Zombieland [Blu-ray]
09. Sep, 2010 
10 Comments
Zombieland [Blu-ray]
Nerdy college student Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) has survived the plague that has turned mankind into flesh-devouring zombies because he’s scared of just about everything. Gun-toting, Twinkie-loving Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) has no fears. Together, they are about to stare down their most horrifying challenge yet: each other’s company. Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin co-star in this double-hitting, head-smashing comedy.
If there’s been a zombie apocalypse and you’re road-tripping alo
Rating: 
(out of 259 reviews)
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Price: $ 19.07
The Thing [Blu-ray]
Horror-meister John Carpenter (Halloween, Escape from New York) teams Kurt Russell’s outstanding performance with incredible visuals to build this chilling version of the classic The Thing. In the winter of 1982, a twelve-man research team at a remote Antarctic research station discovers an alien buried in the snow for over 100,000 years. Soon unfrozen, the form-changing alien wreaks havoc, creates terror and becomes one of them.
Rating: 
(out of 55 reviews)
List Price: $ 19.98
Price: $ 11.98
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Review by Nick Wagner for Zombieland [Blu-ray]
Rating:
Let me start off by saying that I’m a huge zombie fan. Whether they’re Romero’s slow-moving shamblers or the fast-moving runners from Return of the Living Dead / 28 Days Later, I will give any zombie movie a try. Enter Zombieland, which when I heard about it, I instantly thought of that direct-to-DVD drivel you see on the rental store shelf that can barely pass as a B-movie. After watching the trailer however, I was genuinely intrigued. Luckily, my friend managed to get her hands on a few preview passes and what I saw was one of the most fun and enjoyable movies I’ve seen in years.
I’ll say it now: This movie is NOT scary. If you go in expecting scares and frights, you’re in the wrong place. While there’s the occasional “boo” scare, Zombieland is a horror-comedy in the vein of Evil Dead II, The Return of the Living Dead, Shaun of the Dead, etc. As a matter of fact, the director was inspired by Shaun of the Dead to make Zombieland. The horror-comedy mixture is is a very hard thing to pull off, but this movie does it pretty well, leaning more towards the comedy.
The cast is great, with Woody Harrelson being the stand out. He is such a great tough guy and delivers some truly great one-liners that it brings back memories of his Natural Born Killers days. Jesse Eisenberg is the “goofy dorky guy” that keeps popping up in movies these days. He does a good job, but is nearly indistinguishable from someone like Michael Cera, who plays the exact same role every time. I liked this guy better because frankly I’m sick of seeing Michael Cera these days. Emma Stone (aka Jules from Superbad) plays a good tough girl and looks exactly like she did in Superbad, which isn’t a bad thing. Abigail Breslin is fine, but she felt slightly out of place. There’s also a bigger-than-a-cameo role by one of the funniest actors of all-time, but I don’t want to spoil it here. Trust me, it’s hysterical.
That’s about it for the cast, except for the zombies themselves, which are very well done. They’re gross, gooey, and vicious and the make-up and special effects look fantastic, especially now in the age of CGI crap. The movie does not skimp on the gore, so be prepared for a healthy serving of blood, guts, and zombie bites. The post-apocalyptic scenery looks amazing and really pulls you into the film. Zombie fans, you will not be disappointed.
The comedy is executed quite well. While whether something is funny depends purely on personal taste (pun intended), I think this movie balances gross-out humor, sight gags, witty banter, black comedy and plain-old “Number 2″ jokes perfectly. One of the funniest bits is when Woody Harrelson’s character rides a roller coaster while simultaneously wielding a shotgun and shoots zombies that follow him around the track. It was clever and a blast to watch. Think of your favorite comedy; Zombieland is probably not as funny as that, but it will definitely make you laugh. It’s not the funniest movie ever, but it does an admirable job.
Other than that, I can’t think of anything else to say. I have minor nitpicks, but most of them are standard horror clichés that didn’t really take away from my enjoyment of the film itself. Do yourself a favor and check this one out, it’s a great horror-comedy.
Review by Jason T. Fetters for Zombieland [Blu-ray]
Rating:
Right from the start Zombieland is in your face. The opening sequence alone is just great and recalls Max Brooks’ The Zombie Survival Guide. Also, it doesn’t try to copy Romero’s Dawn of the Dead or any of the other countless zombie movies.
It’s a very direct film that doesn’t waste time with needless character buildup, that would only slow the pacing. Characterization is achieved in between humor and action sequences and that approach works well.
Zombieland starts by introducing the overly cautious and neurotic, Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) who reminds me of Woody Allen back in Allen classic comedy films of the 70′s.
