Zombieland Review

Cole Burton, Associate Writer

February 27, 2010

Zombieland sure was a risky movie. Let me start off by saying that I absolutely love horror movies as well as comedies. However, crossing the two genres didn't seem like a good idea. Surviving a zombie apocalypse just isn't something a normal person would do while throwing in a joke every five minutes. To my surprise, this was my favorite movie of 2009.

I am a huge Saw fan. My favorites were the first two movies, and the sixth had just come out in 2009. It was my 3rd favorite Saw movie in the whole series, yet I enjoyed Zombieland even more. Zombieland was just perfect. You have the hilarious, nerdy kid. The badass, Chuck Norris that every film must have. And of course, two crazy girls that you never know what to expect from.

The movie starts out with our main character and narrator telling us that America is no longer America. He has come to realize that, "You can't have a country without people, and there are no people here." Basically, someone took a bite of a burger from a Gas N' Gulp gas station and becomes infected. Very weak idea, I know, but that's not the point. Besides, that only comes up once in the movie anyway. It is nice to know the facts about these zombies. Instead of being mindless freaks, we are told that the infected get raging headaches amongst other symptoms. Soon, they can't control their actions at all. The running gag of the movie is the Zombieland survival rules. Columbus will tell us many rules and follow them. Every time anyone uses the rule, the screen flashes with the rule. For example, double-tap is rule #2. It means that whenever you're not sure if a zombie is dead or not, shoot it one more time in the head. Columbus wants to get home to Columbus, Ohio to see if his parents are still alive. However, his goal changes around the middle of the movie. We'll get to that later.

I find that Zombieland is the perfect mix of horror and comedy. It isn't scary at all, yet it has the horror elements. And of course, the comedy is great. If you are into horror and comedy, you will like the movie. If you are into comedy and not horror, you will still like the movie. If you like horror and not comedies, then there's no telling if you will like the movie.

Tallahassee, A.K.A., the Chuck Norris of the movie, is just amazing. His only goals during the apocalypse are to kill zombies and get a Twinkie. Then again, he also wants to enjoy the little things like swinging from the chandeliers in the Playboy mansion. He tells Columbus that home for him was a puppy named Buck. It is later discovered that Buck was really Tallahassee's son, not puppy. That explains why he hates zombies so much. The zombies killed his only child.

Wichita is our next character. She is Little Rock's big sister and later turns out to be Columbus' love interest. She seems to be in her late teens to early 20's. Her sister on the other hand is only 12, yet she is very mature. According to her, "12 is the new 20." Together, they scam everyone you will see in the movie at least once. Their goal is to go to Pacific Playland, an amusement park.

Along the way they all have to learn to trust each other and survive. Does Tallahassee get a Twinkie? Do Columbus and Wichita fall in love? How does Bill Murray do in the movie? All of these questions and more I refuse to spoil. Do this movie justice and buy or rent it ASAP. I was lenient on seeing it in theatres, but I was blown away and ended up getting it on blu ray within the first week of it's release.