The Martlet

If you don’t like slow-motion shots of ravenous cannibals spewing up blackened blood, chances are you won’t appreciate Zombieland.

A schlocky, ultra-gruesome B-movie on steroids, this film is certain to get a strong reaction one way or another. Like the equally-dazzling 28 Days Later, Zombieland takes all the conventions and clichés of the living dead and blows them away with a shotgun to the face.

28 Days Later director Danny Boyle re-invented zombies as crazed, sprinting psychopaths with red eyes and monstrous appetites for human flesh. Zombieland’s director, Ruben Fleischer, does the same thing — but makes it funny.

“You have a purty mouth,” Woody Harrelson says, right before beating a belching, overweight zombie to death with a banjo.

Hamming it up as Tallahassee, a Twinkie-loving, zombie-killing cowboy, Harrelson delivers his best comedic performance since the Farrelly brothers’ overlooked bowling comedy Kingpin.

His face craggy and angular, Harrelson spits out his lines like chewing tobacco.

“My mother always told me, someday you’ll be good at something. I don’t think she could’ve guessed that something would be zombie killing,” he says.

Harrelson is joined by Columbus, played by indie-favorite Jesse Eisenberg, who first wowed audiences with his awkward virgin shtick in The Squid and the Whale, and Adventureland. There will be inevitable comparisons to Michael Cera. Eisenberg has perfected the awkward pause, the nervous stammer and the wide-eyed innocence of the über-nerd.

“The first girl I let into my life and she tries to eat me,” he complains, after a brilliant appearance by rising hottie Amber Heard.

In possibly the most disturbing scene of the movie, she is instantly transformed into a moaning, eye-bleeding monster dragging a broken leg behind her.

Abigail Breslin and Emma Stone round out the cast as a pair of zombie-fighting sisters who routinely steal Tallahassee and Columbus’ vehicle.

Each gives a decent performance, but they are overshadowed by their larger-than-life co-stars.

Many zombie movies, on top of their terror and gore, often strive for social commentary and gravitas. Zombieland makes no such efforts, but rather revels in the bloody chaos of the zombie apocalypse.

The audience watches as zombies are blown to pieces by shotguns, beaten to death with blunt instruments or splattered against the pavement after falling from great heights.

The action scenes are such an absolute visual feast, such a disturbing freak show of carnage, that it puts previous zombie efforts to shame.

The audience always expects the camera to cut out just a moment earlier, but instead we watch every spray of blood, every splattering impact and every cringe-inducing violent death.

Somebody had fun writing this script. Savvy theatre-goers can watch for countless pop-culture references and homages to basically every cool thriller or supernatural schlock movie made in the past 50 years.

On top of that, the middle has one of the most hilarious and random guest performances of all time. I won’t spoil it for you, though.

This is America’s version of Shaun of the Dead, and so far it has exceeded everyone’s expectations at the box office.

If word of mouth continues this way (Rottentomatoes.com gave it a 90 per cent score), Zombieland is well on its way to becoming a surprise blockbuster.

Which leaves only one question: since when are awesome movies released in October?