Zombieland

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Nut up or shut up.

"My mama always told me someday, I'd be good at somethin'. Who'd'a guessed that would been zombie killin'?" —Tallahassee

Some zombie films strive to evoke the terror of endless hordes of ravenous unstoppable undead advancing upon helpless, hopeless victims. Some show an exploration of the effects on civilization when The Virus moves in. Some spend their time showing military forces overrun by an enemy they're unprepared for. Some are a metaphor for zombies as victims of a materialistic, consumerism-driven society that gorges itself on pop culture and technology or are about a divided capitalist society headed by greedy fat cats, where the poor are exploited, or a desperate battle for survival. Some are even about the socio-political ramifications and aftermath of a zombie outbreak. A few try to trace the interpersonal problems (or lack thereof) that can result from a zombie attack.

Zombieland is a little more concerned with knocking their fuckin' teeth in.

It's the end of the world, so you might as well have some fun. You've seen the movies, now you get to live the life. Load up on shotguns, ammo, sledgehammers and banjos, because this is Zombieland -- where your town is your name, where you must always beware of the bathroom, and where your biggest competition for Zombie Kill of the Week is a cheerful, cardigan-wearing nun.

A sequel was in the works, but was abandoned in favor of a half-hour TV show, which itself failed to be picked up after the Pilot Episode was broadcast in April 2013. Eventually, the sequel, Zombieland: Double Tap, was made, and was released in 2019.

Has a Shout Out page.

Tropes used in Zombieland include:

• Abandoned Playground: Pacific Playland. Nothing says fun like smashing zombies with a tilt-a-whirl.
• Action Duo: Tallahassee as the Action Hero, and Columbus as the Action Survivor.
• The Ace: Tallahassee. As with most examples of the trope, he also occasionally veers into Parody Sue territory.
• Action Survivor: This is Columbus up and down.
• All There in the Manual: Not all, actually - there isn't a full list of the original 30 Rules of Zombieland (2 are added during the course of the movie), minus YouTube videos filling in some rules and others besides the original thirty, and Rule #2 was even revised from "Ziploc Bags" to "Double Tap" (though if you pay attention to the 406 flashback, it's still in there).
• Almost Kiss: Columbus and Wichita. Columbus had been hoping for this with 406, but trying to eat your brains isn't very romantic.
• Amusement Park of Doom: The film's climax takes place inside one of these.
• Anti-Hero: Tallahassee is a Type III, while Wichita is more a Type IV.
• Apocalypse Who Cares?: Class 2, but screw it. Doesn't mean you gotta mope about the whole thing or fill it with political drivel about how we're all to blame.
• Apologetic Attacker:
  • Columbus the entire time he fights off 406. "Oh my God. I am so fucking sorry."
  • Also done to Tallahassee (involving cologne) and Bill Murray (involving his shotgun).
• Armor-Piercing Question: Columbus brings up while to himself after learning Columbus, Ohio has been effectively 100% zombie infested.

Columbus: I'm not sure what's more tragic, that my family is gone or that I never really had much of a family to begin with.

• The Artifact: The original idea for "Zombieland" was a TV series. This is why the otherwise entirely random "Zombie Kill of the Week" scene is in the movie--if "Zombieland" had been developed as a TV show, that would have been a Running Gag.
• As Himself: Bill Murray.
• Attack! Attack! Retreat! Retreat!: "Don't swing! Don't swing!... Swing!"
• Badass: Tallahassee. Most of the time, when a hero in a zombie flick gets into a small shack utterly surrounded by zombies, that's it. They're done. Not Tallahassee. It is, however, noted several times that he appears to be trying too hard.
• Bait and Switch: At the beginning, while Columbus is explaining his rules, Rule #4 looks like it's going to be something about not trusting anyone or the people you loved are no longer human or something like that. NOPE. Seatbelts.
• Band of Brothers: At the end this is what they become, or in Columbus' words, his "family". This is precisely the reason that all of them survive, and demonstrates why most people don't make it through a zombie movie.
• Beyond the Impossible: Tallahassee does a Death Blossom with an SUV and a sub-machine gun by doing donuts in the fairway while firing out the window. And later gets headshots on multiple targets while hanging on to a spinning merry-go-around at full speed. This is followed by his last stand against a veritable horde of zombies inside a small booth, with only two pistols and low ammunition - and he slaughters them all.
• Big Brother Mentor: Tallahassee seems to fill this role for Columbus, with a side-helping of Team Dad once the foursome more or less solidifies.
• Big Damn Heroes: Columbus and Tallahassee arrive at the theme park just in time to rescue the damsels Wichita and Little Rock, who have become trapped at the top of the drop tower surrounded by very hungry and very persistent zombies. Tallahassee goes on an all-carnival shooting gallery WITH ZOMBIES, while Columbus has to face his greatest fears combined into one: a zombie clown.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Wichita and Little Rock at first.
• Blood Knight: Tallahassee loves him some zombie killin'. Columbus notes that he has some sort of chip on his shoulder for them that goes beyond "it's okay to kill zombies". That's because they killed his son.
• Boom! Headshot!: Not even followed. The characters usually go for chest shots, as the zombies are still living.
• Boring but Practical: Columbus' weapon of choice is a basic side-by-side shotgun. No complex parts or operation, simple to reload, and clearing a jam or misfire is as easy as flipping a switch to operate the break-open action.
• Braces of Orthodontic Overkill: They don't show up, but Columbus mentions that in '97, he had his first orthodontist.

