Zombieland

Let's face it, the whole idea of some kind of plague or biological weapon turning people into flesh-craving, undead monsters has become cliche. Is it even possible to make a serious zombie movie any more? Somehow, I doubt it; thus the most recent memorable entries in the genre include "Shaun of the Dead," "Fido" and now "Zombieland," which was recently released on DVD and stars Jess Eisenberg as an introverted, obsessive-compulsive nerd who has devised a set of rules for surviving the zombie apocalypse.

I was going to make up my own set of rules about watching "Zombieland," but I only came up with one: Don't eat Hormel Turkey Chili with Beans while watching "Zombieland" (or any other film for that matter that depicts flesh eating, decapitations and various dark, viscous fluids oozing from mouths). Actually, I did come up with a second rule: Keep one finger on the volume control. It's one of those movies in which you find yourself listening to dialogue and then are suddenly assaulted with an overly loud rock-and-roll soundtrack.

The opening sequence of the film introduces us to the basic rules of surviving in Zombieland, or Z-land, as the characters come to call it. Later, Eisenberg's character meets up an Escalade-driving, zombie-ass-kicking cowboy played by Woody Harrelson. Harrelson's character introduces another rule of Zombieland--no names. Thus, the characters come to know each other by the towns from which they hail. Harrelson is Tallahassee, Eisenberg, Columbus, Abigail Breslin is Little Rock, and Emma Stone is Wichita.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed "Zombieland." When I initially saw the trailers for it, I dismissed it as yet another cliche injected into an already tired horror-comedy genre. While some of the jokes lean toward the lame side and there's a definite level of predictability to it, I still found the characters interesting and enjoyable to watch. The story itself is a bit thin, but it's easy not to care about that when the characters are so entertaining. And, since I'm not the type to research everything about a movie before I watch it, I was surprised and thoroughly enjoyed the appearance of Bill Murray in the film.

Woody Harrelson is a crazy, hilarious nut and Eisenberg is perfect as the OCD nerd (maybe a little too perfect).

The amusement park scene made me think, "Oh, this should be a video game." And then I realized that, minus the comedy, it already is a video game series called Left 4 Dead.

Bottom line: It's a worthwhile rental if you're into the zombie horror comedy genre AND if you're not eating Hormel Turkey Chili with Beans.