Zombieland (2009)

Original Release Date: October 2, 2009
Run time: 80 minutes

As most of us are keenly aware by now, the hype surrounding “Zombieland” has grown to fairly epic proportions; can you think of the last time a zombie movie received a major national marketing campaign and a coast-to-coast wide theatrical release? Last year’s “Quarantine” had a few commercials on TV here and there, but 2004’s “Dawn of the Dead” is the most recent movie that springs into my head in terms of big-time national exposure, and that was half a decade ago! In any case, after having been one of the lucky few to see “Zombieland” at a sneak preview screening last night (with free swag! I will wear my Zombieland t-shirt and hat with pride, and the Zombieland Hand Sanitizer and Twinkies are especially humorous after you’ve seen the movie), I am proud to say that this movie will definitely live up to the hype for the vast majority of people that go to see it.

“Zombieland” does a surprisingly good job of mixing action, horror, comedy, and even a dash of romance for good measure. The inevitable comparisons to “Shaun of the Dead” will surely arise, but believe me when I say that these are two VERY different films, they just happen to be the two most prominent examples of Zombie Comedies – the only people who will compare the two are people who are too unimaginative to think of anything else to say.