Entertainment
Emma Stone’s Perfect, R-Rated Horror Comedy On Netflix Rewrote All The Rules
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Comedy is hard. Dying is easy. That could explain why comedy movies have fallen out of favor over the last decade while horror remains as hot as ever. It also explains the enduring appeal of 2009’s Zombieland, which is back on Netflix.
The horror comedy decided to get in on the joke by acknowledging the absurdity of zombie movies right off the bat with the Rules to Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse. It’s offbeat, it’s a little weird, and nearly 20 years later, it’s still one of the best horror comedies of all time.
How To Survive Zombieland
Zombieland keeps its focus tight on a group of four survivors, known only by their hometowns to keep from becoming attached: Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Tallahasse (Woody Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). The group travels across the U.S., originally first to Columbus, but upon hearing it’s been overrun, the guys agree to go with the sisters to Los Angeles and Pacific Playland. Zombie survival movies don’t need high stakes; they need personal ones. Giving Little Rock a sense of normalcy in the face of the end of the world is enough.
Columbus makes sure to share his rules for survival along the road and points out examples of when other survivors weren’t following them. If that sounds like you and your friends while watching the Dawn of the Dead remake, 28 Days Later, or any serious zombie movie ever, then you know why it was so refreshing to see a film getting in on the fun of horror. Zombieland includes its fair share of dumb decisions, but it’s usually with a wink and in one case, with the greatest cameo in movie history.
Zombieland Was So Good They Did It Again
At the time of its release in 2009, Zombieland was the most successful zombie movie in history with a worldwide take of $102 million. If that seems low, it is, but as with most horror movies, the production budget was only $25 million, and it did gangbusters on DVD. The sequel, which came out a decade later in 2019, Zombieland: Double Tap, was as successful and succeeded in expanding the world with new survivors, new zombies, and a monster truck.
Director Ruben Fleischer had to have enjoyed working with the cast since he keeps bringing them back for his other movies. He worked with Emma Stone again in Gangster Squad, Jesse Eisenberg in 30 Minutes or Less, Woody Harrelson in Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Fleischer directed the first, produced the second), and both Eisenberg and Harrelson in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t. Recently, he’s been talking about a third Zombieland film.
For the curious, it’s possible to go to Pacific Playland, in reality, Wild Adventures in Valdosta, Georgia, which includes rides not featured in Zombieland, including the inverted coaster Hangman and the Boomerang, a simple ride that sends you upside down going forwards, and then winds up and does it again backwards. For everyone else, it’s always a good time to give the original a rewatch and wonder why Hollywood stopped being able to produce anything this self-aware and funny ever since.