The undead have been portrayed in a myriad of ways in literature and films. The short story "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs, poignantly climaxed with the newly deceased son of a couple beating down their door after the father wishes his son alive once again after he was killed in a factory accident. The father was conflicted, knowing that his offspring wasn't the boy he used to be. Answering the knock would surely reveal something gruesome.
Horrormeister George A. Romero, creator of the "Dead" series of films beginning with 1968's seminal NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, began to portray these zombies, by turns, as both reptile brained simpletons only looking to feed on living flesh and also as slightly more thoughtful creatures who might have the slightest gleam in their eye that maybe perhaps some spark of their former selves was lurking behind the drool. Or, as in DAY OF THE DEAD, a zombie named "Bub" seemed more interested in learning how to use a Walkman than chomping down on someone's limbs. And what about Richard Matheson's novella I Am Legend? After a plague reduces the populace to hordes of glazed over, bloodsucking zombie vampires, we learn that one of them still recognizes the story's main character, nightly calling out to him by name.
ZOMBIELAND has as its scenario a similar crisis, in that a virus has caused most of us to become undead. This zombie apocalypse apparently was triggered something akin to Mad Cow Disease and spread very quickly. As the young hero (Jesse Eisenberg) narrates over an opening sequence/montage that is sure to become a classic, surviving such a holocaust requires adherence to certain rules. Travel light. Don't be a hero. Beware of bathrooms. Cardio! Check the back seat. And, pehaps most importantly, double tap (clock that undead SOB at least twice in the cerebrum to make sures it's dead). We see a series of scenes as many unfortunates meet their dooms by not following these rules. It sets the pitch black stage of the wittily macabre beautifully.
Columbus, our young hero, has also somewhat maintained his sanity in this rather dire predicament by acknowledging that things really haven't changed that much in his world. Before everyone turned to zombies, he was pretty isolated anyway. Hours of video games and Mountain Dew, holed up in his room, all alone. Bad luck with the ladies. He also explains that his parents were neurotic shut-ins just like him. He felt more comfortable being a recluse. While at college, the final blow to Columbus' attempts at courtship comes when his beautiful neighbor seeks refuge in his apartment one night. She falls asleep in his arms, only to awaken him later with a taste for his blood and innards. She was bitten by, something, and ready to feast herself. Columbus barely survives this date gone very sour, and then finds himself the only survivor in a world gone dead.
Or so he thinks. He meets Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a good 'ol boy badass who races his Escalade with rifle in hand. He's quite good at killing zombies. You want him around when the hordes come a calling. This guy can pick off a hundred rotting wannabe corpses with just a glock and a handful of magazines. The two team up, hoping that their families in their respective hometowns of Columbus and Tallahassee (answer your question?) are still alive. While en route, they meet a pair of sisters (dubbed Wichita and Little Rock) who turn out to be a couple of schemers. There are cons, double crosses, acquisition and loss of arsenals and vehicles.
When Tallahassee finds a whole sack of sawed offs in the back of a Hummer, he cries, "I love rednecks!". Eventually, the four have no choice but to band together, their adventures leading them to gnarly showdowns with a wide variety of zombie specimens, climaxing at a supposedly zombie-free amusement park out side of Los Angeles.
Director Ruben Fleisher has fashioned ZOMBIELAND as a horror comedy, a cross-genre that rarely works. For every AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, there are a dozen SCARY MOVIEs. Maybe that was a bad example. ZOMBIELAND is a full-blooded thriller, and does not scrimp on the gore, either. We see the usual gruesome scenes of brain and entrail eating, disembowelments. Gunshots point blank to undead heads. But this film is hilarious, too, sometimes disgusting and hilarious simultaneously. Romero did this in DAWN OF THE DEAD, showing an army of zombies trying to go up the down escalator in an abandoned shopping mall while Muzak drones in the background. Or, when the zombies use one of those public blood pressure cuffs. Or, when a very live motorcycle gang crashes the mall to do battle with the slimebags.
The opening scenes of ZOMBIELAND play against all the genre cliches, often going even further over the line than others dared, such as when we see a group of little girl zombies attacking a suburban mother in her minivan. Sounds horrible and mean, and it is, but the social observation more than makes this a hoot. It goes back to how these creatures have been described in the lit. It's hard not to laugh when we get an insert shot of the rear bumper of that minivan, which is sporting one of those annoying "My kid is an honor student at..."
This film could've easily been a misfire, but the timing, the performances, the tone, it all clicks. Fleisher exhibits remarkable energy, yet allowing the quieter scenes for bona-fide character development. Harrelson again dons the tough guy persona and has great fun chipping away at it. We learn that, of course, underneath the swagger and quick trigger is a broken man, someone who lost a lot. He also has an insatiable lust for Twinkies, a dessert that continually eludes him as the group drives cross country. When he lucks upon a crashed Hostess truck, it turns out to instead be filled with those dreaded Snowballs. Eisenberg is perfect as the wimpy and timid collegiate, who, even amongst unspeakable horror, just looking for a girlfriend.
Bill Murray also shows up, playing himself, in a sequence that is just great. Fans of the actor (and especially GHOSTBUSTERS) will be tickled. Zombie comedy has been attempted before (note 1985's just fair RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, no relation to Romero's films), but none so enjoyably. Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese have written something quite unique, a film that has both contemporary and retro pleasures. Nostalgia like Van Halen songs and Bill Murray;up-to-date thrills from great effects and pop references of the moment (when asked to cite a "pro" for zombieland, Columbus states he no longer has to read inane Facebook updates). There's also plenty of loud metal of recent years accompanying the action scenes to ramp up the thrills. Thankfully, this movie was loud enough to drown out the idiot a few seats down from me who kept insisting on talking on his cell. For tongue-in-cheek (um, literally) merriment and terror, you should check this one out.
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