'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' spoofs a literary classic

By Sarah Sluis

The not-yet-released reworking of a Jane Austen classic, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, has taken the Internet by storm, the clever cover of the book selling an idea that's Snakes on a Plane ridiculous. Hollywood studios, apparently, are now in a bidding war to acquire rights to the book, which just might result in the biggest invasion of the romcom genre in some time.

The book, written by comedian Seth Grahame-Smith, is 85% original, 15% a fan fiction-like takeoff that contextualizes Elizabeth Bennet's love triangle against a zombie attack. One can only hope that part of Bennet's misgivings about Mr. Darcy now involve fears that he either is a zombie or was somehow involved in their proliferation.

I am extremely amused by this idea, although I imagine it might be hard to extend the gimmick to a novel-length or feature-length project. Romcom whiners can rejoice over an injection of zombies, sure to liven up the passive hand-wringing and letter-writing of period romances. The idea has sparked other ideas for adaptations, including a cross of a Japanese ghost story with Wuthering Heights, where a deceased Catherine returns to haunt Heathcliff, and a more horrific take on the crazy wife locked in the attic of Jane Eyre (although, sixty years later, the 1944 version starring Orson Welles is still a must-see). Unlike Pride and Prejudice, these two books are gothic romances, and much more suitable to a horrific adaptation, and would probably be shorter on comedy than the Jane Austen/Zombie rework. With so many horror movies influenced by gothic romance, I think it's a great idea to go back to the source, put the horror on equal weight with the romance, and apply the conventions and style of modern horror movies to a period tale. Movies like What Lies Beneath (2000) and Ghost (1990), the only two examples I can think of that put the romance and horror/mystery elements on equal footing, are fairly rare, so I would welcome a chance to mix my thrills, whether it's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or a reimagining of another gothic romance classic.