comment #1

jasctt says ...

@Wells: This ain't your daddy's zombie movie. Smiling zombies are par for the course.

Saw this last night and it played GREAT. it was fresh, exciting and VERY funny.

BTW, Wells, it would appear that most of the audience didn't know about the cameo and it went over HUGE. i enjoyed it, too. probably would've more if you hadnt spoiled it.

comment #2

PopcornEyeglass says ...

Regarding 1, the Woody Harrelson character was all about variety. He wouldn't just keep using a baseball bat when he could try out some garden shears or a banjo.

comment #3

Jeffrey Wells says ...

"Not your Daddy's zombie movie"...bullshit. Charlie don't surf and zombies don't smile, talk, sing, drive cars, hold down jobs, do the Watusi, use debit cards or open checking accounts, talk about the Wizard of Oz Blu-ray, hit on women in bars, host public-access talk shows or draft health-care legislation. You have to have rules, dammit, and you have to stick to 'em. Okay, Danny Boyle broke the rules when he had his zombies run like cheetahs, but it was an acceptable modification because they were still zombies in every other way. Ask Boyle -- he would no longer have a zombie smile than have one address a Joint Session of Congress. Ask George Romero. You cant fuck around with this.

comment #4

Gogocrank says ...

Romero was actually one of the first to break the rules with "Day of the Dead," featuring the empathetic (and sometimes smiling) zombie Bub. But these zom-coms do tend to play fast and loose, which is what makes them fun.

comment #5

poseidon72 says ...

Actually when he drops the bat I said the same thing.

comment #6

poseidon72 says ...

Also the cameo is CLASSIC and perfectly executed.

comment #7

Gordon27 says ...

"Ask George Romero."

There are smiling zombies in 'Night of the Living Dead'. I have a clear picture in my head of several of the woman zombies eating flesh, and they're definitely smiling. Also 'Day of the Dead' has the aforementioned Bub, and 'Land of the Dead' has a quasi-zombie-revolt.

"Okay, Danny Boyle broke the rules when he had his zombies run like cheetahs, but it was an acceptable modification because they were still zombies in every other way."

Except that they weren't dead bodies re-animated, but rather living people with a disease that drove them feral. Which, yeah, it's only one thing, but it's a pretty big rule to break. I think that "dead body walking around" is a far more significant part of the zombie definition than "not having credit cards".

comment #8

googs says ...

I think we all understood that the amusement park scene only happened because he had written some awesome zombie kills involving some of the rides there. This is a zombie movie starring Woody Harrelson, you're there to have good Friday night fun and see some zombies get whacked and have a few laughs. And in those departments it delivers.

comment #9

televisiontears says ...

"Ask George Romero."

Romero's films put forth idea that zombies would have some kind of stashed away memory from when they were alive, and that it would almost act as an instinct. The zombies in Dawn went to the mall because they spent so much time there, it was what they knew. In Day, Bub was in the service when he was alive, and so he knew to salute superior officers. He also remembered (vaguely), how to shave, read a book, and operate a firearm.

By that logic, a clown (whose job was to smile) would no doubt remember how to smile once they rose from the grave with a hunger for flesh. I'm pretty sure Romero would approve.

This is the nerdiest thread ever on HE and I fucking love it.

comment #10

televisiontears says ...

Though I must say, Jeff, I'm very impressed with your passion for the zombie canon. I geeked out so hard over this post.

comment #11

jasctt says ...

Gordo's eight. the folks in 28 weren't really zombies and it always bothered me that people put it in that genre. For me, I'm not a big zombie movie fan, but I have lost a lot of my early enjoyment of horror films because of all the torture porn and tuff. Give me a film like ZOMBIELAND any day of the week.

comment #12

Devin Faraci says ...

A zombie rides a horse in SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD.

comment #13

ZayTonday says ...

number 1 and 2 bothered me slightly while watching, couldn't have cared less about number 3 though. still the best zombie flick ever.

comment #14

ZayTonday says ...

And Wells, I HATE the fact that you spoiled the Bill Murray cameo. Seriously.

comment #15

EnglishBob says ...

Speaking of zombies, has anyone heard anything about the World War Z movie? I thought the book was terrific and would love to see it adapted for the big screen, if it's done correctly.

comment #16

loyal says ...

I was under the impression they weren't zombies in the traditonal sense (ie the living dead). I thought they were the lviing infected (like 28 Days Later, The Crazies, The Signal, the novel The Cell, the comic series Crossed...)

I was bothered by the opening credits. Not that they didn't look great in slo-gore. But the circumstances didn't gel with a swift global pandemic. People wouldn't be getting married outdoors or going to stripclubs or even lthe birthday party of little girls. There would be little time before Earth's Death Rattle. You wouldn't even be able to get from point A to point B in any given large city.