Columbus: Bastard gave me headgear.

• Brand X: Pacific Playland, as there is no way that they could have gotten permission to use Disneyland in an R-rated zombie flick. But they do tip the hat: "You've just fought your way across a zombie infested country! Where're you gonna go now?" "I'm going to Pacific Playland! Woo!"
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: During Tallahassee's near-incomphrensible fanboy Squee at Bill Murray, he accidentally says that he wanked off to him.
• Brick Joke:
  • The Rules, particularly 'Double Tap'. And the phrase "poor fat bastard" -> "poor flat bastard".
  • Not only is the revised "Ziploc Bags" rule in the 406 flashback, it also pops up in present day (Columbus keeps the shells for his double-barrel in them).
  • At the Hostess truck, Tallahassee rolls his eyes at Columbus for limbering up. Shortly after the girls steal their Cadillac, he smashes a van in frustration. As they walk away he mentions he might have pulled a muscle while the words "Limber up" pop up on a car in the background.
• Bring My Brown Pants: Columbus was just trying to find a bathroom when zombies attacked. By the time he's safe again, going number two is no longer an issue. Possibly lampshaded because Columbus' pants are actually brown.
• Broken Heel: Not so much averted as kicked square in the balls and told to go away. Early in the movie, Columbus, chased by zombies, goes for his car and drops the keys under the door. Rather than stick around and die like a conventional horror movie victim, he just does another lap of the parking lot, gaining enough ground on the zombies in the process to have time to get his keys. And then he finds out the door was already unlocked.
  • He'd need the keys to even start the car, so the fact it was already unlocked wasn't to important.
  • 406 can still stagger after Columbus even after he broke her whole foot.
• California Doubling:
  • Hilariously inverted. Pacific Playland is supposed to be in California but is actually Wild Adventures Theme Park in south Georgia.
  • Bill Murray's mansion, supposedly in Hollywood? That is in fact 490 West Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta, GA.
• Cameo: See As Himself, but potential straight cameos include Tom Cruise and Demi Moore amongst the zombie horde, though there's been no confirmation.
• The Can Kicked Him:
  • As Columbus explains his rule about bathrooms, we encounter a man finding out the hard way that no place is safe from zombies - not even the stall.
  • When Columbus' next-door neighbor turns on him in his apartment he is forced to brain her with the tank lid of his toilet.
• Canon Dis Continuity: Zombieland: Double Tap ignores the Amazon TV show. May count as Reboot Discontinuity if the show was meant as a reboot rather than a sequel. 
• Car Fu: In the beginning, Columbus crashes his car to send the zombie in the back seat flying through the windshield. As noted later, one of Tallahassee's signatures is the Toyota Tripwire (aka slamming the door into zombies as he passes).
• Celebrity Survivor: Bill Murray.
• Chainsaw Good:
  • During the scene mentioned below under Painting the Fourth Wall, Tallahassee is Dual-Wielding chainsaws. This is to establish his Crazy Awesome Badass credentials immediately. Similarly, Wichita is shown holding a bloody chainsaw in the movie poster.
  • It's actually averted in the movie proper. Nobody ever wields a chainsaw, even though Wichita wields one on the poster, preferring ranged weapons such as shotguns and rifles or bludgeoning weapons for close kills.
• Character Development: The movie ends with Tallahassee apparently having conquered his grief over his son's death, Colombus learning to break the rules once in a while, and Wichita and Little Rock having learned to trust.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • An actual gun -- Tallahassee shows Little Rock how to shoot with her rifle. It comes in handy later.
  • Remember how Columbus is afraid of clowns? Guess what's waiting for him in the end.
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • Played straight - Columbus learns Rule #31 "Check the Back Seat" when he is ambushed from there by a zombie in the beginning. Tallahassee fails to do this and Little Rock gets the drop on him.
  • Subverted - Columbus tells Wichita about his seatbelt rule. At the end, when their car is being attacked by zombies, it looks as if she will buckle her seatbelt and crash to drive them off, as he did. But she and Little Rock instead bail out of the car, letting it fly into a lake. And Tallahassee throws out the rule of Double Tap and miraculously survives.
• Cherry Tapping: “I'm gonna give you about forty-five percent power.”
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The girls. Played for Laughs at the ending, where they fake ditching the duo.
• Combat Pragmatist: Columbus, with his Boring but Practical approach to killing zombies ("Double Tap") and his strict list of rules for survival. Also Tallahassee, for whom just about anything can serve as a melee weapon, be it chainsaw, hedge clippers or a freakin' banjo.
• Comically Missing the Point: Intentional:

