'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' review: This parody's novelty ends at having zombies

Film: Pride and Prejudice and Zombie
Director: Burr Steers
Cast: Lily James, Sam Riley, Lena Headey, Douglas Booth, Jack Huston, Bella Heathcote
Rating: **

What it's about

The basic plot remains the same as the Jane Austen classic, except for one small, yet significant change. In this adaptation (based on the popular Seth Grahame-Smith parody novel) England is run over by zombies and Mr Bennett in his infinite wisdom has had his daughters trained in martial arts, ready to do battle with the undead and armed to the teeth.
Elizabeth (James) is as headstrong as ever, Darcy equally so and the story runs its course similarly, but the rest of the Bennetts are no shrinking violets here and sure know how to take care of themselves. Will love survive the class battles or, more importantly, the one with the zombies?

What's hot

Lily James as the confident Liz is spot-on. Lena Headey is totally badass as the Lady Catherine de Bourgh, aunt to Mr Darcy. Costuming and make-up is perfectly balanced. So is the art department's detailing of the period. Much effort is gone into the creation of the action sequences and it shows.

What's not

But that's where the novelty ends. Just adding zombies to the mix isn't always enough. Also, Sam Riley is something of a disappointment as Darcy. An actor of Matt Smith's caliber seems to be wasted as the bashful Mr. Collins. There's nothing really too remarkable about the entirety of the film, really, and that's just sad.

What to do

A tad too long and a little too late in coming along, PPZ could nearly have passed as being dead-on-arrival.