Zombieland: ’28 Days Later’ Meets ‘Shaun Of The Dead’

Marcos Martinez
November 3, 2009
Filed under Arts and Entertainment, Movie Reviews

With a heavy sigh, I must admit that gone are the days of the classic zombie. The shambling undead are slowly being replaced with sprinting ‘infected’. While it is sad to see the old on its way out, it is also great to see the new on its way in, ripe with possibilities. The movie Zombieland is the latest from the new generation.

The film centers around the story of Columbus, an anti-social and neurotic college kid trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. He eventually teams up with Tallahassee, a gun totting zombie slayer whose epic quest revolves around searching for some of the world’s last Twinkies, and a pair of sisters who want to fight their way to an abandoned amusement park.

As outrageous as the plot may seem, Zombieland does an incredible job of keeping it all together and making the story both believable and enjoyable. The film mixes both comedy and melodrama, as there are scenes where characters compare the loss of loved ones, and then the same characters run around on comical zombie murdering rampages – and there are plenty of those. Zombieland does not disappoint with the action, for it is filled from start to finish with excessive violence and over-the-top deaths. The movie has some of the most elaborate and original kills I have ever seen in a zombie film, with techniques ranging from dropping pianos to eccentric uses of carnival rides as death traps.

This brings up the topic of gore. I will flat out state that this film is not for the squeamish. Columbus and friends fight the ‘wettest’ zombies I have ever seen before, as virtually every imaginable fluid seems to drain from the films countless undead. As a nice change of pace, Zombieland is filled with running gags and motif that set it apart from other films of the genre. Such examples could be the zombie kill of the week highlights and Columbus’ dead-pan humor narration. Personally, my favorite motif of the film is the use of Columbus’ set of zombie survival rules. Through the film, every time a rule is acted out or set in motion, the rule will appear on the screen and remind the audience of its importance.

Zombieland is one of those blunt films that doesn’t take itself too seriously or try to be something it’s not. Zombieland tries to be nothing more than a gory, fresh new comedy, and for that it is a must see.