Zombieland

I like zombies. I mean, what's not to like? They are not a bunch of depressing emo goth wanna-bes like vampires, nor are they dirty, boring blah-blah-blahs like mummies. And they are not angry, scratchy, overly aggressive dirty beasts like werewolves. Nope, they are just hungry. For human flesh.

Director Ruben Fleischer (who worked as a writer and producer on Rob Dyrdek's "Fantasy Factory". Awesome.) has delivered a humor filled romp of a zombie movie. Zombieland is quirky and fun, much like it's older cousin, Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead. Most zombie movies are horror filled gore fests, meant to shock viewers with their bloody renderings of cannibalism. Zombieland is filled with the same gore, but does not take itself or it's genre seriously. Instead it opts to entertain not with cheap scares, but original dialogue, sweet relationships, and some good old zombie-killing action.

Woody Harrelson plays Tallahassee, a rough and tough zombie apocalypse survivor, who hooks up with Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), a timid clumsy wanna-be rough and tough zombie apocalypse survivor. The end result is a weird but funny Laurel and Hardy duo who spend most of the movie killing zombies in unique and funny ways, looking for the last surviving Twinkie, and developing a relationship with the sister duo of Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, who keep conning our tough guys out of their transportation. Throw in a great cameo by Bill Murray and you got yourself a good flick. I mean, Bill Murray and Woody Harrelson in a zombie flick. What else do you want?

Fleischer shows a lot of promise as a young director. He is able to mesh comedy and exciting action with scenes of genuine emotion. There is a great sequence at the end with Harrelson shooting zombies from a roller coaster! I look forward to seeing what else he delivers, especially with the inevitable Zombieland 2.

It's funny how zombies have evolved in cinema since the release of Romero's Night of the Living Dead. You have your classic zombie movies, filled with social commentary and dread of the future. Then you get zombie hybrids in 28 Days Later and the Resident Evil video game franchise. And now we have funny zombie films, filled with homages to the classics of the genre. I do not know about you, but I kind of like the new humor-filled movies. It's a nice break from the norm.

Grade: B