'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' Finally, a Chick Flick With Braaaiins!
Filed under: Action, Classics, Comedy, Horror, Romance, RumorMonger, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
The book has been the talk of the blogosphere for weeks -- and now the studio bidding war means we can write about it. According to both the Sydney Herald and the Times, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is in the middle of a full blown studio bidding war.The book by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith doesn't hit bookstores until April, but given the buzz, it's already a hit. (Yes, that is the cover to your right.)
Zombies is a slight reworking of the Austen original, offering the "lost chapters" of Pride and Prejudice that reveal Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy fell in love in the midst of a zombie attack. Evidence of the attack apparently survived even in the original novel, as Grahame-Smith points out: "Why else in the original should a regiment arrive on Lizzie Bennet's doorstep when they should have been off fighting Napoleon? It was to protect the family from an invasion of brain-eaters, obviously."
Obviously. Though I suspect the book will be more hype than original substance (85% of it is the original Pride, the rest is zombie), and I find the zombie obsession a bit wearing, I can't resist this concept. As a girl, I'm obligated to love Austen (I wept a little when I visited her house in Surrey), and as a film geek, I love gratuitous action and gore above all else. To see Elizabeth Bennet fighting zombies ninja style (for real -- Mr. Darcy teaches her how) means I can die a happy girl.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-11-2009 @ 12:30PM
Peter Hall said...
85% of it is original Austen? That's just lazy (albeit brilliant) craftsmanship right there.
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2-11-2009 @ 1:13PM
ML said...
Really? This sounds like a fan fic exercise.
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2-11-2009 @ 3:17PM
Rebekah said...
This sounds awesome. I can't think of anything better than mixing Austen with the brain eating undead. I think Austen would find it hilarious--I know that I do. I'm usually an Austen purist, but if you're going to mess with it why not go big?
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2-11-2009 @ 4:41PM
C said...
i can't believe someone would destroy Austen's great work like this!
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2-12-2009 @ 10:09PM
LiquidWeird said...
Me either! Isn't it great! Yay travesty!
4-09-2009 @ 7:36PM
Epic Win said...
Which is exactly why this book is incredible, because it takes something that's boring, dry and plain, into something worth reading and that's actually interesting for a change!
Seriously! Inserting zombies carrying some pestiferous plague, making all the Bennet girls killing machines (Especially Lizzy) and still keep the same blah, romance and feminism crap is sheer genius.
It's not destroying a classic piece of literature, it's perfecting it!
4-14-2009 @ 3:10AM
mal-function said...
I can't believe it took this long.
5-08-2009 @ 6:49AM
Brian said...
Exactly! The original work is ruined! Forever! Now that a parody has been created, the original classic no longer exists, and children will be forced to read this bastardized new version in schools!
I don't know how the author did it, but he managed to obliterate all memory of Austin's original Pride and Prejudice from the public mind!
Seriously, dude, sarcasm aside, don't go saying he destroyed it, when he obviously didn't.
2-12-2009 @ 3:20AM
Vampyra said...
This is a joke right? How ghastly! Pride and Prejudice is a classic. What next Romeo and Juliet with vampires! Leave masterpieces alone!
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2-26-2009 @ 12:58PM
Riko said...
Actually, that would be pretty badass.
3-12-2009 @ 10:48AM
Skwizzal said...
One word:
Twilight
4-13-2009 @ 4:21AM
Mal-function said...
R & J with vampires = Twilight.
4-15-2009 @ 5:38AM
Vampyra said...
In reply to Mal-function. I actually went to the movies to see Twilight and what the fuss was all about. Guess what? You're absolutely right! It is Romeo and Juliet! I am going to be very unpopular for saying this but Twilight has to be the worst vampire movie ever made. It was so uninspiring, what a pack of wimpy vamps they were. Where were the fangs? Where's the sex appeal? Vampires are meant to be sensual, beautiful and cruel. I am sorry to say this but the movie was a monumental yawn.
2-14-2009 @ 1:06PM
Ben Fellini said...
This sounds like a 18th centry version of the R.R's Grindhouse half: 'Planet Terror' (2007)...
I will look forward to it, it sounds greatly comic.
B.R.
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2-14-2009 @ 11:18PM
Michelle said...
LOL!
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2-16-2009 @ 10:01PM
Liza said...
How deliciously macabre. This combines my love of Jane Austen and brain-eating zombies. I'm so excited!
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2-18-2009 @ 6:14PM
T. Regnier said...
My god, this is awful. Is Jane Eyre next? Mr. Rochester's wife a werewolfe in attic rather than a hysteric? Jez... This is just stupid. Zombies? It takes real artistic genius, I'm sure, to take a book, and add new chapters with... zombies... in them. Regency-era England was just full of 'em, too.
Also, sorry to geek out on you, there would be good reason for the regiment to be there in the original. Many regiments of militia (which it is specifically described as being) were stationed in Brighton, which, being on the south og England was susceptible to a French invasion. But, in winter, the regiments left to spend the winter in the country towns. Hertfordshire would be tolerably near Brighton.
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2-25-2009 @ 9:12PM
Peter Ricci said...
This is a nice post on "Zombies"! My name is Peter Ricci, and I am a college student and journalist. Currently, I am writing for 'Too Shy to Stop,' an online magazine that focuses on culture and the arts.
My latest story, as chance would have it, is about "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," and I stumbled across your post while doing research. Here is the link to the story: http://www.tooshytostop.com/index.php/2009/02/25/mr-darcy-wants-to-suck-your-blood/. I focus on the history behind the story, splashing on a little commentary and original sources.
So check it out! I think you'll like it. Be sure to leave a comment, also. We love reader input!
Sincerely,
Peter Ricci
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3-07-2009 @ 11:42PM
sebastian donner said...
awesome!
Pride and Prejudice and ZombiesPride and Prejudice and Zombies, a title coming out from Quirk Books, has the web all lit up with excitement. Taking the original text of Jane Austen's famous book, author Seth Grahame-Smith infuses all kinds of zombie goodness.http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1518879/pride_and_prejudice_and_zombies.html
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4-14-2009 @ 3:00AM
mal-function said...
So often I've sat through the flick version thinking 'would be sooo good to see about now a rotted face ghoul launching thru THAT window...'
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