Funny ‘Zombieland’ still scares

Zombieland

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone.
Directed by: Ruben Fleischer.
Rating: R for horror violence/gore and language.
Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.

It’s that time of year again.

Time for costumes, candy and, oh yeah, horror films.

I am not the scary movie type. I was the one hiding in a corner with a blanket over my head while my friends watched the Chinese version of “The Eye” (you think it’s hard to watch a movie with subtitles, try to do it when you’re not even looking at the screen). But, to be fair, “The Eye” is a legitimate scary movie — at least the Chinese version is; I can’t vouch for the Jessica Alba fiasco.

I can take most slasher films. I actually really enjoy the “Saw” series. It’s the supernatural stuff that gets me, especially ones involving creepy little kids.

But that’s all beside the point. I watched “Zombieland” recently and had to keep myself in check — this was, after all, a comedy.

Doesn’t mean I didn’t jump on occasion. But, for fellow timid moviegoers, this film manages to satisfy the obligatory Halloween viewing without leaving you checking under your bed.

In “Zombieland,” the majority of the population has turned into (shockingly) zombies. The narrator (Jessie Eisenberg of “Adventureland” notoriety) tells the audience that these transformations began after a bad experience with a Mad Cow-diseased hamburger. And it was all downhill from there.

Now, the number of zombies greatly outnumbers that of normal humans. In fact, at the start, the narrator is our only known character, and he introduces us to the world by giving us a few of his most important zombie survival rules.

Rule No. 1: Cardio.

Narrator is a college-aged kid who was studying at the University of Texas when the mayhem struck and is now on his way back home to Columbus, Ohio, to see if his family is still alive.

On his way, he meets a tough, gun-toting, zombie-killing maniac (Woody Harrelson) who agrees to give him a ride in his truck. But, in order to avoid familiarity and, thus, any sort of friendship, he insists on calling the narrator by his destination, Columbus, and he refers to himself as Tallahassee.

Columbus soon discovers Tallahassee’s one weakness: Twinkies. It’s during a foray into a grocery store in search of the spongey snacks that they run into the untrusting Wichita (Emma Stone) and her intelligent 12-year-old sister, Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), who are headed to the rumored-to-be zombie-free amusement park Pacific Playland.

“Zombieland” is a fun, offbeat, clever film. Columbus’ “rules,” playing off the horror-flick stereotypes and the hilarious celebrity cameo, are reason enough to watch it.

Woody Harrelson is in a realm of his own in his role and is one of the main sources of the film’s entertainment.

Abigail Breslin also had a shining performance as the mouthy, know-it-all preteen, and it will be interesting to see what future roles she will decide to choose.

The one thing that really gets me is Jesse Eisenberg. I saw him in “Adventureland” too and I just can’t fathom how someone can look, act and talk so much like Michael Cera ("Superbad,” “Juno”) and not be related. It’s like watching someone acting like Michael Cera while he’s acting. But, besides that, Eisenberg did a great job.

And, though I would rather qualify “Zombieland” as the one “scary” movie I need to watch by Halloween, I grudgingly promised my boyfriend I’d watch an actual scary one soon. He may not be so eager to watch another after my fingernails have dug into his arm for an hour and a half.

3 1/2 of 5 stars