By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 17 seconds ago

One of the significant joys of consuming movie after movie is watching directors discover how to put a new twist on an old formula, allowing them to create something unlike anything we have seen before. A prime example of this is Zombieland (2009), a movie whose titular monsters had long since seemed played out on the big screen. However, director Ruben Fleischer made these venerable monsters serious again by placing them in the last place you’d expect: a comedy.

While horror comedies are often hit or miss, Zombieland sticks the zombie landing thanks to its smart writing and killer cast of stars. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, and Emma Stone all team up to survive the apocalypse, and they are joined by Bill Murray, someone with quite a bit of experience putting the dead in their place. If you’re ready for the best gags and the most over-the-top kills, you don’t have to wait for a real-life apocalypse: all you have to do is stream Zombieland on Netflix today.

It’s The End Of The World As We Know It

The premise of Zombieland is that all of America has been overrun by zombies, forcing the uninfected humans to find their own ways to survive. One such human is Columbus (survivors generally go by their cities of origin), a young man who has developed an extensive list of rules for surviving the undead apocalypse. But when his plan to reunite with his parents goes entirely off the rails, it’s clear that he and his newfound friends will need more than a few commonsense rules to avoid becoming the walking dead. 

The relatively small cast of Zombieland still sports some big names, including Jesse Eisenberg (best known for The Social Network) as a young survivor hoping to reunite with his parents. Woody Harrelson (best known for True Detective) plays a redneck survivor whose rough-and-tumble ways might just keep his newfound allies alive. In addition to the rule-loving young man, those allies include characters played by Emma Stone (best known for Easy A) and Abigail Breslin (best known for Little Miss Sunshine), two sisters who may be far more dangerous than they appear.

Girls, Guns, And Gore

Zombieland had a higher budget than most horror films. Fortunately for the studio, moviegoers ran to the theater (cardio, as the film reminds us, is very important), making this horror comedy a breakout hit. Against a budget of $23.6 million, it earned $102.4 million. This made a sequel inevitable, and Zombieland: Double Tap came out in 2016. Unfortunately, it had a higher budget and made less money, putting the franchise’s future in jeopardy. Still, director Ruben Fleischer hasn’t ruled out doing a third film focusing on Madison, the ditzy character (played by Zoey Deutch) who was introduced in the second movie.

When Zombieland came out, professional reviewers were more than a bit excited to see a new take on an otherwise tired genre: the zombie movie. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an 89 percent, with critics praising the movie for being both a quippy, quote-worthy comedy and a gloriously gory scarefest. They also gave it the highest praise of all, noting that this film is proof that the right director is still capable of giving us a zombie film that isn’t as dead on arrival as its shambling antagonists.

A Horror Comedy That Hits All The Right Notes

Personally, horror comedy is my favorite film genre, and I love Zombieland for how it manages to get the ratio between the two just right. As a scary movie, it’s full of incredibly memorable frights, and these scares represent the best modern use of zombies outside of Train To Busan. But Zombieland is just as funny as it is frightening, giving us killer one-liners and phrases (like double-tap) that instantly became part of our pop culture lexicon. Fortunately, all of the main cast are talented comedians in their own right, and they help to elevate the dialogue into something truly unforgettable.

Speaking of the cast, it helps that everyone in Zombieland has such awesome chemistry with one another, all while giving standout performances as surprisingly dynamic characters. Harrelson plays a gruff survivalist who secretly has a heart of gold, just as Emma Stone plays a damaged person secretly looking for someone to connect with. That person might just be Jesse Eisenberg’s character, and this Social Network veteran does a perfect job of playing a nebbish beta boy who is destined to embrace his inner warrior during the zombie apocalypse or die trying.

Surviving The Apocalypse With The Girl Next Door

That’s the thing about Zombieland: it’s easy to dismiss this movie as a silly horror movie, mostly suitable (at best) for when you want to turn your brain off and just vibe out with some popcorn. But beneath all the blood and guts, there’s a genuine film that fires on all cylinders. Every character gets a rewarding arc, every setup pays off, and every ultraviolent moment moves the plot forward. That gives us something genuinely rare: a horror movie with some meat on its bones, one that invites you to devour its runtime with the same zeal that its monsters devour every hapless human they can catch.

Is Zombieland the hilarious horror comedy you’ve been waiting for, or would you rather become a mindless zombie than watch through to the credits? The only way to find out is to grab the remote (go ahead and run to the living room, a little cardio will get you ready for the apocalypse) and stream this smash hit for yourself on Netflix. Afterward, one thing’s for sure: you’ll never look at Bill Murray the same after seeing his hilarious cameo!