Pride and Prejudice and Zombies 2016

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: Director Burr Steers... does a nifty job of rocketing from period-piece romance to gory bloodshed, with sprinkles of dark humor here and there. Read more

Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press: This story might have been better suited to a television adaptation. The characters would have been allowed to breathe for a beat in that case. Here, the action and violence take up the space that would have generally been used for character development. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: Steers nails the aesthetics - zombies in ornate period dress are both amusing and chilling - but has his actors playing it completely, thuddingly straight. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, TIME Magazine: The novelty of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies wears thin in the last third, but Riley and James help carry it to the finish line. Read more

Andrew Barker, Variety: Awkward and unsatisfying. Read more

Jesse Hassenger, AV Club: That this particular retelling of the Jane Austen novel feels like a Cliffs Notes version is understandable; that its zombie bits are equally rudimentary, though, is more disappointing. Read more

Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic: Austen geeks and zombie lovers will enjoy enough laughs to tip the scales in the film's favor. Read more

Tom Russo, Boston Globe: OK, so it's not Olivier or Colin Firth material. But writer-director Burr Steers delivers a screen mash-up that's generally done in the right, warped spirit. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: The movie strives to be both scary and funny but winds up being neither. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is: (a) the greatest movie title since Snakes on a Plane and (b) the worst movie with a great title since Snakes on a Plane. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: For all the splurch and head-lopping, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" is monotonal. It turns its action sequences into a noisy blur. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: The works of Austen are endlessly adaptable, and "Pride and Predjudice and Zombies" shows they can hold up to even the most outlandish of plot devices. Talk about a writer with bite. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: Far better than Vampire Hunter, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies at least gets the P&P part of the equation right...Yet the film is neither humorous enough to work as send-up, cutting enough to work as social commentary nor scary enough to work as horror. Read more

Clark Collis, Entertainment Weekly: If more inventive than scary, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies breathes fresh life into the hugely popular, but now desperately predictable, undead genre. Read more

Britton Peele, Dallas Morning News: Fun, funny, gory and yet still strangely romantic. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Hollywood Reporter: Lumbering, lifeless and -- strange thing to say about a cadaver -- almost entirely charmless. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: The skirmishes and eventual full-blown battle is garden-variety PG-13 violence - clanking swords and grunting - so the action won't past muster for a generation weaned on The Walking Dead. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: An unexpected and off-kilter treat, thanks to a BBC-quality cast and (un)deadpan humor. Read more

Scott Tobias, NPR: Not enough has been preserved from Austen's book to give it any presence, much less gain an exciting new resonance. The only true zombie metaphor here is the impulse to turn everything into fodder for teenage boys. Read more

Stephen Whitty, New York Daily News: The hungry monsters in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies are looking for nice big brains. Well, they won't find any here. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Both pride and prejudice still play their parts, but now in service to one tediously repeated joke: the sight of a gentleman or a lady, together or alone, playing cards or ballroom dancing, fatally swarmed by devouring zombies. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The bottom line is that Burr Steers' adaptation is unlikely to please any audience regardless of what they're looking for. Read more

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com: Maybe someone else can crack the code to the ultimate Austen mash-up when the inevitable "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters" adaption comes along. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: PP&Z is rated PG-13, so the zombie gore is decidedly decorous. But before repetition dulls the party, the movie gets in a few juicy innings. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Imagine being dead, and still having to wear a corset. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Compared with other Jane Austen movies, it isn't much, but compared with other zombie apocalypse movies, it's an intelligent, literate effort. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: As clever as it is iconoclastic, this bloody good satire tickled me by overturning much, but not all, of what we admire in Jane Austen's original. Read more

Sarah Bryan Miller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Overall, the movie is an uneasy mix of humor, romance and horror, with dead spots throughout. Read more

Barry Hertz, Globe and Mail: Like its source material - a loose term if there ever was one - Steers's movie is a failure across multiple fronts. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Not gory enough to satisfy horror fans, nor clever enough for a really good laugh ... Read more

Dan Callahan, TheWrap: The essential problem here is that the story and characters of Austen's novel feel totally separate from the crass and pandering zombie plot overlay, so much so that some of it just doesn't make much sense. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: The film flatlines the moment anyone draws a blade. Read more

Jim Slotek, Toronto Sun: Like its original source material, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies works best as a comedy of manners. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: This gung-ho but cruddy-looking mashup fails from A to Z: It's neither good Austen nor good zombie flick. Read more

Tim Grierson, The New Republic: This is a perfect film for our mash-up/viral culture in which short, clever, easily digestible bits of entertainment are passed along giddily from friend to friend. But most shareable YouTube videos run a couple minutes. "Zombies" is much, much longer. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" delivers what its title promises: a little romance and some undead villains, plus a bit of comedy. But this overly busy riff on Austen's winning formula doesn't justify all the tinkering. Read more