Zombieland is a 2009 American zombie comedy directed by Ruben Fleischer from a screenplay written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

The film stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin as survivors of a post-zombie apocalypse. Together they take an extended road trip in an attempt to find a sanctuary free from zombies; Columbus (Eisenberg) follows a set of "rules" designed to keep them alive where others have failed; Tallahasee (Harrelson) kills zombies in a variety of creative ways while trying to "enjoy the little things" in a ruined world.

The film received positive critical reviews and was a commercial success: it grossed more than $60.8 million in 17 days, surpassing the Dawn of the Dead remake to become the top-grossing zombie film to date.

Plot

Set in a post apocalyptic America, two months after a zombie apocalypse has been triggered when mad cow disease became "mad person disease" which later became "mad zombie disease."

College student "Columbus" (Jesse Eisenberg) is on his way to Columbus, Ohio to see if his parents are still alive. He loses his car in an accident and encounters "Tallahassee" (Woody Harrelson), who is on a quest to find Twinkies. They travel together and when they stop at a grocery store, they meet two sisters, "Wichita" (Emma Stone) and "Little Rock" (Abigail Breslin). The sisters con them into handing over their weapons and steal their vehicle. Later, the two men find another truck loaded with weapons, however when they meet the girls again, the girls attempt once more to steal their truck until Columbus proposes a truce and suggests they travel together.

The group decides to travel to "Pacific Playland", a Los Angeles amusement park rumored to be zombie-free. Columbus disagrees at first, but when Wichita informs him that Columbus, Ohio has been destroyed, he decides to stay with the group. Along the way, they pass through Hollywood and Tallahassee decides to take them to Bill Murray's mansion. Tallahassee and Wichita meet Murray himself, uninfected but disguised as a zombie with make-up so that he can walk safely among the infected and play golf without being bothered. When Murray attempts to scare Columbus and Little Rock as a practical joke, Columbus mistakenly shoots and kills him believing him to be a real zombie. Later, Columbus realizes Tallahassee has been grieving over his young son, lost to the zombies, rather than his pet dog as he had earlier led Columbus to believe. Wichita begins developing feelings for Columbus and fearing attachment, she leaves with Little Rock for Pacific Playland. Columbus decides to go after Wichita, and he and Tallahassee, who initially refuses, pursue the sisters in one of Murray's vehicles.

Wichita and Little Rock arrive at Pacific Playland and turn on all the rides and lights, attracting nearby zombies. A battle ensues, leaving the sisters trapped on a drop tower ride and running low on ammunition. Tallahassee and Columbus arrive just as the sisters' ammunition is depleted. Tallahassee manages to lure the majority away, then intentionally locks himself in a game booth while Columbus goes after the sisters. Columbus saves the girls and in thanks, Wichita reveals her real name to him, Krista. The two share their first kiss. Tallahassee eliminates the remaining zombies single-handedly and gets a Twinkie that Little Rock had acquired. Columbus comes to the realization that this is the only family he needs, and the four leave Pacific Playland together.

Cast

Woody Harrelson was brought on as Tallahassee. He accepted the role on four conditions, two of which were about casting and crew. The third condition required the film to have an environmentally conscious set. The fourth condition required that the director not eat dairy products for a week, a task which Fleischer described was "like for an alcoholic not to drink". He succeeded and maintained a vegetarian diet for eleven months.

Completing the cast are:

* Jesse Eisenberg as Columbus

* Emma Stone as Wichita

* Abigail Breslin as Little Rock

* Amber Heard as 406, Columbus' attractive dorm neighbor

* Mike White as Gas Station Owner

* Bill Murray makes a cameo appearance as himself

Themes

The rules

A running gag, and a central plot theme throughout the film, is the list of rules Columbus comes up with for surviving in the zombie-infested world. By the end of the film, his list has thirty-three rules; only some of them are mentioned. A series of promotional videos starring Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg expanded on the list presented in the movie. In pre-release trailers for the film, some of the rules were presented in a different order, and some rules were named differently.

"Cardio"

"Double tap/Ziploc bags (Deleted Scene)" Interpreted by Columbus to mean make sure a felled zombie is really dead by destroying its head, with a final bullet or otherwise.

