Zombieland wants to make zombies funny. Other zombie/infected people films have done so, some intentionally (Shaun of the Dead) and others not (Doomsday). It’s a hard feat because the idea of being devoured by a creature is anything but funny, but the fine line is successfully drawn and tip-toed on by Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer.
Inspired to make the film by the aforementioned Shaun of the Dead, Fleischer says that it is America’s turn to laugh at the grunting, moaning and bloodthirsty creatures that scared us so in the landmark film Night of the Living Dead He promises that his zombies are not the slow, mumbling and easily defeated creatures of the original Romero presentation, but more the 2004 Dawn of the Dead version, who can run, sprint, climb, and are strong enough to be formidable foes and also have the ability to solve logical problems, like opening and unlocking doors.
The film takes place in an post-apocalyptic United States, where a super virus is turning most of the population into zombies. A group of uninfected survivors begin to fight back. The movie focuses on the dynamic between two men, Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) who is a fear-driven coward, and Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a gun-toting lover of killing zombies who is on a quest to find and eat the last Twinkie before it expires. They join up with sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) to seek solace in an old amusement park that they believe to be free of zombies, but with plenty of shooting and maiming to be had along the way.
