his zombie-themed black-comedy romance is being billed as a "zomromcom" – a tag I thought Edgar Wright had patented for his Shaun of the Dead. In a post-apocalyptic world, human survivors have barricaded themselves into a safe area of the city, but outside there are loads of shuffling, mumbling zombies, who are still in a relatively human phase before they degenerate further into hideous, skeletal attackers. One of these nice demi-undead folk, played by Nicholas Hoult, is a cute guy who falls in love with the lovely human Julie (Teresa Palmer), daughter of zombiephobe survivalist warlord Grigio (John Malkovich). The movie alludes to Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers, with shades of something more recent. Hoult's character is called R, sort of like Romeo, and a little like R-Patz. Palmer's Julie has a Kristenish vulnerability, and there has been another guy in her life, non-zom Perry (Dave Franco). Warm Bodies is smart, entertaining, with some nice writing, although it fudges what Simon Pegg has described as a key zombie issue: whether or not they are allowed to run. Zombie-ism in the movies is traditionally inspected for metaphorical qualities. Here it could simply be that we males are emotionally dead … until love revives us.