#1,536. Zombieland (2009)

Directed By: Ruben Fleischer

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson



Tag line: "This place is so dead"

Trivia: Woody Harrelson was arrested for marijuana possession during filming, which delayed shooting for a day








If I were to compile a list of my favorite zombie comedies, I can tell you without hesitation that Edgar Wright’s 2004 masterpiece Shaun of the Dead would be at the very top of it. And while there would definitely be some competition for the remaining slots (titles like Re-Animator, Return of the Living Dead, Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive, and Cemetery Man leap to mind), there's a good chance that 2009’s Zombieland would capture the second spot. 

A witty, occasionally frightening look at four people dealing with a zombie outbreak, Zombieland is a briskly paced motion picture that also features one of the best star cameos in recent memory.

The socially awkward Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), named after the town in Ohio from which he hails, has survived the zombie apocalypse, thanks in part to a handful of personal rules he always adheres to (such as “Never trust a bathroom” and “Always check the car’s back seat”). 

While traveling through Texas, Columbus meets up with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a foul tempered zombie hunter searching for the world’s last remaining Twinkies snack cake. Seeing as they’re going in the same direction, the two decide to keep each other company. 

Their luck takes a turn for the worse, howeveer, when they encounter sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), a pair of con artists who steal the boys’ weapons as well as Tallahassee's car. But fate intervenes, and before long all four have join forces and head west, where they hope to find paradise in California (by way of the Pacific Playland Amusement Park, situated just outside Hollywood). 

But is that area truly “zombie free”, as Wichita claims, or will they be greeted by an army of undead the moment they get there?

Even though its primarily a comedy, Zombieland doesn’t shy away from the blood and gore that goes hand-in-hand with the subgenre; the opening title sequence shows us a number of violent encounters between the living and the undead (all played out in slow-motion), and the flashbacks that reveal the origins of some of Columbus’s “rules for survival” are surprisingly brutal (when discussing his second rule, “Double Tap”, he tells the story of a woman who shot a zombie rushing towards her, only to have her foot chewed off because she didn’t put another bullet in its head ). 

The movie’s real strength, however, is its characters. Jesse Eisenberg’s Columbus (who also acts as the film’s narrator) is a nebbish loser whose specialty is sarcasm, most of which is aimed at his abrasive cohort Tallahassee. Easily the funniest of the bunch, Harrelson's Tallahassee enjoys letting off steam once in a while (during their trek west, he convinces Columbus, Wichita, and Little Rock to help him trash a roadside store that sells Native American trinkets). 

Rounding out the group are Wichita and Little Rock, expertly portrayed by two of the best young actresses working today: Emma Stone (Easy A, The Amazing Spider Man) and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine, Haunter). The give-and-take between the four main characters is often hilarious, and in the film’s quieter moments we even learn a thing or two about them (including why Tallahassee lives life as if he has nothing left to lose).

All this, plus a touching romantic subplot involving Columbus and Wichita and a brilliant cameo by Bill Murray (playing himself... I dare not say more), helps make Zombieland the most entertaining “zomedy” of the post-Shaun of the Dead era.