While Zombieland is not the first film to blend the seemingly opposite genres of comedy and horror, it is certainly one of the most successful attempts so far.
Earth has once again been overrun by ferocious flesh-eating zombies (of the Danny Boyle sprinting variety), and college dork Jesse Eisenberg and hard-man Woody Harrelson fear they are all alone in a world with no hot girls and no Twinkies. That is, until they are kidnapped by two inventive sisters with mean survival instincts. Their journey across America in search of a zombie-free refuge (and those elusive Twinkies) gleefully combines snappy dialogue, bloody slapstick and its fair share of scares. It’s a zom-rom-com that feels like a rehash of 2004’s brilliant Shaun of the Dead – only this is America, so there are shotguns.
Eisenberg is convincing as weirdo Columbus, whose comprehensive list of rules for zombie survival make up for his bizarre phobias, although his performance is essentially a good impression of Michael Cera. Woody Harrelson steals the show as the action hero, but he also contributes a few unexpectedly tender moments. It’s hard to imagine the sweet girl from Little Miss Sunshine (Breslin) slaughtering the undead, but she has developed into a surprisingly versatile young actress. After a promisingly gory start, horror fans will be disappointed as the zombies take a back seat to the nerd-meets-girl storyline, but it’s worth hanging around for a likeable cast of characters, a gem of a cameo from Bill Murray and an awesome climactic battle.
Although it loses points for originality, Zombieland is a standout feature of this rapidly developing sub-sub-genre; it functions as both a decent zombie flick and thoroughly entertaining comedy.