Columbus: You know, they say "He who seeks revenge should remember to dig two graves." Tallahassee: That's right! One for the big chick, and one for the little chick!

• The Commandments: The Rules, as laid down by Columbus.
• Cool Car: Whatever Tallahassee happened to be interested in driving was always "#3" and always cool. Also see Rule of Three below.
• Con Women: What Wichita and Little Rock were before the outbreak. And after as well.
• Cutaway Gag: Zombie Kill of the Week, and several of Tallahassee's "flashbacks".
• Danger Takes a Backseat: One of Columbus's rules of surviving a Zombie Apocalypse is to always check the back seat.
• Dare to Be Badass: "Nut up or shut up."
• Dead Weight: Rule #1 of surviving in Zombieland: Cardio. The fatties got turned first. The first victims were naturally those who couldn't outrun the zombies.
• Deadly Prank: R.I.P., Bill Murray.
• Death Seeker: See the trope below. Columbus even comments that Tallahassee is a bit too eager to jump into the fray.
• Despair Event Horizon: About 2/3rds of the way through, Columbus realizes that Tallahassee has crossed it. After all, take away a man's son and what does he have left to live for?
• Didn't Think This Through: As said under Deadly Prank, it didn't occur to Wichita, Tallahassee, and Bill Murray that pretending to be a zombie around a nervous, jittery, guy with a shotgun isn't a great idea. To be fair, they were high as kites.
• Discreet Drink Disposal: "One and I'm done" Columbus says just after tossing his shot out the window.
• Distracted by the Sexy: How Wichita lured in a gas station clerk as part of a con.
• Does Not Like Spam: Tallahassee can't stand Sno-Balls (due to the coconut). It's not the taste, it's the consistency.
• Doomsayer: In the opening sequence a man with a sign saying "The End is Near" is about to be eaten by zombies.
• Double Tap: Rule #2.
• Drop the Hammer: Near the end, Columbus meets his greatest fear, a clown zombie. Unfortunately for fear, this film is not in any way a horror flick, so Columbus grabs a big sledgehammer from a Test Your Strength carnival game and, well...
• Dual-Wielding: Tallahassee. Chainsaws! Sadly not seen in use. He also carries two shotguns later in the film, though he only uses one at a time. He uses two pistols during his last stand at the end of the flick.
• Dude, Not Funny: In-universe example - the glare Tallahassee gives Wichita after she laughs at Bill Murray taking a second "dying breath".
• The Dulcinea Effect: Columbus to Wichita. Invoked by Wichita and Little Rock.
• Everybody Lives:
  • Unusual (and especially rare) for the film genre, none of the four main characters succumb to the zombie menace during the course of the movie.
  • After the opening (in which a fat man, non-double-tapper, toilet-user and seatbelt-forgetter get killed) there are only two non-zombie deaths seen (406 in the flashback and Bill Murray). Possibly just because humans are pretty scarce by this point anyway.
• Face Your Fears: Columbus vs a Zombie clown in order to save Wichita. Columbus is terrified of clowns.
• Failed a Spot Check: Blink and you might miss it, but sitting right on the shelf next to Tallahassee while he's beating a zombie to death with a banjo in the grocery store is...a box of Twinkies.
• Fan Disservice: The zombified topless strippers during the opening credits.
• Fauxshadow: Wichita convinces Colombus to loosen up on Rule #31 (seatbelts). Surely this means that some seatbelt related tragedy will happen. Nope.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Pretty much the basis of the True Companions.
• First-Name Basis: The girls, eventually. Wichita blurts out Little Rock's name in a moment of panic and tells hers to Columbus. The boys remain nameless, though Columbus nearly tells us his in the intro.
• Flash Back: A couple from before the Zombie Apocalypse. Happier times for Tallahassee, and somewhat less stressful times for Columbus. Wichita and Little Rock are shown pulling one of their cons.
• Foreshadowing: The object of Columbus's fake sexual encounter was named Beverly Hills. Guess where the quartet of heroes ends up later?
• Four-Temperament Ensemble:
  • Tallahassee: Sanguine (Blood)
  • Columbus: Phlegmatic (Black Bile)
  • Wichita: Choleric (Yellow Bile)
  • Little Rock: Melancholic (Phlegm)
• Four Man Band It's all up to interpretation, but the boys are somewhat easy to pin down while the sisters are a little more ambiguous.
  • The Hero: Columbus
  • The Big Guy: Tallahassee
  • The Lancer: Wichita
  • The Smart Girl: Little Rock
• Funny Background Event:
  • When Tallahassee is smashing up the minivan, the building behind him has several posters in the window related to the plague including one showing a grenade and the phrase "Solve It." It's even funnier when you see it's a bridal store.
  • After Tallahassee jumps off the van, he says he "pulled a hammy". "Limber up" shows up on the mini van and falls off with a clatter, almost like it was the license plate or the bumper.
• Gainaxing: Hello, zombie stripper! Watch those nipples tassels fly off.
• Genre Savvy:
  • Columbus, to a tee. Well, he does fall into genre savvy after he got attacked by zombified 406. He was simply hoping for it to play out like a Romantic film.
  • This entire movie is filled to the brim with genre savviness!
• Gilligan Cut: Bill Murray's idea of "West Coast hospitality". What comes after that just makes it funnier.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Whatever it is that Tallahassee does with the hedge clippers, heavily implied to be beheading a zombie. Well, he said he was just gonna take "a little off the top."
• Groin Attack: Columbus to the zombie clown in the climax.
• Guns Akimbo: Tallahassee takes this Beyond the Impossible in one scene, striking absolutely ridiculous poses while firing into a crowd of zombies with dual pistols. To be fair, the Zombies were packed so tightly together that every shot was bound to hit. If you watch him, it looks like he's doing Gun Kata.
• Hand Wave: How did the world end up in such a horrific state? The explanation is two lines of dialogue: "A guy ate a bad burger. Mad cow disease became mad human disease." That's about it. And then the movie gets back to killing things.
• Harbinger of Impending Doom: 406, Columbus's neighbor who comes to Columbus's apartment after being attacked by a "homeless person".
• Haunted House: Played with. At one point, Columbus leads a horde of zombies into an amusement park haunted house. It works both for him (zombies are stupid enough to get caught in one of the things that jumps out at you) and against him (good job, moron, now there's moaning coming from all around you).
• Heh, Heh, You Said "X"

Columbus: Did you know that sleep deprivation is the number one problem in America? Wichita: I think it might be number two now. Tallahassee: (laughs) Number two...