In the zombie fiction universe that has given us The Walking Dead and World War Z, I found the film to be strangely lacking and not living up to the promise of its trailer.

comment #17

lipranzer says ...

Number 2 did bother me at first, but I rationalized Breslin's character had long seen the park as a kind of oasis, and Stone 's character recognized this as something she needed to give her sister that they didn't think about the consequences (admittedly, this might have played better if Breslin had been allowed to show more vulnerability in the movie, but it's possible they thought casting her was enough).

comment #18

Luke Y. Thompson says ...

The zombies in Zombieland are indeed not the resurrected dead, but rather, people infected with a mutant disease.

This should for once and for all settle the argument that the zombies in 28 Days Later are indeed zombies, as the definition has now officially expanded.

comment #19

The Playlist says ...

4) Spurting digital blood inserted in post-production. A glaring and terrible trend.

comment #20

Terry McCarty says ...

I guess I'll be the dissenter here and prefer the Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg/Nick Frost SHAUN OF THE DEAD comic approach or, hell, even Rodriguez' PLANET TERROR.

ZOMBIELAND had a few laughs and certainly Mr. Murray's extended cameo (especially the line about his biggest regret) was a highlight--and I'd love to see Emma Stone's career go onward and upward.
But it was too obviously development-noted and focue-grouped to death.

comment #21

Terry McCarty says ...

loyal wrote:
I was bothered by the opening credits. Not that they didn't look great in slo-gore. But the circumstances didn't gel with a swift global pandemic. People wouldn't be getting married outdoors or going to stripclubs or even lthe birthday party of little girls.

Easy laughs. Easy laughs. Assuming that the opening was slapped together after test audiences had problems with the tone and needed to be spoonfed in an obvious way (including Eisenberg's narration and the prevalent on-screen "rules")

I'm guessing that a few cuts ago, the film actually began with Jesse Eisenberg and Amber Heard in the apartment.

comment #22

Gordon27 says ...

"Gordo's eight. the folks in 28 weren't really zombies and it always bothered me that people put it in that genre."

The thing is, the movie follows the genres conceits openly, and it riffs off of all three Romero movies heavily. It's one twist on the genre rules is that the zombies aren't technically zombies, they're a lot like zombies but fast.

comment #23

Griff says ...

I'm completely with Jeff on 1) and 2). Made the characters stupid...stupid characters didn't survive for long. Took me out of the movie a bit.

Hated the Cameo. Also stupidity. For those of you who've seen it...who is dumb enough to do that after having survived so long?

3) Didn't bother me as much...seemed of a piece with weenie boy's who perception.

Still, it was fun and diverting...loved the rules and the occasional voiceover.

comment #24

nightheat says ...

I walked out after the two girls were on the ride and saw zombies coming after them and one of them said "Oh no." dumbest scene in the entire movie. I guess I missed the big finale where there actually were more than 1-3 zombies at a time, but by then I could care less. This movie sucked, it wasn't funny, nor an interesting take on zombies, can't agree with anything positive being written about it, sorrrrz. Man, standards are low.

comment #25

LauraReeling says ...

I was bothered by the destruction of the Native American Indian gift shop - with so much already destroyed why not preserve what's left? (And yes, I know this is how Tallahasee blew off steam.) Also thought it got a bit repetitive. Still, a lot of fun.

comment #26

ZayTonday says ...

The on-screen rule thing was a great gag in my opinion.

comment #27

DeeZee says ...

Gotta agree with Jeff on #1. I imagine #2 happened, because those girls got too cocky. I can deal with #3, after seein' Dead Alive/Brain Dead.

comment #28

C is for cookie says ...

Griff, I think the fact that Murray might have thought it was a good idea had something to do with his sitting around doing bong hits with Woody and Emma. Plenty of bad ideas can seem like really brilliant ideas after a few bong hits ...

comment #29

Rich S. says ...

The zombies here definitely start out like the infected in 28 Days Later, but it's clear that they do eventually die. Hence, the need for the "double tap."

I enjoyed the film, but the various trailers showed way too much of the movie. In fact, the cameo itself is pretty much the only thing that isn't completely spelled out. I would have enjoyed the movie a lot more had they not already revealed virtually every joke.

Tallahassee's zombie slaughter at the end is worth the price of admission, though.

comment #30

Krillian says ...

I agree with all 3 quibbles, but it was still probably the funniest zombie movie I've seen, just above Shaun of the Dead. We had a blast, the whole audience did.

comment #31

Colin says ...

Romero gave up the right to sage status with the past 4 zombie films he's put out.

Great film, most fun I've had all year.

comment #32

dd says ...

"Okay, Danny Boyle broke the rules when he had his zombies run like cheetahs, but it was an acceptable modification because they were still zombies in every other way."

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comment #33

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comment #34

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comment #35

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