Columbus is the quiet geeky guy who probably spent his high school years over thinking every detail and was quite possibly bullied by jocks. Now in a zombie infested world, he is forced to become more manly and athletic when taking on the undead.
Then there’s Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) who is the gung ho bad ass. I think every zombie movie needs a Tallahassee type because they are so much fun to watch. Harrelson really steals the show in Zombieland. I don’t think I’ve seen him this good since Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers. He looks like he could have fun in any situation in life pre or post zombie infected. I like the scene where Tallahassee is standing next to a bright yellow Hummer and just randomly firing a machine gun.
Next up are the manipulating sisters, Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) and Wichita (Emma Stone) who are both cute and annoying. I was annoyed with their characters at first and as their characters developed they became a little more tolerable. You also need sisters like this in a post zombie world because they will keep you on your toes. They are fun in their own ways and have both survived tough times together. Their strong bond makes them believable and you accept them for who they are.
With all the wonder characters and backgrounds aside, this is really about killing zombies. Who doesn’t want to roam America’s highways shooting zombies?
It’s the ultimate road movie, as the four travel together and fight hundreds of zombies along the way.
As much fun as that is, the ending sequence at the amusement park, cranks up the fun a lot higher. The combination of rides, amusement park games, and shooting zombies is very entertaining.
Director Ruben Fleischer does a tremendous job directing action in the last half of Zombieland.
That’s what these movies are all about to me. The cheap thrills of just going for it and taking out all that pent up aggressive shooting, stabbing, running over, hammering, and beating the undead any way you can.
Overall Zombieland is a lot of fun and a good way to kick off this Halloween season. I hope more horror movies come out this good in Halloween.
Some of my favorite Zombie movies are Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Zombi 2, Undead, Shaun of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead, Cemetery Man, Tokyo Zombie, Braindead, and The Dead Pit.
Zombieland deserves its place in the upper echelon of the Zombie movie canon.
Review by thornhillatthemovies.com for Zombieland [Blu-ray]
Rating:
“Zombieland”, the new film starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin as four of the few remaining humans living on planet Earth, is one of those movies that almost looks too good when you are watching the trailer. The Coming Attractions make you laugh and laugh and you suspect all of the funny bits were included to get some butts into seats. After watching the trailer, I feared the film would be a let down. There is no way it could live up to this two-minute clip reel.
Happily, I was wrong.
“Zombieland” begins with Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) giving us a brief recap of what has happened to this point. Short story even shorter, zombies have overrun the planet. As Columbus is one of the few remaining humans, he has developed a list of rules he uses to survive. He quickly recites the rules, such as “#7 Avoid Public Bathrooms”, the rule appearing onscreen in large block letters as we watch a vignette illustrating the same rule (Mike White in an amusing cameo). We also learn that he is on his own and trying to get home, living on the hope that someone in his family might still be human. He quickly meets Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) when his Escalade complete with a modified cowcatcher careens through a freeway of abandoned cars, almost hitting Columbus. The two men learn they have very different purposes in life. Columbus just wants to stay alive and Tallahassee is searching for Twinkies. He simply wants to find as many Twinkies as he can, the golden snack cake, his favorite treat. The next day, they enter an abandoned supermarket and meet Witchita and Little Rock (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, respectively) two sisters who are trying to survive. Because they are all loners, they decide to try to remain as impersonal as possible and refer to each other by the name of their hometowns. They decide to work together and make their way to the West Coast. Along the way, they make two more very memorable stops. They also kill a lot of the zombies standing in their way.
I almost get the feeling that someone involved with this film turned on a stopwatch and mandated everything had to keep moving and the film would nor run more than 90 minutes. Generally, I sort of revel in films that allow the characters to grow and breath, provided they actually grow and breath, but “Zombieland” keeps things moving and the film benefits from this extremely fast pace. It moves so fast it doesn’t have time to make mistakes, to seem slow and boring. Because everything keeps moving, you feel like you have experienced a fuller, longer, more fleshed out film.
As soon as we meet Columbus, we are thrust into the middle of this landscape, this story, we meet these characters. The film doesn’t waste time setting everything up, explaining what has been happening. We learn this later, through some remembrances and as illustrations to some of Columbus’ rules.
Because the film starts with these rules, we immediately learn two things about the story. First, zombies are running amuck. Second, Columbus is the type of guy who would be very comfortable making lists of rules. Later, we learn a little about Columbus’ last and first experience with a girl and this also helps to illustrate why he is the type of guy who would go around making rules, lists, things to keep his life running smoothly and efficiently, to keep some order in his life.