• Heroic BSOD: Columbus has a minor one when Wichita tells him that Columbus, Ohio is in ruins, meaning that his parents are probably dead.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted. You think this is what Tallahassee is doing, but then you remember what a Crazy Awesome Badass he is.
• Hikikomori: Columbus before the Zombie Apocalypse. He describes his parents as "paranoid shut-ins" as well.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Columbus mentions that the best part of life in Zombieland is that there are no more Facebook updates. Guess who went on to play Mark Zuckerberg?
• Hollywood Nerd: Columbus, a shut-in who wasted all his time in his apartment, eating junk food and playing World of Warcraft. Surprisingly, he's in pretty good shape for this trope.
• Hometown Nickname: All of the main characters never go by their names, only what city they are from.
• Humans Are Bastards: Averted, which is surprising considering the genre's conventions. The movie doesn't try to push any Aesop about how humans are "the real monsters" or more of a threat than the zombies.
• Humble Goal: Tallahassee's twinkie obsession.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Hey, we're in the middle of a country whose inhabitants have been turned into cannibalistic zombies attracted to light and sound. Let's switch on this theme park!
  • Hey, here's a great prank! Let's have the guy convincingly dressed as a zombie scare the jumpy kid who has a shotgun. Admittedly, they were high when they thought that one up.
• I Know Mortal Kombat: Little Rock sarcastically credits "violent video games" with teaching her firearm use.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Columbus to 406 after she wakes up a zombie. (She isn't.)
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Arguably Tallahassee during the finale. Yes, the zombies were packed in and close range, but he had about one bullet for each zombie rushing him, so every shot had to be a kill shot and no way to obey Rule #2 while he was at it. He pulls it off.
• Improvised Weapon: A banjo, hedge clippers, toilet seat covers, a piano... even a carnival ride. The banjo gets bonus points - Tallahassee plays "Dueling Banjos" to attract a zombie before braining said zombie with said banjo.
• Informal Eulogy: For Bill Murray. Complete with a twenty-one gun salute. Finished with shots of Purell all around.
• Instant Marksman, Just Squeeze Trigger: Used when Tallahassee is training Little Rock.
• Ironic Echo:
  • As the movie starts, Columbus's Rule #17 is "Don't Be A Hero". As the movie ends... let's just say he's made an exception.
  • Used earlier after Tallahassee says he might have pulled something and Rule #18, "Limber Up" appears in the background.
  • During the Rule #1 introduction Columbus says "poor fat bastard". During the cutaway to the Zombie Kill of the Week joke later, he says "poor flat bastard" about the crushed zombie.
• Jerkass: Wichita for most of the movie. She disarms the guys and leaves them for dead twice, kidnaps them once, and steals their only transportation three times over the course of the film. She gets better.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • Tallahassee makes a silent gesture to Wichita to indicate to her that she just pretty much crushed Columbus' hopes of finding his parents safe, and that it was a crummy thing to do to him.

"I haven't cried like that since Titanic!" And then he dries his eyes with money.

• • If anything, Wichita is even worse, but the scene where she dances with Columbus is particularly sweet of her. Of course, she walks out the next morning.
