The zombie niche of the horror genre has reached its zenith. It’s really hard to take zombies in a new and interesting direction. Zombieland tries to put a new twist on the zombie niche.
Zombieland is a Tale of Trust and Zombies
Zombieland stars Woody Harrelson (Natural Born Killers, Kingpin) and Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland) as two survivors of an apocalyptic zombie attack. Meeting up on their trek to their respective homes, which is what they call each other rather than giving up their names. No one wants to get too close to potential zombie food. Eisenberg is known as Columbus and Harrelson is Tallahassee.
Columbus survives by his 32 rules and Tallahassee survives by being one bad dude that kicks butt. Tallahassee’s one weakness is his love for Hostess Twinkies. On their travels they run into a con-team of two sisters played by Emma Stone and Abagail Breslin.
Now that the ragtag group realized that just about everyone has succumbed to the virus and is either a corpse or a zombie, they take advantage of the situation. They travel around the country, take what they need and kill as many zombies as possible. Their adventure culminates in Hollywood at Zombieland.
Zombieland is a Horror Comedy
Zombieland has blood and gore and terrifying looking zombies, but they are distilled by the goofy antics of Eisenberg and Harrelson. The movie is narrated by Eisenberg which adds some levity to the dead and dying. He starts out by telling us his first four rules. Those rules are:
- Cardio – One must be in good shape to outrun the walking dead.
- Double Tap – Make sure the zombies are permanently down by putting a round in their head.
- Beware of Bathrooms - Zombies take advantage of people at their most vulnerable
- Seatbelts – Always buckle up. It would be ironic to survive a zombie plague only to be ejected from a car, bouncing down the street.
With each of these the audience is given an example of why these rules are important. There’s just something hilarious about a round fellow being chased down on a football field with the end result of being munched on by a zombie or a zombie coming under the bathroom stall door to get the man on the john. It’s a combination of Eisenberg’s deadpan delivery with the ridiculous footage. The importance of the rules are brought home each time one is adhered to or carelessly thrown aside, which Tallahassee often does.
Another great part is Bill Murray’s cameo. He is such a great sport and is an incredibly funny man. Harrelson’s reaction to him is classic. Eisenberg’s reaction is disturbing... and funny.
Zombieland is Gross Fun
Zombieland is not a deep movie, nor is it meant to be. It does exactly what it is supposed to do. There are laughs from beginning to end and the audience may even jump a time or two. The blood and gore is done well, so those with weak stomachs may not be able to handle it. For those that like to laugh, however, Zombieland is a fun look at what has scared people so much in the past.
Shane Werlinger - Shane Werlinger has been published in anthologies and written reviews and articles for BuddyHollywood.com and reviews for Infuze Magazine ...
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