Verdict: ☠ ☠ 1/2

First of all, there are possible spoilers in this review. You’ve been warned! And when I say spoilers, I don’t actually mean I give anything away, but I do lay down parts of the movie that would move my review along. So if you absolutely, positively want to go into this completely shocked and awed, rent it first!

As a fan of various P&P movies (and the book) over the years, I have my own favorite movie version as does everyone else (mine is the one with Colin Firth as Darcy) but when it comes right down to it, P&P&Z may vie for the title. That’s because I’m both a fan of P&P and a fan of all things Zombie. The trick is that this movie was designed around those two niche audiences specifically, two completely different circles of friends who otherwise would have never given each other a first glance in the theater popcorn line. See? Already this movie is bringing people together! World peace is JUST around the corner, folks! I just know it.

Now, I know what everyone is thinking… how do zombies come into play in Jane Austin’s Brittania? P&P&Z, adapted from the novel of the same name was more well-put together than I thought it would be. Elegant, surprisingly NOT gory, and refined, the storyline, while much more compressed than Austin’s original dictionary-sized literary work of art, held much of the same feeling with the societal dances, Mr. Collins’ incredible ego and motormouth, and Mr. Darcy’s absolute disgust with it all. But seamlessly interwoven is the knowledge and constant danger that zombies lurk everywhere and that London and the surrounding area has all but fallen to the apocalypse.

As such, societal young women are trained in the ability to sing, dance, find rich men to marry and provide instant combat prowess and general martial-artistic badassery should the occasion rise whereupon they are onset by the random horde of undead gathering. This gives us a refreshing atmosphere of genuinely strong female leads, as every girl in the Bennett family dresses to the nines for the random country dance and regularly carries concealed throwing knives, long swords about their bust and pistols in their handbags for some extreme combat after the punchbowl is emptied.

And when I say female leads, I do mean that women in this movie dominate the combat scene. With the exception of Mr. Darcy… I’m sorry, Colonel Darcy (played by a very bored looking Sam Riley) who is a professional zombie slayer known throughout the land, the men in this movie don’t really have much to do. Elizabeth Bennett (a rather frail looking Lily James, Rose from Downton Abbey) is beautiful but positively no-nonsense when it comes to her emotions, her sister Jane (played by Bella Heathcote), and knocking the odd zombie into the dirt old school. Kitty, Mary and that silly girl Lydia prove to be much more fun to watch with combat training than Ms. Austin’s original characters. But there’s only so much action you can put in a movie like this and the men sort of just step back and let the women kick wholesale ass. Even the kindhearted Mr. Bingley is a true English dandy as Jane Bennett romances him by saving his ass from undead monsters in some of the most violent ways possible most of the time. I suppose this brings them together because as we all know, Jane fell for Bingley for reasons other than his money, though in P&P&Z, you can’t really tell what it was she liked about him.

That said, the Bennett sisters are truly bad to the bone. For fun, they upset Mrs. Bennett’s nerves by lightly conversing about singing, dancing and finding rich men to marry… all while sparring with each other throughout the house with brutal martial arts, kicks and punches that would make Jason Statham sit up and take notice. Then Mr. Bingley shows up and they all titter to each other, not really noticing the house’s splintering supporting beams they just kicked one another through!

The one character I had the most fun watching was Mr. Collins… I mean Parson Collins (played over the top hilariously by Dr. Who’s Matt Smith). Dr. Who had a blast playing the annoyingly talkative Collins who does nothing but jabber on about himself, himself, himself and Lady Catherine de Bourgh (whose lines are uttered through gritted teeth by Lena Headey in full battle mode).

All in all, this was a fun movie to rent. Everyone had a blast playing their parts and making this movie come to life. I wouldn’t have been entirely bothered by dropping a five spot on it at a theater either, but now that Redbox has it, I have no guilt whatsoever. Not like 2013’s Hansel & Gretel, sheezus. I had to drink to bury the fact that I actually spent money on that one!