• Kick the Dog: Subverted. It's bad enough that Columbus shot a box of what is possibly the final box of twinkies in the world right in front of Tallahassee, but immediately after that, Wichita and Little Rock drive away in their Cadillac! Again! AFTER THEY WERE SAVED BY THEM! But they were just kidding. They even throw him a Twinkie.
• Kill'Em All: Averted shockingly, considering the genre. Well, for the survivors anyway. The zombies, on the other hand...
• Lampshade Hanging: Gleefully and repeatedly peppered throughout.
• The Last Man Heard a Knock: Columbus starts the movie believing himself to possibly be the last person alive. Then he sees Tallahassee's truck plowing through abandoned cars on the highway.
• Last-Second Word Swap: Sorta.

Columbus: So, where are you guys headed? Little Rock: Pacific Playland. Tallahassee: The amusement park? Columbus: Wait, outside L.A.? Little Rock: Yeah! We went there as kids. Tallahassee: That place totally blows! [Little Rock and Wichita give Tallahassee angry looks] Tallahassee: ... my mind. It's... it's so fun, just good entertainment for the whole family.

• Last Stand: Near the end, while being chased by zombies in Pacific Playland, Tallahassee eventually gets surrounded by a horde of zombies in a small booth. He shuts the screens on the windows, pulls out two pistols, and opens fire. The last shot of this is the booth surrounded by dead zombies with an unharmed Tallahassee twirling his guns.
• Leitmotif: Not a complete one, but the bell sound from "For Whom The Bell Tolls" can be heard in pivotal scenes.
  • Before the characters go into the grocery store, it sounds like a motif from Pink Floyd's The Wall is playing in the background.
• Lightmare Fuel: The explanation of Rules #1 ("Cardio") and #2 ("Double Tap") are accompanied by a visual of people being graphically attacked and killed by zombies. They are hilarious and tragic and scary all at the same time.
  • The various "zombie kills" (especially the "Zombie Kill of the Week").
• Line-of-Sight Name: Columbus tries to impress Tallahassee by describing an imaginary sexual encounter he had. The scattered FedEx packages end up being "the back of a FedEx truck" and a sign with the name Beverly ends up being "Beverly Hills," the object of his fake sexual encounter.
• Little Miss Badass: Little Rock.
• Little Miss Con Artist: Little Rock again.
• Little Miss Sunshine: Sorry.
  • It's cool.
• Love Makes You Dumb: The reason why Columbus goes after Wichita after she and her sister have carjacked the boys yet again.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Bill Murray is surprisingly chill for a guy who just took a shotgun slug to the chest He had just smoked a bunch of weed with Wichita and Tallahassee.
• Male Gaze: Lampshaded, as it was used with knowledge and intent by Wichita. As the gas station attendant and Columbus both notice, Baby Got Back.
• Mama Bear: If you are not Little Rock, then it's going to take some very extenuating circumstances for Wichita not to rob you blind and leave you for dead if she gets the chance. If you threaten Little Rock, you've got about the same chance of not being shot.
• A Man Is Not a Virgin: Lampshaded by Columbus who tells the viewer that it's perfectly acceptable to speculate on the status of his virginity, and tries to "brag" about his first time in the back of a FedEx truck. Lampshaded again by Tallahassee who comments with a grin, "Finally made it to first base", when Wichita kisses Columbus.
• Minimalist Cast: The only living humans we see are the four main characters and Cynthia Knickerbocker. And Bill Murray.
• Moment Killer: Columbus and Wichita had an Almost Kiss and then Tallahasee comes in to ask for help moving the couch so he can build a fort.

