STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: FILM - “Zombieland”

At this point, media involving zombies have been pretty straightforward with their stories: a group people have to survive form hordes of zombies, and each other because almost always, one of them are a jerk that wants to sell them out or would gladly leave them behind.

The 2009 film, Zombieland, broke the mold in delivering us a fun road trip with a positive sense of humor in a world that has no business of being positive.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer, and written by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick, Zombieland starts off with college student Columbus who aims to travel from Austin, Texas to his hometown of Columbus Ohio.

He hitchhikes, successfully being picked up by a man who calls himself Tallahassee, an adept zombie hunter, whose mission (for the entire film) is to find a Hostess Twinkie bar. It’s Tallahassee’s idea in keeping real names out of the situation, and only refers to Columbus as the city he’s from.

Along the way, they meet two sisters, whom Tallahassee dubs Wichita and Little Rock. The sisters scam the men out of their vehicle so they can go to their own destination: the Pacific Playland amusement park in Los Angeles, California. Eventually, their paths meet again, and form a truce with each other so they can each get to their destinations.

Despite being branded as a horror-comedy, Zombieland is more of the latter. Unlike typical zombie movies during this era, the film throws all the dramatic, tension filled scenes, and instead gives us a fun, character driven road trip film. True, you never feel that any of these characters are in danger of getting bitten or dead, but that’s not what the film is about.

The film is made by people who know zombie movie tropes, and they showcase it by having Columbus having rules on how to survive the zombie apocalypse. Some of these rules are show on screen, such as Rule 1: Cardio or Rule #31: Check the back seat (these are fast zombies.) The presence of these rules 1) makes sure everyone is acting intelligently and 2) showcases Columbus’ character and his eventual arc.

The action/zombie fighting scenes are very minimal. Aside from three zombie attacks that involve a very few amount of zombies, the film focuses heavily on the comedy of the four characters. There is a real life celebrity actor they come across, which I won’t give away, that presents itself for more interaction between the four.

The climax of the film is the one and only zombie army attack, taking place at Pacific Playland. Like I said earlier, there’s never any tension because you get the feeling these characters will live by the end.

However, instead of being tension filled, it’s comedy filled as you see Tallahassee take on a bunch of zombies by using the environment of the amusement park, such as letting the giant rides hit the zombies chasing him, or having to ride a roller coaster, and shooting any zombie that tries to leap toward him.

It’s this climax, and the general concept of the film, that made me, someone who hates horror films, want to go see this film. It’s a refreshing take on the zombie apocalypse, and one that inspires positivity and that having a sense of humor is okay in a world like this.

Remember Rule #32, and check it out.

#StoryStudy #Film #Zombieland