Let's stop making zombie movies now, please – at least for a little while. Let the decomposing brain-epicureans moulder in their graves for a bit before the genre enters the oh-dear-god-not-another-goddamn-film territory currently filled with sheepish-looking vampires, not least because Zombieland is a great note to go out on. It combines all of the most successful zombie-film tropes of the last three decades – the society-in-collapse motif of Day of the Dead, the pathogen-transmitted and speed-equipped monsters of 28 Days Later, the acknowledgement of the situation's fundamental absurdity of Shaun of the Dead – and throws in enough pop-culture snark and directorial style to create something that stands alone.
It helps that is has a great cast: Jesse Eisenberg may be a
cut-price Michael Cera, but he anchors the film as the nerdy Columbus, the film's central character
and narrator, and Woody Harrelson combines his two best
settings ("comedian" and "redneck") as the gung-ho Tallahassee. They meet cute
with sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail "Little Miss
Sunshine" Breslin), and the four eventually team up to find somewhere safe from
the zompocalypse. There are moments when the wacky gets dialled up a little
high (the Bill Murray cameo is funny, but kind of unnecessary) but for the most
part this is a horror comedy that's actually pretty scary and very funny.
Extras commentary, making-of and behind the scene
featurettes, deleted scenes,
trailers.
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