"Beware of bathrooms"Beware of bathrooms. The rule is shown on the bottom left hand corner of the screen at 00:02:20 and again at 00:05:21 into the film.

"Wear seatbelts"

"Cast iron skillet"

"Travel light"

"Get a kickass partner"

"Bounty paper towels"

"Bowling Ball"

"(Don't) be a hero"Rule number 17 is later changed to 'Be a hero', as Columbus must fight off the clown-zombie to save Wichita and Little Rock while also overcoming his fear of clowns.

"Limber up"

"Avoid strip clubs"

"When in doubt, know your way out"

"The buddy system"

"Check the back seat"It is implied that Rule number 31 was added on-screen, since Columbus failed to check the backseat at first, using Rule number 4 to save himself by crashing his car.

"Enjoy the little things"Columbus adds rule number 32 to his notebook on-screen, after being inspired by Tallahassee.

"Swiss army knife"

At the end of the film, Columbus has a few parting words, reminding viewers of the rules and adding that, "a little sunscreen never hurt anybody".

In a deleted scene on the DVD, Columbus presents an alternate rule number 2 titled "Ziploc Bags".

Character names

The characters do not use each others' real names. Instead, they identify themselves using place names (Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, Little Rock) that relate to them. This includes Columbus's neighbor, named 406 after her room, and his fictional sexual conquest: Beverly Hills.

There are exceptions, Bill Murray plays himself, and Cynthia Knickerbocker, who Columbus identifies as a "Zombie Kill of the Week" winner.Zombie Kill of the Week - 00:40:12 into the film. Included in trailer: At the end of the film, Wichita tells Columbus her real name is Krista.Source: Zombieland DVD subtitles. Time: 76 minutes. Quote: "Krista"

Production

Writing

Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick stated that idea for Zombieland had "lived in heads" for four-and-a-half years. The story was originally developed in 2005 as a spec script for television pilot in the summer of 2005.

Wernick stated "We've got a long brainstorming document that still to this day gets updated on a near-weekly basis with ideas". Director Ruben Fleischer helped develop the script from a series into a self contained feature by providing a specific destination to the road story, the amusement park.

Earlier versions of the script called the protagonists Flagstaff and Albuquerque, rather than Columbus and Tallahassee, and the female characters were called Wichita and Stillwater.

The celebrity who would cameo as himself was written as a zombified, dancing Patrick Swayze, including references to highlights of Swayze's career, even including a recreation of the "potter's wheel" scene from Ghost. Later versions of the script considered Sylvester Stallone as the celebrity, but Bill Murray eventually played the part, most of which was improvised according to Harrelson.

Filming and design

Zombie design for Zombieland, main.jpgthumbZombie design for Zombieland, in a scene from the film's climax. Characterized by tousled hair, blood markings on the face, and ragged clothing, the makeup was used to maintain a balance between comedy and horror.

Principal photography began February 2009 in Hollywood, California with scenes being shot at Scream Fest Theme Park and other locations. Filming continued in March in Atlanta, Hapeville, Morrow, Decatur, Newnan and Powder Springs, Georgia, where actress Abigail Breslin celebrated her 13th birthday by adopting a shelter puppy. Zombieland was filmed in digital, using the Panavision Genesis digital camera and had a 41 day shooting schedule.

The theme park scenes for the film's climax, Pacific Playland, were mostly shot in Valdosta, Georgia's local theme park Wild Adventures Water and Theme Park. Some of the rides that were prominently featured within the film includes Pharaoh's Fury (the boat ride the girls get on), the Double Shot (redubbed "Blast Off"), the Rattler (which takes out a small number of zombies following Columbus after he escaped the Haunted House), the Aviator (which is the first ride Tallahassee utilizes in zombie killing by hanging off of it) and the Bug Out (the second ride, a yellow mini-coaster that Tallahassee rides). Another coaster seen, but not used, is the park's iconic Boomerang roller coaster, which can be seen when the yellow Hummer goes flying off into the lagoon in the middle of the park. A haunted house facade was constructed to match the interior of the haunted house from the previously mentioned Scream Fest Theme Park.

