A Twinkie! My Zombie Kingdom for a TWINKIE !!!

Rating: 8/10 (2 May 2010)

"Zombieland" superficially looks another umpteenth zombie-comedy, and that's definitely not a good first impression because we have literally been served dozens of these since the release of "Shaun of the Dead" and even the most hardened horror buffs are slowly beginning to disregard them. However, this is one zombie movie that has to be seen by both genre fanatics as well as by people who are merely interested in a good hour and a half of laughs, ingenuity and cheerful acting performances. "Zombieland" is a seemingly unpretentious and straightforward mainstream horror movie, but it's actually a lot more intelligent than it looks. For starters, Ruben Fleischer's film slyly evades the whole set-up and origin of the zombie plague. The United States of America have turned into Zombieland in barely two months and that's just the way it is. All the slow and stupid people have died and lead character Columbus only briefly refers to the virus that caused all this death and destruction, but apart from that the film only focuses on here and now. Survival is the only thing that counts. To remain alive, the lone and nerdy teenager Columbus – named after his hometown – composed a simple list of essential Zombieland rules. These particular list of rules, which is regularly referred to, is another very intelligent an vital element of the script. The rules practically summarize the essence of zombie horror cinema! The include simple and obvious tips like aim for the brain and always check the backseat prior to getting in a car, but these are things that everyone already yelled to other films in an annoyed tone of voice, because people keep making the same stupid mistakes. Columbus first teams up with the macho cowboy Tallahassee, who seems more interested in finding a Twinkie than in surviving the zombie mayhem, and subsequently the deceptive sisters Wichita and Little Rock who steal their car  twice. Although the general conception in Zombieland is that you're better of alone, the four versatile survivors travel together and develop a peculiar friendship. The third really smart thing about "Zombieland" is that it contains quite a few effective and beautiful metaphors about things like friendship, sacrifice, puppy love and even humanity. The diversification of characters results in a lot of terrific dialogs and downright hilarious situations. Columbus is an anxious and phobic nerd whereas his partner Tallahassee (glorious role for Woody Harrelson) is a trigger-happy hillbilly who finally found a purpose in life: killing zombies. There are numerous great sequences, including adrenalin-rushing opening credits to the sound of Metallica's "For whom the Bell Tolls", a cameo of a fantastic Hollywood star as himself and a brilliant finale in a Californian amusement park. The film isn't too gory (ideally accessible for larger audiences, in other words) but the make-up effects on the zombies are splendid and occasionally quite scary (the clown zombie!). The film may perhaps have been inspired by the aforementioned "Shaun of the Dead", but it's a soon-to-be-classic by itself. It's the most entertaining and feel-good horror film of the year!