February 3, 2013 -- I'm surprised nobody has thought of this before. Maybe someone has, but I haven't heard of it. In every other zombie movie, the zombies stay the same once they are no longer human. Generally speaking once you are a zombie you are always a zombie. In this film, a bunch of zombies start spontaneously changing back into regular human beings.

This idea of zombies who can change back into humans (based on Isaac Marion's popular novel, “Warm Bodies”) opens up a lot of new possibilities for fresh story ideas, including a zombie-human romance, which is what this film is all about. It is sort of like “Beauty and the Beast.” The main zombie is named “R” (he used to have a name, but that's all of it he can remember). R (played by Nicholas Hoult of “X-Men First Class”) is a funny zombie, full of ironic self-reflection about his limited state of being.

He narrates his existence as he wanders around the airport with the rest of the zombies. He heads into town with some other zombies looking for humans to eat, bemoaning the fact they move so slowly. At the airport, he sits down next to his best friend, “M” (played by Rob Corddry) and they try to have a conversation, but it is hard for them to say anything. It is a sad existence.

Then R sees a beautiful girl, Julie (Teresa Palmer of “The Sorcerer's Apprentice”) and he is smitten. R saves Julie from the rest of the zombies and he hides her in a jetliner which serves as his home. He gets to know her by eating the brains of her boyfriend and thereby reliving his memories of her. Now this is a strange romance, indeed.

Julie is from a small group of humans living in a walled-off area of the city under the leadership of Julie's father, Grigio (played by John Malkovich of “Secretariat;” what is he doing in this movie?). As R spends time with Julie, he begins to turn back into a human. His heart starts to beat again and his body starts turning warm again (hence the title). Not only that, but R's change back into a human begins to spread, like a disease to M and other zombies.

Some of the zombies have gone too far to turn back into humans, however. They are very thin, like skeletons. These skeletal zombies, called “bonies” have become savage predators who pose a menace not only to the humans, but to the zombies who are becoming human. Julie tries to convince her father that R and the other zombies who are changing can be allies for the humans in their war against the ravenous bonies.

This film is basically a romantic comedy, but it also has some action scenes, as well as horror scenes. The funniest films in the zombie genre are still “Zombieland” and “Shaun of the Dead” but this one is not far behind those two. It is an effective romantic comedy. This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2013 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
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