Special effects makeup designer Tony Gardner, who helped create the signature look of Michael Jackson's music video "Thriller" and has contributed to other Hollywood films, was brought on to design the look of the film's zombies. Michael Bonvillain, who was Cloverfields cinematographer, was brought on for the "lively" hand-held camerawork. "Basically, it's the end of the world; the entire nation is zombies", stated Gardner. "And are trying to get from the east coast to the west coast". For one shooting scene, Gardner said, "There were 160 zombies, in prosthetics, on set in an amusement park". He said it is "how you present yourself as a zombie that determines how people will react to you" and that "nce the contact lenses go in", he thinks "all bets are off".

Gardner said he was excited about working on the film with first-time filmmaker Ruben Fleischer, who gave him free rein in his zombie design. " are just trying to be real extreme with it", stated Gardner, "and trying to balance the scares out with the comedy". He described having to makeover physically attractive actors who usually benefit from their looks as "a little off-putting" after seeing some of them in their character makeup for the first time.

The zombies in Zombieland were described by the casting director as:

Harrelson personally chose the wardrobe for his character, Tallahassee. "I never worked so long and hard on an outfit in my life", stated Harrelson. "What this guy wears is who he is. You want to get a sense of this guy as soon as you see him. So I pick out the necklaces, the sunglasses. But the hat? The minute you see that on Tallahassee, you buy him. He's real. And he's got a real cool hat".

Shortly after finishing the filming of Zombieland, Harrelson had an altercation with a TMZ photographer at New York City's La Guardia Airport. His defense was that he was still in character and thought the cameraman was a zombie.

Effects

The special effects team worked to help create a few visual elements never seen in comedy horrors. One of these elements is 'The Rules for Survival', which appear on-screen as they are related by Columbus: Do cardio, beware of bathrooms, check the back seat, and so forth. The texts are rendered in 3-D. "When a previously stated rule becomes relevant—when nature calls, for instance—the relevant text pops up, occasionally getting splattered with blood." Slates Josh Levin said, "The pop-up bit works precisely because Zombieland unspools like a game—how can you survive a zombie horde armed with a shotgun, an SUV, and a smart mouth?"

Release

Distributed by Columbia Pictures, Zombieland was released on October 2, 2009, a week earlier than originally advertised. The film was given an R rating for horror violence/gore and language in the US and in Canada, The UK's BBFC gave the movie a 15 rating for the gore and language. In Canada, Zombieland was given a 18A rating in all provinces except Ontario, which gave it a 14A rating for gory scenes and coarse language..

Home media

Zombieland was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on February 2, 2010 on Blu-Ray Disc and DVD. The film was released on 15 March 2010 on DVD and Blu-Ray in the UK. Select Best Buy stores sold a special edition on both DVD and Blu-Ray with an additional disc featuring two featurettes. Though this offer has expired in most stores, the special edition can be found at select internet stores such as Amazon.

Reception

Critical response

The film received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reports 89% of critics gave the film positive write-ups based on 184 reviews, with a rating of 7.3/10, and a generally positive 86% approval rating from "top" critics based on 29 reviews..

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews from mainstream critics, the film holds a "generally favorable" score of 73% based on 31 reviews.

Film critic Roger Ebert was surprised by Zombielands ability to be significantly humorous while zombies remained the focus of the film and felt that "ll of this could have been dreary, but not here. The filmmakers show invention and well-tuned comic timing". He credited Bill Murray's cameo appearance as receiving the "single biggest laugh" of the year, and gave the film 3 out of 4 stars.

Murray's cameo was called out for attention by other reviewers: Marc Savlov of Austin Chronicle credited it as "the single most outrageously entertaining unexpected celebrity cameo of any film—genre or otherwise—" that he had seen in a "long, long time" and that while the film did little to advance the genre its smart script and high action made it very enjoyable. He categorized Zombieland as being "dead set against being dead serious" with its tonal pallor "ha more in common with a foreshortened It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World than with 28 Days or Weeks Later".

The film's witty use of dialogue and popular culture was also praised by Ty Burr of the The Boston Globe, who said the film "makes no claims to greatness" but that what it "has instead—in spades—is deliciously weary end-of-the-world banter"; Michael Ordona of Los Angeles Times praised director Fleischer for "bring impeccable timing and bloodthirsty wit to the proceedings".