But Columbus has learned to adapt to the new world order and has become quite adept at survival. He has learned how to shoot a gun, and what to do with it (related to one of his rules) and has learned how to keep a few steps ahead of the marauding zombies.
When he comes across Tallahassee (Harrelson), the two couldn’t be more different. But this also makes them a good pair. Tallahassee is amused by Columbus and willing to give him a few pointers. And Tallahassee is so different from Columbus, the young man likes the dichotomy.
And Tallahassee’s quest, to find as many of the remaining Twinkies left on the planet is amusing and continues to provide comic relief as his search becomes more and more desperate.
Emma Stone (“Superbad”, “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past”) and Abigail Breslin play the two sisters who will do anything they can to stay alive and stay together. Initially, they are reluctant to open up to the two men, but they quickly realize they need their help and can provide something to the group. Wichita also realizes Columbus is extremely interested in her, constantly flirting, and she enjoys the attention.
As they make their way across the US, they decide to make a funny, and very memorable pit stop leading to an incredibly funny extended cameo by a well-known comedian.
“Zombieland” is a lot of fun and plays like a roller coaster ride filled with laughs and chills and thrills.
Review by Christopher Bowsman for Zombieland [Blu-ray]
Rating:
I started Zombieland expecting to laugh hysterically from beginning to end. Minus a couple Hostess and Bill Murray-related chuckles, I was rather disappointed. I’m aware that I’m in the minority here, but it didn’t deliver as a horror movie or a comedy. Woody Harrelson’s character was moderately funny, but the rest of the cast was pretty awful. The kid was flawed way beyond being sympathetic, well into simply pathetic, and the girls were not likable. At all. I’d have given it 1.5 stars if possible.
Bottom line, lots of people adored Zombieland, but it only made me want to watch Shaun of the Dead.
Review by Graboidz for Zombieland [Blu-ray]
Rating:
“Zombieland” is a fun B-movie horror comedy. If you are looking for more than that, then keep looking. If on the other hand you want to see tons of zombie carnage, loads of head shot zombies, zombies impaled, run over, hung, stabbed and mutilated, then “Zombieland” is a must see.
Playing out like a film version of the video game “Left 4 Dead”, we meet a college kid nicknamed Columbus (after his hometown, not the explorer), in what used to be the United States of America, but what he now calls “Zombieland” after a plague left the country crawling with the hungry undead. Along the way Columbus shares his “Rules” of survival with the audience, things like “Always Check the Backseat” or “Always Wear Seatbelts”. En route back to Ohio, Columbus hooks up with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), another survivor of the plague with a taste for Twinkies. Together they decide to travel east, and along the way meet a couple more survivors, two sisters known as Wichita and Little Rock.
The basic premise has been seen in tons of film, played both straight and for laughs, and while “Zombieland” boasts a better cast and better special effects than most B-Movies, it never really rises above the rest of the pack. There are a few moments that are downright funny, and one surprise cameo that is the highlight of the film. I recommend at least a rental of “Zombieland”, but not sure how often you would go back for another viewing.
Review by Sanpete for The Thing [Blu-ray]
Rating:
Though The Thing shocked with its new level of gore when it came out in 1982, popular taste has pretty well caught up to the gore factor. Now fans will be able to see it all in Blu-ray high-def.
The Thing takes its title from the influential 1951 sci-fi classic The Thing from Another World, a film it otherwise resembles only in similarity of location and a few plot points. (If you’re interested in a less scary, more campy, funnier black-and-white version, with women in it, check out the older one.) The location is an isolated antarctic research station, cut off from radio contact with the outside world, where Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David and several other men unknowingly take in an alien creature that can adopt the form of members of the crew as it destroys them. They quickly find themselves in a desperate and paranoia-inducing situation, each not knowing who among the others might be an alien waiting to kill him. Internal organs are spread into view in various creative ways, while violence and tension build.
Director John Carpenter specializes in gritty, intense, violent suspense, and he doesn’t disappoint here. Though it didn’t do very well when it came out, maybe because it was up against the much cheerier alien E.T., it has become a favorite since.
The movie has already been released in HD at the same 1080p resolution the Blu-ray will have, so the transfer should be of similar quality. The HD transfer is very good, with strong color and good detail and sharpness, definitely improved over the standard DVD. The sound will be English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, with French DTS 5.1. There will be English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles. *Update* 19 September: The early reviews verify that the transfer is high quality, as expected, with excellent picture and good sound (not much surround in a movie this old).
