Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is written and directed by Burr Steers that is based off of the novel by Jane Austen. It stars Lily James, Same Riley, Suki Waterhouse, Douglas Booth, Jack Huston, Lena Headey, and Sally Phillips. The basic plot of the story remains from the novel but a zombie outbreak is added.

Summary: Mr. Darcy (Sam Riley) is a wealthy zombie killer and goes to the home of a wealthy family to see about a zombie sighting. When no one states that they have been bitten he realizes flies because they are attracted to decaying flesh. When they land on the man who owns the home he tries to attack Darcy, which leads Darcy to decapitating him. One of the girls gets frightened and runs upstairs where another zombie, a female, is found and attacks her. The movie is then narrated by Mr.Bennet who explains how the outbreak happened and it is shown through animation. The audience is then introduced to the Bennet family which is made up of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and their 5 daughters, Jane, Elizabeth (Lily James), Kitty, Lydia, and Mary. They all were sent to China when the outbreak first happened to study the art of hand to hand combat and sword fighting. Their mother wants them all to be married off to wealthy men and she hears of a ball being held in town, they attend. Mr. Bingley (Douglas Booth) and Mr. Darcy walk into the ball and Bingley is instantly dran to Jane Bennet. Elizabeth overhears Mr. Darcy make an insulting remake about her to Mr. Bingley and runs outside where she sees a woman she knows who turns out to be a zombie. The woman is about to tell Elizabeth something but her head gets blown off by Darcy. A bunch of zombies start attacking the party and the Bennet girls spring into action and Darcy witnesses the awesomeness of the Bennet sisters. Jane is sent to Bingley's house on a rainy day to have dinner there when she encounters a zombie and is attacked. She is confined in a room in Bingley's home due to fear that she could've been bitten. When Elizabeth gets there she sees Jane and inspects the wound, which is when Darcy walks in and releases flies into the room to see if they'll land on Jane. Elizabeth catches them all and gives them back to Darcy after she crushes them. After Jane gets better they attend a ball held by Bingley. Elizabeth meets a soldier named Mr. Wickham (Jack Huston) and he tells her of his past with Darcy. The ball gets attacked by zombies and Bingley gets knocked out and Darcy and Elizabeth fight the zombies together. The Bennet's cousin, Mr. Collins, comes to visit and he tells Mrs. Bennet of his intentions of marrying one of her daughters. He later proposes to Elizabeth and tells her that she will have to give up fighting once they get married, she refuses his offer. Mr. Collins ends up marrying Elizabeth's friend Charlotte. Elizabeth visits Charlotte once she is married and they have dinner at Mr. Collins patronage's house, Lady Catherine de Bourgh (who is a well known fighter). Darcy is there and the audience finds out that she is his aunt and wants Darcy to marry her daughter Anne. Elizabeth goes with Mr.Wickham to a church in the In-Between and discovers that the people inside are all zombies who are staying alive by feeding off of pig brains. Wickham wants Elizabeth to help him help the zombies but she isn't sure how she feels about it. Darcy persuades the Bingleys to move away and then goes to propose to Elizabeth who is furious at what he's done and fights him. Later Darcy writes her a letter explaining why he told Bingley to move away as well as the past he had with Wickham. Lady Catherine goes to the Bennet's house where her body guard attacks Elizabeth while Lady Catherine explains that she doesn't want Darcy to marry her but her daughter, Anne. Elizabeth fights of the guard and he gets crushed by bricks; Lady Catherine states that she respects Elizabeth and leaves her alone. The zombies head towards London and Elizabeth joins Darcy in the In-Between. Darcy and Wickham fight and when Darcy impales Wickham it is revealed that Wickham has a zombie bite meaning he was undead all along. Before Wickham has the chance to kill Darcy Elizabeth rides in and chops his arm off and knocks him out. Darcy and Elizabeth are riding across the bridge that is about to be blown up to keep the zombies out of London. The bridge is blown as they are riding across and it knocks them off the horse, injuring Darcy. During this time Elizabeth confesses her love for him. Later, once Darcy has recovered, he finds Elizabeth and tells her that he heard what she said on the bridge. They kiss and agree to get married. They have a joint wedding with Jane and Bingley and live happily ever after; until after a few of the credits role the couples see in the distance a zombie army being lead by Mr. Wickham.

Review: I liked this movie but I feel that it could have had more action sequences. The ones that did happen were really well done. The makeup and costumes were fantastic and all of the actors did a good job. I must admit that the voice of Darcy was irritating and the woman who played Mrs. Bennet was annoying. It stuck to the story line of the original "Pride and Prejudice" pretty well but I feel that the bonds between the sisters weren't as prevalent. All in all it was a very entertaining movie to watch and I hope they make a sequel because they left it open at the end!