she or her sisters should marry well-to-do men. Liz quite simply does not like the idea. Jane (Bella Heathcote), Kitty (Suki Waterhouse), Lydia (Ellie Bamber) and Mary (Millie Brady) are more receptive than her, and when the world is in the onslaught of being taken over by zombies, to court an easy life in this new world is neigh tough.