If you’re like me, chances are that your mother had you reading novels written by female authors from the 1800s at a very young age. And when I say young, I say ten years old. Don’t ask me why. I found the fact that my mother thrusted books like Little Women, Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and other books whose titles I don’t even remember at me just as weird as asking my mother, years later, “Why?” Between issues of Spider-Man, I was reading about how not to be a proper lady in both the English and American countrysides.
Then, just a few years ago, I learned the reason. My mother was preparing me for the future, when such books would evolve into sharper wit in print, more contemporary social contexts, and, most importantly, ninjas and zombies. That was the day that I picked up the Jane Austen parody Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, co-authored by Seth Grahame-Smith. Finally, the book made sense! All it needed was the undead roaming the countryside, guns, and swordplay! And maybe a few more years of schooling and life experience under my belt.
I enjoyed this book so much that I decided to pick up the modern film version of Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightly and Matthew Macfadyen. No, I didn’t do it because my significant other asked me to match another romance movie, like The Notebook and Down to You. I did it for research, to see what Hollywood did for the original novel, and how it could be updated to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies standards.
Unfortunately for me, writer/director Burr Steers beat me to the punch, and it looks like a film that will hold up to the expectations of a zombie apocalypse in the 1800s with corset-wearing ninjas.
If the trailer is any indication of what is to come, fans of the literary version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies will have a field day with this movie. It’s as if Kill Bill was shot in the British 1800s during an epidemic of the undead, just as the satirical nature of the book was intended. The looming problem is the rating. PG-13. The trailer seems to shy away from the graphic violence that even AMC’s The Walking Dead is able to get away with on cable television. While this may not totally kill the expectations of the movie, it is something that reserves my hopes of what this movie could be.
We will find out soon. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is set to hit theaters on February 5th, 2016.