Zombieland

I finally got to see this little gem last night, and I must say, I was rather impressed. I had my doubts, as I'm not a giant Woody Harrelson fan, but he's actually one of the main draws to the film, as his character is a fantastic, gun toting, twinkie hunting badass. The gist of the film is this: the world has fallen to hordes of zombies and now the survivors have their hands full just trying to make it through the day. Nothing you haven't seen before, basically, but it's the little character interactions that make it special. The lead is a chronically afraid shut-in who meets up with Woody's life-loving rascal and then they in turn meet two sisters. They all make the devastated world interesting and even through the scares, you'll find time to laugh at their exploits. The rules for surviving the zombie holocaust are particularly great for laughs and also just good to know.

I particularly like that despite the usual zombie trappings, the movie doesn't fall into the "people are the real enemy" trap that so many movies do. In fact, Zombieland, much like Left 4 Dead, teaches us that the only way to stay alive is to stay together, as there is strength in numbers. Bravo to that. I always hate seeing this trope in monster films, particularly zombie films where it seems to pop up the most. I'll give it a pass in Romero's films as his are more a morality play on the decay of civilization, but in others it's just lazy and an easy way to get to a shock ending. Fortunately, Zombieland avoids this.

Check it out.

The Zombie Diaries

Sat down for some zombie action last night and popped this flick into the dvd player. It attracted my attention at Best Buy a few months ago but I never got a chance to see it until now. The verdict? A solid mockumentary-styled zombie epic with decent gore and acting and the harrowing idea that the only thing worse than the undead might just be the living. The story follows three groups of people--journalists, scavengers and survival types--as they deal with a world that is being dealt a deadly blow by a virus that turns people into the undead. The story jumps around a little due to the narrative relying on the limitations of a single camera shoot for the most part. It works well and has you on the edge of your seat as you try to figure out who will come out of this alive. Entertaining, though not if shaky-cam makes you sick. For the most part there isn't a lot of that though and what there is isn't too bad at all.

It's worth checking out for zombie lovers and horror fans alike. Be warned that it does start to unravel a bit once you get the third segment and you might night like the ending much, as it pushes the "humans are bad" idea pretty hard and almost ruins the film in the end. Also, don't let the cover of the dvd mislead you. This is strictly a low budget affair. No Vin Diesel wannabe with guns and a biohazard vest on and definitely no post-zombie holocaust London either. Just farms.