"You are like a giant cockblocking robot built in a secret fucking government lab!"

• Monster Clown: And poor Columbus was already afraid of them.
• Mood Whiplash: About 2/3 in. After the genuinely tragic reveal that Tallahassee lost his toddler son to the zombies, he sniffles and says "I haven't cried that hard since Titanic."
  • Not to mention he starts wiping his tears with money.
• More Dakka: "Thank God for Rednecks!"
• Never Mess with Granny: Sister Cynthia Knickerbocker, recipient of the Zombie Kill of the Week award. With a piano.
• Nice Hat: Tallahassee's Stetson.
• No Name Given: At Tallahassee's insistence. They give no real names so they can't form attachments to each other. To no one's surprise, it doesn't work. Of the main cast, the only exception is Wichita whose real name is revealed to be Krista.
  • The girl who used to live in Columbus' building before she became a zombie who Columbus refers to as '406' for her apartment number.
  • Nobody in the movie goes by their real name except for Bill Murray and Sister Cynthia Knickerbocker, which we can assume is her name because no-one would choose to go by that.
• Not Using the Z Word: Gloriously averted. It's, well, in the title. Keeping track of the many times the characters say "Zombie" is part of the drinking game.
• Odd Couple: Columbus and Tallahassee.
• Oh Crap: The girls, when they notice the hordes of zombies approaching the theme park.
• Once Is Not Enough: Rule #2 of surviving in Zombieland: The Double Tap. Shooting a downed zombie in the head to make sure could be the difference between going on your way and becoming a human Happy Meal. Also demonstrated with a vehicle and a toilet tank lid.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: The entire cast, with the exceptions of Bill Murray and Sister Cynthia Knickerbocker. Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock are their intended destinations. Wichita's name is later revealed to be Krista. 406 is also referred to just by her apartment number, and she refers to Columbus the same way.
• Oops, I Dropped the Keys: Played with in this movie, when Columbus drop his keys by the car while being chased by a zombie, but is smart enough to circle around the car until he's able to reclaim the keys without getting killed... then he realizes the door wasn't locked in the first place.
• Open Says Me: How Wichita and Little Rock get into Pacific Playland.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Act generally like other fast, plague-bearing zombies, but it appears these zombies are actually technically still alive. This makes them easier to do away with than zombies in most media since even non-headshots are sufficient. They do still appear more resilient than normal people though, in the sense that they don't register pain any more.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Tallahassee.
• Painting the Fourth Wall:
  • The "Rules" captions and the opening credits are sent flying by debris and people fleeing the zombies.
  • Columbus' narrations in general, but one scene in particular:

Columbus (narrating): Asskicking was his business, and- Tallahassee: Business is good.

• • The "Zombie Kill of the Week".
• Played for Laughs:
  • Normally, zombie films focus on the horror of the situation. The horror gets momentary glimpses, but mostly this movie goes for the funny in a big way.
  • Bill Murray's dying moments were so ridiculous that Wichita couldn't help but laugh.

Wichita: [laughs] I'm sorry, he just gets me. [[[Beat]]] But it still is sad.

