'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ Is Goofy, Feminist, and Forgettable

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a novel that has earned a good fortune, must be in want of a film adaptation. And so it's no surprise that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the movie, based on the 2009 bestselling Victorian-horror mash-up by Seth Grahame-Smith has arrived.

A movie that is based on a book is already a loaded beast, as you're not only assessing the movie, but also looking at how the book that inspired it fits in. You're comparing and critiquing. But movies based on mash-up books take things to another level. You're watching a movie based on a book that is based on a book that is also based on something that has nothing to do with the book but added to the book, hopefully in the pursuit of humor.

As might be expected, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies the movie doesn't bother too much with self-analysis. Instead, the film, which stars Lily James, Matt Smith, Lena Headey, and other acclaimed British actors, is a gleeful romp through the world as Austen saw it, a realm of heaving corsets, witty repartee, and verdant meadows glistening in the rain. There are also a whole lot of zombies, but just like in the book, they aren't scary so much as they are kind of dumb, and it's fun to watch women in ball gowns and up-dos kick the shit out of them.

Fans have been waiting a while to see the movie come to fruition. The film was optioned by Lionsgate practically as soon as the book hit the shelves. Originally it was said that Natalie Portman was to play Elizabeth Bennet, and though she co-produced the movie, the lead role ended up going to Lily James, who nails the insolate Darcy stare-down.

Perhaps no one has been as eager to see what would become of the film then Grahame-Smith, a friendly, laid-back guy who lives in LA and is a joy to interview because he gets what it's like to be a freelance writer pulling on sources for revealing answers.

"Hey man, I was there. I know what it's like," he said, referring to the struggling writer's existence he was living when the opportunity to write Pride and Prejudice and Zombies presented itself. The idea came from Jason Rekulak, publisher of Quirk Books, an indie publishing house Grahame-Smith had been writing for.

"He had made these list of [classic] books like Wuthering Heights," and on the other side of the page he'd write things like 'ninjas,' 'pirates,' 'ghosts,'" Grahame-Smith told me, over the phone. "He was looking for the two ingredients; that magic chocolate and peanut butter combination. One day he called me up out of the blue and said, 'I am going to say these words and don't react, just tell me what you think: Pride and Prejudice… and zombies."

Grahame-Smith flipped out. "It was the best thing I'd ever heard in my life," he said. "I hadn't read Pride and Prejudice since I was in high school, but immediately I was thinking of these girls in regency-era dresses doing Kung Fu. It wasn't about the zombies; it was about the contrast of the clothing and this Shaolin fighting style that became the Bennet sisters' fighting style in the book. It just became so plainly obvious how it could work right from the beginning."

Grahame-Smith started writing the book and continued on in an "almost feverish state" for the next two months. He read everything Austen wrote. The process was "daunting," he admitted, "because she's one of the best writers who ever wrote."

The feeling is one I can relate to all too well. In 2012, indie publishing house Skyhorse Publishing recruited me to write Fifty Shades of Dorian Gray, a satirical mash-up of Oscar Wilde's timeless classic and E. L. James's less-classic if bestselling trilogy. I had three months to deliver it and, like Grahame-Smith, was also thrown into a feverish state.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies , Grahame-Smith estimates, is about 20 percent him and 80 percent Austen. In the case of my book, it's about 50/50, with a whole lot of jokes at James's expense. Grahame-Smith's book has sold over a million copies. Mine sold maybe 42. But who's comparing?

Part of why Grahame-Smith believes his book did so astronomically well is because, though it's an ultimately humorous book, there's no poking fun at the characters or the context: Elizabeth Bennet is still the feminist hero, and high society is still the enemy for assessing a woman based on her marital status. "I didn't try to change any of the themes or characteristics," he said. "I just tried to make the contrasts ridiculous."

The movie mirrors this sentiment. While it's hilarious and bizarre to have gnarly ghouls with loose eye sockets prowling hungrily around the English countryside, there's no mockery or derision. This is what excites Grahame-Smith the most about the movie.

"The biggest compliment I give the movie is that they instantly understood that the only way this would ever work was to go at it completely seriously and not to wink at the audience," he said. "It's not a spoof of Jane Austen, the way that Scary Movie is a spoof of horror movies. It's like a BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, and then oh, by the way, there are zombies in it."

Still, it can be challenging for a movie-going audience to take this premise seriously, which is one of PP&Z's biggest problems. There's no real fear or suspense built around the zombie attacks so you never actually think anything bad will happen. Also lacking in tension is the central romance between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, which feels hackneyed and obvious. Grahame-Smith's book manages to keep their fire burning, largely because he leaves so much of Austen's prose uninterrupted. The movie, on the other hand, throws a zombie attack in at every opportunity as though it's got a quota to fill.

The film wants to be both a funny action movie and a classic love story but doesn't fully commit to either; ultimately it feels forced and forgettable. It's clear that, with its CGI effects and PG-13 rating, the movie wants to appeal to tweens, whom Grahame-Smith says embraced the book. But many Austen devotees also supported the book, which was crucial to its success. What's does the movie hold for them? Without the savory unfolding of their favorite love story, not much, I'm afraid.

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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is playing in theaters nationwide.