Review: 'Zombieland' Gives Life To Horror Humor

'Zombieland' (R)(out of four)

"Zombieland" is your typical zombie film in many ways: plenty of bile-spewing ghouls trying to take their last bite out of humanity and a body count that goes into the double digits in its first five minutes.

In other ways, "Zombieland" is a coming-of-age story about a nerdy college-aged kid, a middle-aged male misfit whose mother told him he'd never be good at anything, and two con-artist sisters who eventually learn to trust people other than each other.

If you can imagine that there'd be that much depth in a movie titled "Zombieland," don't raise your hopes too high. The peripheral plotlines are merely window dressing for the real story of four misfits who continually manage to outsmart, but mostly out-run, the undead.

"Zombieland" stars Jessie Eisenberg ("Adventureland") -- nicknamed Columbus. He's trying to get to Ohio from Texas to be with his family. The rumor is that zombies have not yet inherited the Earth on the East Coast. Depending on whom you ask, the virus, caused by one man eating a mad-cow type hamburger, has spread to some parts of the United States, but not others.

Nebbishy Columbus (think a 20-year-old Woody Allen in a zombie flick) lives by a set of his own avoidance rules and has therefore survived the scourge. However, staying clear of people, even if they have turned into zombies, is nothing new for him. "I avoided people like zombies even before they were zombies," he says.

His zombie rules are a source of a constant running gag in the film (always check the back seat, maintain cardio so as to be able to outrun zombies, stay alert while in a public restroom, double tap a zombie, which means don't just shoot once, but twice for certainty).

Columbus has his first zombie encounter with the cute neighbor he's been eyeing who lives in Apartment 406. After Ms. 406 (Amber Heard) spends the night, it's zombie time, and a lesson in survival of the fittest. Of course, he believe it's just his luck -- the first girl he lets into his life tries to eat him.

On his way to making an exit out of town, he hitches a ride with a redneck (Woody Harrelson) who has finally discovered his reason for living -- to kill zombies and to scour ghost towns for his favorite food, Twinkies.

He calls himself Tallahassee, since he's on the way to the Florida town. This generic name is a way for him to not have any attachments either.

Soon, the duo meets up with two sisters (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin) who have managed to escape the zombies, too. In addition to their con artistry, they are on a mission to find Pacific Playland, a Los Angeles amusement park, where it is rumored that humans remain.

The scene is the film's best with plenty of human vs. zombie action and a few surprises around every corner.

Screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick and director Ruben Fleischer are strictly out to entertain with "Zombieland." And while the niche genre film has its share of exploding heads, twisted limbs, and gross outs, there's plenty of originality, too, including a cameo by an A-list star.

"Zombieland" takes horror slapstick to a new level, and it's flesh-eating fun.