• Pretend We're Dead: Bill Murray does this so that he can play golf, and he uses his disguise to scare and play around with the other characters. It works a little too well, though -- Columbus mistakes him for a real zombie and shoots him.
• Product Placement:
  • GM with Cadillac, Hummer, and Chevy. BMW and Chrysler also sneak in.
  • FedEx. More like, "Sex Ed".
  • Mountain Dew Code Red, the nerd's drink of choice.
  • Hostess Sno-Balls and Twinkies (and by extension, Mexican Submarinos). ALL HE WANTS ARE SOME GODDAMNED TWINKIES!!! Which he eventually gets.
  • Columbus played World of Warcraft in his dorm room.
  • 2012, the film that Woody Harrelson had a memorable role in.
  • Columbus offers some Purell hand sanitizer after the group dispose of the dead Bill Murray. Notable in that an earlier movie of Abigail Breslin's featured heavy-handed Product Placement for Purell among other things.
• Promotional Pictures And Cast Lists Always Spoil: One of the main promotional pictures and trailer shots for a while was the zombie clown, ruining that, and a look at the extremely small cast list ruins the big cameo.
• Ragnarok Proofing: Despite the After the End scenario, infrastructure has held up remarkably well with all the cars being fully loaded with gasoline and easy to hotwire.
• Reality Ensues: Despite Refuge in Audacity, a few examples pop up.
  • As is said elsewhere, why were the overweight the first victims of the zombies? Because they couldn't outrun them.
  • Having grown up in a Zombie Apocalypse, Little Rock hasn't had time to watch films from previous generations such as Bill Murray's.
• Reconstruction: Though it plays many things for laughs, the movie also takes time to show the characters in a realistic light. Such as Little Rock and Tallahassee passing the time with the former trying to explain Hannah Montana to the latter.
• Red Herring: One of the very first rules Columbus mentions is the importance of seatbelts. A later scene deliberately draws attention to Wichita's ignoring this rule, which seems like obvious foreshadowing for some horrible pay off later in the movie.
• Refuge in Audacity: Most of the humor comes from this.
• Replacement Goldfish: There are hints during their stay at Bill Murray's mansion that Little Rock is becoming this for Tallahassee.
• Road Movie: A post zombie-holocaust Road Movie, no less.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Tallahassee goes after zombies like this because they killed his son. He leads one during the end to distract enough zombies away from Columbus's rescue and survives!
• Romance-Inducing Smudge: A variation is presented when Columbus discusses how his life's dream is to brush a girl's hair behind her ears.
• Rule of Cool: Half the movie runs on this.
• Rule of Funny: Takes care of the other half.
• Rule of Three: All three of the cars the group uses have a 3 painted on the side.
  • Considering that was Dale Earnhardt's number, Tallahassee may well be a NASCAR fan. Showing up in a truck worthy of the name Intimidator helps.
  • We see a Dale Earnhardt poster on the wall during the flashback portion in which Tallahassee is feeding his son.
    • Alternatively, it was because his son was three years old.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: In the climax, Colombus breaks his own rule (#17) and and becomes a hero.
• Searching the Stalls: Our hero has to relieve himself, and to be on the safe side, he searches each stall in the bathroom before doing so.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Columbus and Tallahassee respectively.
• Shoot the Dog: Wichita asks Tallahassee and Columbus to perform a Mercy Kill on her infected sister, Little Rock, then stops them and insists that she be the one to do the deed. She then promptly turns the gun on the two men so that she and her NOT-infected sister can steal their weapons and vehicle.
• Shout-Out: Tallahassee plays a few notes of the Deliverance music as bait for a redneck zombie, which he then dispatches with a cry of "You got a purty mouth!"
• Sliding Scale of Comedy and Horror
• Squee: Tallahassee has this reaction to BILL FUCKING MURRAY!
• Stealth Pun: Tallahassee gunning down zombies whilst riding a rollercoaster. It's an on-rail shooter!
• The Stinger: Bill Murray un-dies to correct Tallahassee's mangled attempts at language, then dies. Again.
• Stock Aesops: Friendship. Cardio Fitness. Wear Seatbelts. Oh, and Sunscreen too, though it has nothing to do with anything that happens in the movie.
• Stockholm Syndrome: Played for Laughs, with Columbus dreamily thinking about how he 'kinda liked' Wichita mere moments after she and her sister have pulled guns on him and Tallahassee (for the second time!) and taken them prisoner.

Tallahassee: You're thinking about fucking Wichita, aren't you? Well, wish granted, she's been fucking us for the past 24 hours.