*Update* Universal has said in its promotional material that this release will include the extra material from the current DVD, but according to the early reviews, that isn’t true. First, here are the special features announced in the main press release:
– audio commentary with star Kurt Russell and director John Carpenter
– U Control Picture in Picture
– U Control tutorial
– BD-Live
In addition, most of the 84-minute making-of documentary from the older DVD has been incorporated into the Picture in Picture (PIP) feature, meaning that you watch it in pieces in a window along with the movie. The rest of the special features from the older DVD aren’t included. Just as a reminder of what those old features are, missing here:
– outtakes
– deleted stop-motion animation
– work-in-progress visual effects footage
– behind-the-scenes location footage
– behind-the-scenes photos
– storyboard and conceptual art
– annotated production archive
– original theatrical trailer
Again, those are old features that Universal has *not* included on the Blu-ray.
I’m not into gore, but the suspense is well done here, and Kurt Russell is in his element. Fine video transfer and good commentary make for a good package, but the missing features from the older DVD mean you may want to keep the old one too.
Review by GadgetGuy for The Thing [Blu-ray]
Rating:
The movie itself is 5 stars no question, but this review is for this particular release of it.
I love John Carpenters “The Thing”, but Universal Studios should be ashamed of themselves for releasing a Blu Ray version of the film with almost ALL of the extras REMOVED.
Inexcusable.
It’s a shame Universal chose to do this, since this Blu Ray’s picture quality and sound are both great.
Buy the Uk Blu Ray release instead. It includes the many extras not found in this US version.
Does Universal Studios value their UK customers more than their US customers for some reason?
Review by Wayne Klein for The Thing [Blu-ray]
Rating:
John Carpenter’s “The Thing” is an atmospheric, claustrophobic thriller that manages to be both a tribute to the original film by Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby as well as a scary often surprising thriller on its own. Universal has ported over most of the extras from the original DVD for this set (although it is missing the deleted scenes as well as some of the visual effects outtakes)the only problem that exists with the presentation is that the extras are available to be viewed ONLY via U Control and, as a result, those with 1.0 Blu-ray players WILL NOT be able to access the pip extras. Those who have Playstation 3′s or 1.1 players will be able to access these special features.
“The Thing” looks extremely good in its Blu-ray debut with a sharper, clearer picture. Audio sounds extremely good as well.
For those who haven’t seen the film the title creature infiltrates a remote science station in the Arctic. Cut off from the rest of the world when a blizzard hits, the crew of the science station discovers that the creature acts almost like a virus killing the original person and becoming a perfect replica of that person down to memories.
Featuring strong performances from Kurt Russell, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Wilford Brimley and Donald Moffat “The Thing” is much more graphic than the film that Hawks made in the 50′s but just as powerful and scary.
My only complaint with the Blu-ray is that Universal didn’t port over ALL the extras on the original DVD so fans will probably want to keep their DVDs as well. The U Control feature allows you to watch the original documentary in chunks related to sequences throughout the film. That’s good but I do wish that Universal had designed this to shift all the music, effects and dialog into one set of surround speakers while the dialog and music from the documentary would come from the other with both given equal prominence.
Review by Robert W. Scott for The Thing [Blu-ray]
Rating:
‘The Thing’ was released on SD a few years back in a collector’s edition that had an excellent documentary called I believe ‘horror takes shape’ that was full to brimming with stories and anecdotes from director John Carpenter, makeup wizard Rob Bottin, the legendary matte painting artist Albert Whitlock, Screenwriter Bill Lancaster, Kurt Russel, and many others.
Rather than include the documentary in it’s entirety, it has been chopped up into picture-in-picture bits that you can activate at certain scenes. I don’t mind having picture in picture, but given the massive storage overhead of blu-ray, why leave ANYTHING out? ESPECIALLY when the film is a cult favorite?
Aside from that, I’m happy to say that this is the best this film has EVER looked. You can roll the dice when you purchase older releases but this film cleaned up great, if there was grain going on, I didn’t notice it because I was paying attention to how deep the distance was in the outdoor scenes, how etched the characters faces were with worry or beads of sweat, how detailed the makeup effects were.. the added definition really helps sell the idea of being in the Antarctic.
Any fan of this film shouldn’t be without this one. It’s a treat.
Review by R. Hanley for The Thing [Blu-ray]
Rating:
I just purchased the Blu-Ray version of The Thing. I have previosly owned this film on laserdisc and DVD. I found the Blu-Ray version to have very sharp color and contrast and to have very clean video. The sound has improved from the DVD version. I compared it to my DVD version played on my PlayStation 3 and the Blu-Ray is definitely an improvement over the DVD. If you are looking for extras, there aren’t any.