Some reviewers saw deeper levels in the plot and cinematography: cinematographer Michael Bonvillain was praised for capturing "some interesting images amid the post-apocalyptic carnival of carnage, as when he transforms the destruction of a souvenir shop into a rough ballet", while Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com said "he picture is beautifully paced" and highlighted "a halcyon middle section where, in what could be viewed as a sideways homage to Rebel Without a Cause, our rootless wanderers share a brief respite in an empty, lavish mansion".

Claudia Puig of USA Today said that "underlying the carnage in Zombieland is a sweetly beating heart", and that "This road movie/horror flick/dark comedy/earnest romance/action film hybrid laces a gentle drollness through all the bloody mayhem". Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum concluded, "At the bone, Zombieland is a polished, very funny road picture shaped by wisenheimer cable-TV sensibilities and starring four likable actors, each with an influential following".

Josh Levin of Slate drew parallels with Adventureland: in both films Jesse Eisenberg tries to win over his dream girl, a girl who has been hardened by life, and both feature a theme park. He goes so far as to call the film "an undead Adventureland—a Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for the Facebook generation".

Time magazine's Richard Corliss described the film as "n exhilarating ride, start to finish" and reasoned "Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg set a high bar for this subgenre with Shaun of the Dead, but Reese, Werner and Fleischer may have trumped them". "This isn't just a good zombie comedy. It's a damn fine movie, period. And that's high praise, coming from a vampire guy", he stated.

Not all comparisons with Shaun of the Dead were favorable: Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York characterized the "extra injection of pop-culture neuroticism" as "the one innovation" of the film, declaring that while Zombieland was funny it wasn't particularly scary and stated that it "simply isn't as witty as Shaun of the Dead, forever the yuks-meet-yucks standard". Similarly, The Globe and Mails Rick Groen said "it's far more charming than chilling and way more funny than frightening", though he suggested that Rule No. 32 to 'enjoy the little things' was worth observing for a light comedy. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times classified the film as " minor diversion dripping in splatter and groaning with self-amusement" and lamented the lack of a real plot more concrete than a series of comedy takes on zombie-slaying.

Box office

The film debuted at #1 at the box office in North America, with ticket sales of $24,733,155 on the opening weekend, matching its production budget.

As of October 29, 2009, the film grossed $75,590,286 domestically and $102,133,700 worldwide. It is credited as having the second highest-grossing start on record for a zombie film behind the Dawn of the Dead remake and as "the first horror comedy in recent memory to find significant theatrical success".

The film grossed $60.8 million in 17 days, becoming the top-grossing zombie film in history; the title was previously held by the Dawn of the Dead remake.

Awards

Sequel

Due to the film's success, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have already planned a possible sequel, with many more ideas they want to explore. "We would love it, and everybody involved creatively wants to do another one", said Wernick.Samuel Zimmerman October 02, 2009. Fangoria. Retrieved 2009-10-31. "Woody Harrelson came up to us after the final cut of the last scene and gave us a hug and said, 'I've never wanted to do a sequel in the previous movies I've done until this one.'" Wernick said he plans to have Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin to star again with Ruben Fleischer returning as the director and that the writers have "tons of new ideas swimming in ". Additionally, they want to make the comedy into an enduring franchise. "We would love to do several sequels", stated Wernick. "We would love to also see it on television. It would make a wonderful TV series".

Though intent on making a sequel for the film, Reese and Wernick have not yet started to work on a script and do not want to reveal any potential Zombieland sequel plot points. They are not planning on an immediate sequel, due to being heavily involved with other writing projects. The original cast and director are all set to return and Fleischer is enthusiastic about the idea of doing the sequel in 3D.Posted: Tue., Dec. 1, 2009 By TATIANA SIEGEL

the film's producer, Gavin Polone. "I don't think you want to see 'Ordinary People' in 3-D. But 'Zombieland' is clearly one movie that will benefit from (the technique)." Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg confirmed in February 2010 their return for the second installment of the series. Fleischer is working on the screenplay and hopes to finish it by late 2010 or early 2011.

References