See what I did there? (Yes, Joss, now shutup)

Rating: 7/10 (28 May 2014)

Fun and entertaining deconstruction of horror film tropes. If there's a problem, it's kind of like when a magician explains how a trick is done, which spoils the fun. Here, the horror elements are never scary, because you see the gears turning. We can normally suspend disbelief for 90 minutes and believe zombies are real, but not here. Second problem, Joss Whedon simply can't get out of his own way. He can't just do something clever, he has to stop every ten minutes and tell everyone how clever he is. It gets tiresome. So this is a fun ride, and often very funny, not scary, and the presence of Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford is invaluable. (Jenkins has the best moment in the movie, screaming at a monitor, "Fuck you! Goddamnit Japan, how hard is it to kill nine-year-olds?!?" In context, this is very funny.)