Film Review
Film Title: Zombieland (2009)
Director: Ruben Fleisher
Genre of Horror: Comedy
Brief Plot Outline:
The
film is set in 21st century America and it follows the four main
characters; Columbus, Wichita, Little Rock and Tallahassee as they try to
survive ‘Zombieland’, essentially a world taken over by zombies. The film is
narrated through the thoughts of Columbus who is essentially the main
character. The film follows their journey through Zombieland as they try to
reach Pacific Playground, an amusement park which is said to be ‘zombie free’.
Which two scenes
impressed you the most? Why?
The supermarket scene in which Tallahassee
searches for a Twinkie but is confronted by a couple zombies inside the store.
He then proceeds to kill these zombies. This scene has incredibly realistic
body horror, and the mix of close ups and low angle moving shots make the scene
seem real and exciting. Tallahassee plays his banjo to lure the zombie; the
music is pleasant which is juxtaposed to the sinister zombies that are lurking
inside the store.
The scene set in the Western souvenir shop in another
favourite of mine. The four characters have been driving for hours and are
getting cooped up so decide to let off some steam inside a Western themed
souvenir shop. They end up destroying everything in the store to let everything
out and calm down. The scene is filmed
in super slow motion and features close ups, capturing the characters’ joy and
happiness, as this is the first time they’ve all got along properly. There is
parallel music featuring in the scene as well, it is a classical piece and
works well with the slow motion filming.
How has watching this
film helped you understand this genre of film making? Which features of the
genre checklist did you spot in the film? When? How?
The film includes body horror, quick montage, loneliness and
an open ending off the horror genre checklist. Body horror is present
throughout the film, with high attention to detail when a zombie is killed/a
person is being eaten. Loneliness is present throughout the first fifteen
minutes of the film, as our main character ‘Columbus’ is the only character we
really focus on. The film also features slow moving monsters (zombies) and also
collision cutting when Bill Murray appears. However, taking this into account, although
the film follows some of the genre checklist criteria, it sets itself apart
from other horrors by having two final girls, and two male heroes. Also the
film, although it has a happy ending because the characters have found
friendship within each other in ‘zombieland’, doesn’t finish with an
equilibrium that is present at the start.
Which aspects of the
film would you like to INCLUDE in your own trailer? Why?
I would like to try and recreate how accurate, realistic and
believable the film is in my trailer. This is because if a horror movie is
realistic and believable then it is a lot scarier. This can be achieved through
cinematography, using close ups, point of view shots and handheld camera shots
to get closer to the action, and achieve a more intimate reaction with the
audience. Enclosed locations and low key lighting will add to the suspense. I’d
also like t try and recreate the realism of the body horror in my trailer as
this will shock the viewer to a greater extent.
Which aspects of the
film would you like to AVOID in your own trailer? Why?
I would like to avoid using comedy in my film trailer as I’d
like to keep my trailer as realistic and serious as possible. The ‘zombie kill
of the week’ scene in which a piano falls on a woman’s head is almost ‘too
funny’ for a horror film, although in this instance it does work well. I’m also
not sure whether I would like to make it a zombie film, although I haven’t
ruled this out.
What was the best
aspect/more enjoyable moment in the film? Why? Can you recreate this?
Some of the best aspects of the film are the various rules
that come up on screen. These are 3D block writing that are edited in, but they
appear to be almost physical parts of the diegesis as certain letters will fall
over if a character runs through them (although the character can’t see/feel
them) and they have their own shadows. This would have been made with very
expensive special fx software which is not possible for my trailer, however I
am going to focus on having good font choices.
