You know how, for a while, everywhere you looked someone was cashing in on vampires? There’s True Blood, there’s the crappy sparkly vampire books… they are everywhere! I mean, jumping on bandwagons isn’t a new phenomenon. And, let’s face it, Hollywood has made bandwagon jumping an Olympic sport.

So, I was vaguely intrigued when I saw the preview for Warm Bodies, a movie that appeared (by the preview) to be about zombies. The preview was kinda funny but I had a bit of guarded skepticism. Was it a spoof, like Not Another Stupid Movie With Teenagers? Or was it a romance? Was it Hollywood saying “Look! Zombies! They are popular for this 10 minutes! Jump!!”

So, when I went to the screening, it was with cautious optimism that I viewed it. The results?

It was pretty darn entertaining. And, for Hollywood, a semi-original idea on a very tried-and-true theme.

Think of it as a a rom-com version of Romeo and Juliet, set in a post-apocalyptic world. The main zombie character only knows his name was R. The girl? Her name is Jules. Get it? Romeo and Juliet. As they fall in love R, who has no idea how he died in the first place, slowly comes back to life.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really know who the two leads were before this movie. Angsty teen movies aren’t my thing. I don’t spend hours glued to the CW channel, either. So, I’m not up on them. But, both of them did a pretty decent job here. John Malkovich played Jules’s father. It was a minor role but he played it in typical John Malkovich fashion: a little zaney but not over the top.

Subtle thing I noticed in this movie: as R comes back to life, his color slowly returns. Reaaaally well done on the make-up.

So, there you have it, folks. If you like a good rom-com and you like zombies, go see it. It’s not a $10 movie but totally worth the price of admission at a matinee. Hurry, though, before Hollywood completely ruins us all on zombies!