10 Films Where Dead Bodies Were Main Characters
9. Corpse Bride (2005)
An attempt to capitalize on the popularity of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, this stop-motion effort didn’t get nearly the cult following, but it did well in its own right.
Corpse Bride tells the story of Victor, a Victorian-era Johnny Depp who is so nervous about his upcoming nuptial that he practices for the ceremony by placing his bride’s wedding ring on the twig of a nearby bush, only realizing too late that it is no bush at all, but the mangled finger of a murdered woman whose body just so happened to be discarded along the road.
Instantly declaring herself to be his bride, this leads to a fatal love triangle wherein Victor helps to solve a murder and aid Emily, the eponymous corpse bride, to finally find her rest.
Far from the shambling, stiff-joined zombie one would expect from a withered corpse, Emily proves to be a very engaging character. She sings, she dances, and she professes emotions that are livelier than those of any of the actually living characters we see onscreen.