Can a film adaptation ever capture the quiet ache of its source? In this crossover with Wicked Words Book Club, we dissect Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies and its sleek, sanitized movie version, tracing the emotional, ideological, and tonal shifts that split page and screen. We celebrate the bits that land, like visual metaphors of zombified liminality and clever sight gags, and lament the simplifications that undercut weight: interchangeable bonies, narrative shortcuts, and a romance that skips its own gritty labor.

Did the adaptation elevate or erode the zombie genre? Tune in and decide with us.

Contact & Links

Wicked Words Book Club

• Website / Blog: Wicked-Words.com
  
  
• Spotify: Wicked Words Book Club
  
  
• Instagram: @wickedwordsbc
  
• Discord: https://discord.gg/J5DF983yMg
  

ZOMBIE BOOK CLUB GOFUNDME: https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-zombie-book-club-alive

Zombie Book Club Links

• Sign up for our Newsletter!!!! --- https://zombiebookclub.io/newsletter/
• Join the Brain Muncher’s Zombie Collective: https://discord.gg/rn3nPDa4CB
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Voicemail: (614) 699-0006‬
• Zombie Book Club Email: ZombieBookClubPodcast@gmail.com
• Our Secret Website That Isn't Finished: https://zombiebookclub.io
• Our Merchandise Store (Where you can find our Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Shirts): https://zombie-book-club.myspreadshop.com

Join us for a smart, irreverent dive into Aquarium of the Dead with marine biologist and festival fanatic Jacob Quijas. We map undead tropes onto real marine science—waves, buoyancy, detritivores, keystone species—and even speculate: can the ocean digest zombies faster than we expect and would their bones become coral?

Then we dive in to the movie: shark mix-ups, roaring octopi, and what Aquarium of the Dead gets hilariously wrong about marine life and systems. Along the way, Jacob’s wisdom about eating down the food chain, building communities under pressure, and finding science in the absurd will have you laughing, learning, and maybe even rethinking your next seaside horror flick.

Jacob Quijas

• Instagram — @vivalafestivapodcast
• Viva La Festiva Podcast — https://tr.ee/prdMZjTMeJ

Movie / Topic Links

• Aquarium of the Dead (2021) — Wikipedia page with production notes
• Trailer on YouTube

ZOMBIE BOOK CLUB GOFUNDME: https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-zombie-book-club-alive

Zombie Book Club Links

• Sign up for our Newsletter!!!! --- https://zombiebookclub.io/newsletter/
• Join the Brain Muncher’s Zombie Collective: https://discord.gg/rn3nPDa4CB
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Voicemail: (614) 699-0006‬
• Zombie Book Club Email: ZombieBookClubPodcast@gmail.com
• Our Secret Website That Isn't Finished: https://zombiebookclub.io
• Our Merchandise Store (Where you can find our Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Shirts): https://zombie-book-club.myspreadshop.com

When a zombie named 'R' rescues a living girl instead of devouring her, everything shifts. Told through R’s reflective, darkly witty inner monologue, Warm Bodies challenges our assumptions of life, death, and what it means to feel. As R consumes Perry’s brain and begins to access memories, he forges a strange intimacy with Perry’s consciousness—raising the question: whose identity is really influencing R’s journey?

In this crossover episode, we join Sara and Greg from Wicked Words Bookclub Podcast dive deep into Isaac Marion’s bold reimagining of the zombie mythos. We examine how the mirrored, stagnating societies of zombies at an airport and humans in a stadium reflect each other, how R’s transformations mirror emotional rebirth, and whether love alone can shake entire systems.

Contact / Social Media for Wicked Words Bookclub + Relevant Links

Wicked Words / Wicked Words Bookclub

• Website: wicked-words.com
• Podcast (Spotify): Wicked Words Book Club
• Instagram: @WickedWordsBC
• Threads: @wickedwordsbc

Isaac Marion (author of Warm Bodies)

• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Marion
• Website: isaacmarion.com

ZOMBIE BOOK CLUB GOFUNDME: https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-zombie-book-club-alive

Zombie Book Club Links

• Sign up for our Newsletter!!!! --- https://zombiebookclub.io/newsletter/
• Join the Brain Muncher’s Zombie Collective: https://discord.gg/rn3nPDa4CB
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Voicemail: (614) 699-0006‬
• Zombie Book Club Email: ZombieBookClubPodcast@gmail.com
• Our Secret Website That Isn't Finished: https://zombiebookclub.io
• Our Merchandise Store (Where you can find our Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Shirts): https://zombie-book-club.myspreadshop.com