Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a reimagining of Jane Austen’s most famous novel. This time the Bennet sisters have to balance their societal duties of gentlewomen in Regency England with romance and battling the undead. The popular book was turned into a film last year and while both versions add ultraviolent zombie mayhem to Lizzy and Darcy’s story, they do so in different and exciting ways. Here are 5 differences between the novel and the film. Spoilers below for both versions.
1. The zombies
Book: The zombies take months to fully transform. Once a person is bitten they can survive a while longer as they ultimately begin to crave brains, turn grey, and lose their intelligence.
Movie: The zombies transform instantly after being bitten, but can retain human intelligence and pass as human if they stick to animal brains, rather than human brains. Eating human brains completes the transformation into a mindless brain-eater.
See also: 6 Jane Austen Adaptations With A Twist
2. Charlotte Lucas
Book: Charlotte is stricken by the strange plague and marries Mr. Collins so that she may be married before her death. She begs Lizzy not to tell anyone and no one really seems to notice Charlotte’s change of skin color or her change of behavior over the next few months, other than Lady Catherine who secretly provides her with an attempt at a cure that slows her transformation. She ultimately transforms and dies.
Movie: Charlotte does not become a zombie. She follows her original storyline in which she marries Mr. Collins out of convenience.
3. Mr. Collins
Book: The narrator puts a lot of emphasis on how fat and cowardly he is, showing how different he is to his warrior cousins. After Charlotte’s death, he decides he can no longer live without her and hangs himself from her favorite tree.
Movie: Mr. Collins is the same insufferable Collins from Austen’s novel, except he insists on Lizzy permanently putting down her weapons when he proposes to her. According to him, fighting the undead is not ladylike.
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4. Lady Catherine de Bourgh
Book: She is an elderly woman that in her day was the most reputable zombie slayer in England with an astounding record. She’s also searching for a zombie cure, testing one out on Charlotte. When she confronts Lizzy about her relationship with Darcy they have a nasty duel in which Lizzy nearly kills her but chooses to spare her life.
Movie: She is middle-aged and is the deadliest woman in England, still actively slaying zombies. Later when confronting Lizzy about Darcy, rather than fighting her herself, she uses a very large man as her proxy.
5. George Wickham
Book: Wickham’s story mostly follows the original, with extra villainy. He abducts Lydia, leaving behind a myriad of debts and bastards behind. He has no intention of marrying her and is even implied to have the intention of raping and murdering her. In the end Darcy bribes him into marrying Lydia, with the condition that he gets to beat Wickham so badly he becomes paralyzed.
Movie: Wickham is more villainous than ever. He turns out to be a zombie with a zombie army. He also abducts Lydia and imprisons her. This version of Wickham wants to bring on the end of days. He’s defeated and dies in an explosion, until he’s revealed in post-credits scene to have survived and is followed by the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