• Survivalist Stash: "Thank God for rednecks!"
• Take That:
  • Bill Murray regretting he ever did Garfield.
  • Columbus asks who the big BM is. Yeah, those initials have another slang meaning.
  • See! I told you we should have gone to Russell Crowe's house!
• Technically Living Zombie: The zombies aren't dead, so the characters aim for center mass most of the time instead of headshots. For instance, 406 gets bashed with a toilet lid.
• Theme Naming: Tallahassee, Columbus, Little Rock, Wichita, 406. Is this a cast or a freakin' road map?
• Title Drop: Early and often.
• Too Dumb to Live: You're in the middle of a Zombie Apocalypse, and you pretend to be a zombie to scare the twitchy guy armed with a shotgun? Really, Bill Murray? Okay, he was high, and the others (also high) were goading him on, but still.
• Took a Level In Badass:
  • Columbus, starting before the film as a shut-in spending all his free time on World of Warcraft, a competent survivor by the time we meet him and ending a big damn hero.
  • Also applies to Tallahassee - A deleted scene reveals that he used to be a sign spinner. A lousy one at that.
• Too Soon: Tallahassee's response to Columbus trying to apologize for unknowingly blasting a box full of twinkies behind a closed door.
• Toyota Tripwire: One of Tallahassee's trademarks.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Tallahassee makes it his personal quest to find a good Twinkie in Zombieland. He eventually finds one.
  • Also inverted, as Sno-Balls keep being brought up, which Tallahassee hates.
• Trailers Always Lie: While the trailers make it look like Tallahassee is the big damn hero lead, the honor actually goes to Columbus, the paranoid Action Survivor cum Heroic Bystander.
• Trash the Set: the fate of the "Wampum" native American gift shop.

Columbus: Rule #32: Enjoy the Little Things. Even if it means destroying a bunch of little things.

• Travel Montage: When the two men and two women agree to cooperate, each person takes turns driving while talking about random topics like Willie Nelson and Hannah Montana.
• Troperiffic: This movie unapologetically takes an almost perverse pleasure in messing with just about every Zombie trope ever. And it is so much better for it.
• Undead Child: Played for Laughs early in the film with a horde of little zombie girls in party dresses charging out of a birthday party after a soccer mom. Subverted with Little Rock.
• Unorthodox Reload: Tallahassee prepares for his epic caged booth shootout by standing up numerous magazines of ammo for when he runs out. He then proceeds to just slam the guns into the mags on the counter and he's good to go again.
• Violin Scam: In a flashback, the girls are shown doing a variation with wedding rings.
• The Virus: Mentioned explicitly early on as the cause of the Zombie Apocalypse. Humorously, as with Solanum being a potato virus, the virus came from a "contaminated" burger at a Gas n' Gulp.

Columbus: Remember Mad Cow Disease? Well, Mad Cow became Mad Person became Mad Zombie. It's a fast-acting virus that left you with a swollen brain, a raging fever, and made you hateful, violent, and gave you a killer case of the munchies.

• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Colombus wakes up to an infected 406 spewing blood all over him.
• Weapon of Choice: The gun salute during Bill Murray's "funeral" provides a great view of them. All are lethal at short-to-medium range.
  • Wichita's pump-action 12-gauge shotgun.
  • Tallahassee's lever action rifle.
  • Columbus' double-barrel 12 gauge shotgun.
  • Little Rock's pump-action rifle (small caliber, accounting for her small size).
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: The zombie clown.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Little Rock.

"Twelve is the new twenty."

• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Wichita and Little Rock's con on the guys.
• Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb: Averted all to hell with one exception: the 12-year-old is at least as competent as the rest of the cast, but she has no idea who Gandhi is.
  • Or Bill Murray for that matter.
• Zombie Infectee:
  • Played hilariously with 406, Columbus' neighbor, whom he lets into his apartment early on in an attempt to finally get close to a woman.
  • Little Rock pretends to have been bitten as part of a con to steal the guys' guns and car.
• Zombie Apocalypse: 28 Days Later rules, surprisingly. They're technically alive, but infected with a virus that turns them into running, raging, flesh-eating... they're zombies.
• Zombie Gait: Played with. These zombies can move just like regular people so long as all their limbs work. But since they're stupid and don't care about pain, a lot of them have assorted injuries, and groups run the gamut from lumbering to sprinting.

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Ahah! Found a Twinkie -- no, wait, no... It's just styrofoam... Dammit.