Zombieland

Horrorphile

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Zombieland

December 23rd 2009 03:50

I’d heard mixed reports about Zombieland (2009), and I almost made the decision to catch up with on DVD, but I realised that was very lazy of me. In order to compile my year’s best nightmare movies I would have to see it before the DVD came out, no excuses.

Zombie and vampire movies are a dime a dozen these days; America, UK, Europe, Australia, every man and his undead dog are making a gutmuncher or fangbarer flick. So, it’s inevitable that there’ll be more dross than decency. I’ll always one to call a spade a spade, and I’m not about to take any prisoners here; Zombieland disappointed me. I was enjoying it, and then as the movie progressed I became more and more critical. By the end I had more problems with it than highlights.

Woody Harrelson as Tallahassee

That’s not to say it doesn’t have its moments. It’s not a bad movie; it’s just not an especially good one. It sets out to be a cult classic; you can sense it straight up with geek loser Colombus (Jesse Eisenberg) laying out the rules for surviving in the United States of Zombieland - complete with stylish graphics - but not long after Colombus first meets up with self-styled zombie slayer Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), and then with survivalists Wichita (Emma Stone) and her younger sister Little Rock (Abagail Breslin), the comedy tone established right at the beginning and maintained fluidly through the first half and hour becomes less and less consistent.

Jesse Eisenberg as Colombus

Soon enough that dreadful Hollywood habit of injecting schmaltz where it’s so not needed rears its ugly head, then characters begin to behave stupidly and soon enough the rather cool movie that first kicked ass has fallen on the wayside to be replaced by a very silly comedy that’s not nearly as funny as it thought it was. Director Ruben Fleischer claims he was inspired to make his own zombie comedy after watching Shaun of the Dead (2004). More on the comparison later.

Emma Stone as Wichita

Bill Murray’s cameo starts out amusingly enough, but then utter indifference smothers the sequence. One got the impression they were overjoyed at meeting Bill, so how come they couldn’t really care less when they kill him accidentally? That’s bad writing courtesy of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. The same kind that has the so-called savvy girls manage to turn all the power on at the amusement park, somehow enjoy the banana boat joyride without anyone operating the controls, then strap themselves into the rocket joyride in an utterly dumb attempt to escape the marauding zombies, only to shoot out the controls in an effort to save themselves, and then be rescued by Colombus who operates the controls that were supposedly blown apart.

Abigail Breslin as Little Rock

That’s not to forget the really annoying Ghostbusters scene. What the hell was that about? Same movie producers?? Regardless of Bill Murray the scene still left me confounded at its indulgent inclusion.

Zombieland Jesse Eisenberg and Amber Heard

Colombus finds his neighbour, 406 (Amber Heard) more insane, than insanely hot

Shaun of the Dead still has the bar raised high; a superb example of consistent comedic writing whilst staying true to the genre its paroding. Its tagline is “rom-com … with zombies”. Zombieland’s is “This place is so dead.” Shaun of the Dead manages to balance the romance brilliantly with the horror and the comedy, Zombieland is uneven and corny. The zombie element is left behind for a good portion during the second half, only to re-emerge again as a token appearance near the end.

Zombieland Abigail Breslin and Emma Stone

Little Rock and Wichita choose the wrong ride ...

There are things to enjoy though; the acting is solid, with Woody Harrelson giving his most entertaining performance in years, uber-sexy Amber Heard’s cameo as (room) 406 at movie’s start is great fun (and it’s probably my favourite sequence of the movie), and Emma Stone is also notable as the disgruntled, eye-shadow-laden Wichita. But as for Bill Murray - and I’ll get harangued for it I know - I just don’t get the cult of personality that surrounds him.

... and have to keep the undead at bay

The special effects are good, with some choice gory moments (even if there’s a heavy reliance on CGI, which I noticed extended to window smashing and assorted other effects which in the past would’ve been executed on set). Gone it seems are the days of actors actually getting their hands dirty. Some of the dialogue is genuinely funny, but nowhere near as clever as Shaun of the Dead.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a huge horror-comedy fan, so for me to be impressed the movie has to be spot on, straight up, and consistent from start to finish. Innocent Blood (1992), Re-animator (1985), The Return of the Living Dead (1985), Teeth (2007), Braindead (1991), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Ginger Snaps (2000), and Man Bites Dog (1992); these are some of the horror comedies that deliver consistently in tone and style. Zombieland could have, and should have, been a lot better than it was.

Oh, and special note to the old skool zombie purists ... they run.

