A Fun Ride Through 'Zombieland'

by Brett Parker

Even though Zombieland is supposed to be something of a tongue-in-cheek send-up of the Zombie genre, it’s probably one of the most entertaining Zombie films I’ve ever seen in general. While the laughs are undoubtedly big, the jolts are effective, the visuals are compelling, and the characters are surprisingly likeable. While most movies that take place across a Zombie landscape can be rather morbid and intense, this one is refreshingly likeable and witty. Here’s a movie that sidesteps the disgusting goofiness of the zombies and focuses on the humorous quirks of the humans combating them. This proves to be something of a masterstroke.

The film imagines a world overrun by zombies, the result from an outbreak of a mysterious virus. Nearly every square inch of America is in shambles as rabid Zombies roam the landscape, hunting for remaining humans they can snack on. A scarce amount of humans band together where they can to find some kind of refuge from the hordes of the undead. To avoid fatal emotional connections, a specific group of survivors nickname each other with their destination cities to keep relationships ambiguous. There’s Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), a shy teenage loner, Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a bad-ass warrior Zombie hunter, Wichita (Emma Stone) a sexy con woman, and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), her tough-minded sister.

In spite of their conflicting personalities, the four decide to band together and roam the landscape for safety and resources. They raid random supermarkets and tourist traps, treating the country as their own personal playground. Wichita decides that an amusement park in California might be an adequate place to hold up against the Zombies. As they trek West, Columbus develops a huge crush on Wichita, Tallahassee begins to open-up amidst a mad quest for Twinkies, and the group has an uproariously hilarious encounter with a famous movie star.

Instead of pointing and laughing at the absurdities of the zombies themselves (like countless other spoofs have done), Zombieland seems more interested in pulling laughs from the survivalists and their post-apocalyptic daily life. The result is an inspired well of sharp humor. The film doesn’t really take self-reflexive jabs at the genre so much as settle into a peculiar character study of these quirky humans. Most of the film consists not of Zombie action, but the conversations and wacky episodes these survivors experience on their road journey. The funniest episode occurs when the group crashes the mansion of a real-life Hollywood star in a surprise cameo. I won’t reveal who it is, but his appearance, his survival techniques, and what ultimately happens to him is one of the funniest things I’ve seen this year and in any Zombie comedy ever made.

The likeability of this film is generated mostly by the appealing nature of the initial cast. Harrelson plays a wild riff on his breezy comic charms while making for a durable action figure in the process. Stone proves here, as she did in Superbad, that she holds more spunk than most cookie-cutter sex symbols and is truly to die for. Breslin greatly exemplifies here that she can rise above cute child roles and show depths of toughness. Eisenberg does a more resourceful play on his usual shy-guy neurotics and does what the role demands, but you kind of hope directors will give him more to do in his future. I hope he doesn’t get forced down the Jason Biggs’ path. And wait till you see the surprise cameo, his scenes are worth the price of admission alone!

The Zombie action, when it does occur, is skillfully handled and can honestly stand with most serious Zombie flicks. The Makeup Department really did their job in making the Zombies look effective and scary while first-time helmer Ruben Fleisher knows how to keep the action energetic and exciting. One creative touch he displays is playfully using title cards to illustrate Columbus’ personal rules for surviving a Zombie holocaust (Rule #1: Have Good Cardio, Rule #2: Double Tap Your Zombie Kills, etc.) These illustrated rules have a sneaky way of finding their way into a frame, and it makes the movie all the more fun to watch.

The most devoted horror enthusiasts can always find the deepest contemporary metaphors in even the cheesiest of Zombie flicks. I think in a sly, subtle way, Zombieland might be a delicate portrait of our stressful times. Perhaps the mess of the Zombie landscape is meant to reflect the mess of current times, in which economical problems, health care concerns, and unemployment anxieties are running as frantically as bloodthirsty Zombies. In this context, the human characters make us realize that even in the face of a collapsing society; we still face minute plights in our daily routines of survival. I find it interesting that even in the face of a crumbling world, these characters are still concerned with their own personal crisis, which consist of such matters as romantic crushes and intense food cravings. It’s not hard picturing ourselves behaving the same way in such a situation; perhaps we’re doing it right now.

When it comes to the Zombie genre, 28 Days Later is still the scariest and Shaun of the Dead is still the funniest, but I’m surprised by how effective and entertaining Zombieland turns out to be. It holds more laughs and intelligence than I initially expected. Don’t expect just another cheesy horror romp. If this film does one thing greatly, it makes you ponder this thought: in the face of a Zombie apocalypse, would Twinkies still be easy to obtain?