Zombieland 2009 Film Starring Woody Harrelson
In a Post-Apocalyptic World Survivors Battle the Living Dead
Oct 22, 2009
Zombieland is a 2009 Horror Comedy Film set after a virus has turned the majority of the United States into mindless flesh-hungry zombies. Four survivors known only by a place that is associated with them, work through their trust issues as they try to stay alive in a world infested by zombies.
Welcome to Zombieland
The film starts with a voice over by Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) in which he explains how he has managed to survive the infestation. He has developed a number of rules designed to keep him alive, and he is trying to get home to Austin, Texas, where his family live to see if they are still alive.
Along the way he runs into Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), who not only insists that they not know each other’s real names in order to avoid attachment, but he is also on a quest to find the last remaining Twinkies on Earth. The pair encounters two sisters whilst searching for Twinkies in a shop, Wichita (Emma Stone) the elder of the two sisters and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin).
The girls con Columbus and Tallahassee, stealing their car and weapons. Fortunately the two find another vehicle loaded with guns and go after them, during a stand-off the four realise that for the moment they stand a better chance of survival if they stick together. Wichita and Little Rock are heading for Pacific Playland but along the way the four stay at Bill Murray’s mansion where they bump into the man himself.
Breathing Some new Life into Zombies
Typically zombie films are about dwindling numbers of survivors who meet grisly ends when hordes of the living dead close in and rip them apart. Shaun of the Dead was a zombie comedy that had its funny moments but tied a lot of jokes to the sitcom Spaced which would have been missed by many fans. Zombieland surpasses the marker set by Shaun of the Dead simply because its jokes cater to a wider audience.
The cast are clearly enjoying themselves and Bill Murray’s cameo is very funny. Previous zombie films were concerned with showing the struggle to survive and that people tend to become savages as they try to stay alive. Zombieland is only concerned with having some fun with a genre that had become rather stale, and whilst there are some gory moments no one is slowly and graphically ripped apart then eaten alive.
Wichita is taking Little Rock to Pacific Park because it is one of the only places that she gets to be a kid again. Wichita is also seen to be falling for Columbus. But she tries to distance himself from him because the sisters only trust one another and none of them want to get closer to the others. In Zombieland the survivors have gotten used to people getting killed so often that they don’t want to get attached to anyone.
The cast are all exceptional with Woody Harrelson being a delight to watch. His back story is more developed than the others and his quest to find Twinkies becomes one of the cornerstones of the film.
The fate of the rest of the world is unknown, no one in the film elaborates on whether the United States is the only country affected by the zombies, or if it is the whole world. The origins of the virus that led to the creation of the zombies is only suggested, and has something to do with mad cows disease leading to mad people, which led to the zombies.
Zombieland is a great zombie film which gives the audience new take on a genre that had become dull and repetitive. There may be a reference to the George A. Romero film Diary of the Dead at the beginning of Zombieland when a survivor filming the outbreak with a video camera is attacked and killed.
Overall, the film is more concerned with the comedy elements rather than people being eaten alive by zombies and is generally a feel good film in which people come through for each other.
9/10
Zombieland is a clever and lively comedy that keeps the gore levels down and features excellent performances from its cast.