Here's the teaser trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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7 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by The Master

December 28th 2009 20:12

"But as for Bill Murray - and I’ll get harangued for it I know - I just don’t get the cult of personality that surrounds him." ROFL now that was classic. Ehh I know Horror comedy isnt your thing but still I think you were overly harsh. The whole thing was supposed to be corny that was the whole point, it was a mock of Zombie horror Movies. The only thing I think the movie was missing is how in many Teen Slasher and Zombie films or even Horror in General you have all of these idiotic teens that randomly decide to go have Sex in the Middle of a Monster or Serial Killer's Rampage. Whenever I see that my first thoughts are "WTF?" therefore Zombieland should have had that added to the mix. But they did play on the other stupid trends in Movies such as how people never check the car's backseat and often become something's dinner because of it, or how people dont properly kill the Monsters and then stupidly go too close to the creature's body when it wakes up and eats. Or even how they lose the car keys conviently or should I say inconviently when they're being chased by something. The movie met all my expectations for a porper spoof but then again that's just my taste. I think the whole Bill Murray thing was just to add a touch of Randomness to it, you know, like how Ozzy Osbourne shows up in "Little Nicky" in the last Battle. It's all in good fun. I personally thought it was hilarious especially with how Columbus does cardio before he's going to outrun Zombies. LMAO, it was priceless. Also, "then strap themselves into the rocket joyride in an utterly dumb attempt to escape the marauding zombies, only to shoot out the controls in an effort to save themselves, and then be rescued by Colombus who operates the controls that were supposedly blown apart." I think that was done on purpose to show the other stupid trend of adding elements to Horror Movies that make no sense what so ever. So again, I found the movie met my expectations. And why do Zombies always have to be slow? Says who? They arent slow in the Folklore so why are they slow in Movies? I find it hard to be terrified of a creature that is only a hint faster than a turtle. It's like the old Mummy Movies where the Mummy was always slow and dragging it's foot. The only way that thing could catch up to you and kill you is if you were extremely slow yourself, in a wheel chair, wounded, or just plain clumsy.

Comment by Morgan Bell

January 11th 2010 22:36

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i think its one of those movies that lives or dies dependant on your knowledge/acceptance of american stoner in-jokes

i found the Bill Murray sequence amusing because it was completely absurd

the thing i found disappointing was the romantic pairing of Eisenberg and Stone, her character looked and acted like Lindsay Lohan on a bender, there is no way she would have been with someone like him, she should have been paired off with Woody, he was cool

Comment by Bryn

January 12th 2010 00:09

Horrorphile

Master,
I still think the movie failed as a consistent spoof. The Return of the Living Dead and Shaun of the Dead are both consistent in their tone, and this is an imperative element for any kind of comedy. Zombieland is half-baked. There are some great gags and some witty lines of dialogue, but the middle sags, and the romantic subterfuge is ill-conceived (as Morgan points out). However I don't think it was very successful in the "stoner" category either. Give me a big blunt and Planet Terror any day.

Comment by The Master

January 12th 2010 16:58

I respect your opinion my friend, but why does everything have to be consistent? I mean this is a Comedy spoof of Horror not a serious Horror scenario, if it were serious I would also want it to be consistent but it is not. And it wasn't modeled after Night of the Living Dead therefore it doesn't have to be consistent with it, the whole movie is based on Zombie movies in general not just Romero flicks. Shaun of the Dead was great in it's own right, but Zombieland is in it's own category because it is a spoof of this genre in general, not just a spoof of a specific movie. So I still gotta give it 2 thumbs up.Also, lol you should check me out on myspace, role players playing the whole cast have added me lmao.

Comment by Bryn

January 12th 2010 22:23

Horrorphile

Master, you misconstrued my point. I was talking about comedic consistency. Horror movies played straight are a difficult enough genre to master (although many filmmakers mistakenly think the contrary), but clever comedies are even harder. Shaun of the Dead is a comedy that is consistent in its comedic tone from beginning to end, Zombieland isn't.
I'm not concerned as to whether a zombie movie has to be consistent with other zombie movies ie running zombies or shuffling zombies. For the record my favourite zombie movie is Romero's Day of the Dead, but I love Zack Snyder's remake of Dawn of the Dead.
Zombieland had some great stuff in it, but most of that was in the movie's first half.

Comment by The Master

January 13th 2010 16:55

I wasn't trying to misconstrue your point, so I apologize if I did. Either way I think to each his own. So in the end it's pointless to argue what movie is better than the other because we all have different tastes. Have a nice day my friends.

Comment by Bryn

January 13th 2010 23:33

Horrorphile

Master, of course each to their own as far as taste and what makes you laugh, however I still think Zombieland wasn't as well-made as it could've been. Lazy writing was the chief problem, and they should've never attempted the romantic angle, that was ill-conceived and unconvincing, whereas Shaun of the Dead set up the romantic angle right from the start: "A romantic comedy ... with zombies.", and yet never strayed from the zombie menace, while Zombieland let the zombie menace fall on the wayside while the writers indulged in the awkward romance. Anyway, I guess we can agree to disagree

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