By Destiny Rivera | Editor-in-Chief

Teenagers limped out of the theater dressed in tattered clothing and face paint in promotion of the new movie, “Warm Bodies.”

While I stood in line, I watched as they staggered around, scaring one or two guests and was the least bit entertained.

I seemed to have the same reaction while watching the trailer and was uninterested in seeing the film all together.

My initial thought was that the movie would be a sappy love story with an “original” twist.

However, I did not believe the idea was original, I felt as if it was simply delivering what its younger audience was craving, producing a book crossed film somewhat identical to “Twilight,” only this time throwing in a zombie as the male role instead of a vampire and werewolf.

It took me awhile to warm up to the concept of corpses walking around the airport and un-living a daily life.

The introduction was very informative and made it easy to recognize the kind of environment the story was centered around.

With newspapers that read “The End?” in the headlines and abandoned buildings, it was apparent that the world was nearly deserted and a place unfamiliar to what it is in the viewer’s reality.

The main character, R, played by Nicholas Hoult, makes his way to an airplane he calls home and shares his perspective on being a zombie.

Apart from the rest, he is not too fond of snacking on human flesh, having conversations that only consist of grunting or not being able to fall asleep at night, more so, to be unable to dream.

As for the future, the only thing he is destined to become is a “bony,” a cruel creature of the living dead that has given up and deteriorated to only evil and bones.

Albert Melendez / Special to Viewpoints

Meanwhile, Julie, played by Teresa Palmer, and the rest of the so-called worriers, who were assembled to take on the cold dead corpses only knew one thing, to kill at no cost.

After all, zombies were incapable of feelings, and under no circumstance, were they able to be spared, not even with the exception of being their best friend or family member.

They showed no remorse on feasting on their children, friends and anyone who stood in their way.

For them, dinner was the only thing they saw, and for the “warriors,” well the only thing they did was shoot them to pieces.

Perry, a proud soldier in the war against the un-dead and boyfriend to Julie, lost his battle to R.

After biting off Perry’s arm and taking his nice watch, R starts on his favorite part, the brain.

When a zombie consumes the brain, it can see all of the memories and feel everything the human once felt throughout their lifetime.

However, instead of the body coming back as a corpse, it dies completely.

“I don’t want to hurt you; I just want to feel what you felt,” R explains as he takes a glimpse at fireworks through young Perry’s eyes and sweet flashbacks of Julie in class.

Now I am going to be honest; this is the part where I started to enjoy the movie.

Even after all the anticipation of strong feelings of dislike, it was not nearly to the middle of the film before my views changed entirely.

It was seeping into the moral of it all and I was amazed by the message the film was starting to send to the audience.

Over a few days stuck spending time in the airplane with R, Julie learned that he wasn’t a monster and that he was becoming just as human as her and as he once
was.

From her being there, and the love that R grew for her, it showed the rest of the zombies that they too are capable of feeling and eventually living.

For love and hope was the cure and accomplishing the impossible was only the brink of what was to come.

I am not one for giving away the ending, but I can say that this message was truly inspiring and the best part of the experience watching the film.

Bringing an audience to a point where a zombie apocalypse restoration is relevant in their lives is an unorthodox thing to come by.

Therefore, my assumption of the film being an unoriginal love story was entirely false and I do admit that from now on I will not judge a movie by its trailer.

Jonathan Levine, the director and screenplay writer, was capable of successfully sending the message on the big screen that Isaac Marion’s novel set out to give.

“It was a little scary, but every great thing starts off a little scary, doesn’t it?” R said.

Giving people the strength to believe that change is possible and although it may be a little nerve-racking at times, it is possible to learn how to live life again when we lose our way and forget, to love and care for someone other than ourselves and to hope for a better day when it is sometimes hard to see.

I give the film a solid nine-out-of-10 star rating for changing my negative view on it entirely and for achieving romance, comedy, suspense and thrill all in one package.