THE BACKSTORY

I honestly don’t know why I had never seen a zombie apocalypse movie. Maybe it was because my dad would tell me stories about zombies when I was five, and sometimes I would sneak into his room in the middle of the night for comfort and find a screen full of blood and guts. That might have been the reason I had never seen one. It’s not like I was scared of them… right? I mean I had always been tough about things like that, never fainted at the sight of blood, and had always watched action movies with blood and gore. Heck, I even think I’m ready for the zombie apocalypse if it happened in real life, so what could be the difference? When I decided to conquer my not-such-a-fear of watching zombies tear out people’s stomachs, I didn’t think that I would be shaking in my seat praying for the end.

AND THEN

I placed myself on the couch as I sat and waited for my dad to get the camera ready. My Dad, being zombie movies’ number one fan, selectively picked the movie Zombieland as an “appropriate movie for a beginner like me.” After he finally got the black Cannon camera,  he sat down on the couch next to me, greeting me with a mischievous smile. After that one look, I knew I was dead, or undead, so to speak. My first zombie apocalypse movie ever and my dad decides to turn off the lights. He turns on the Blu-Ray and I sit anxiously, praying that my expectations are a little more gory than the real movie. The menu came on, a delightful elevator music tune with a background of a carnival booth, with each character popping up like the ducks in a row that you knock down to win a prize. It seemed so innocent for a zombie apocalypse movie. That was when I started to think, how bad could it possibly get? You don’t know how wrong I was. Then without thinking of preparing me for the first scene, he pressed the play button and watched for my reaction.

The first scene scared me so bad that I almost fell off of my seat. Just the overall thought of random people being attacked and engulfed by flesh-eating cannibals made me shiver. I automatically grabbed a pillow and squeezed it tight. Then, the main character came in. Pictured as a bit of a wimp with the intelligence of a hero, he survived with a set of 32 rules for surviving a zombie apocalypse, which in no hesitation I took down… just in case. After the main character Columbus came in, the plot started to evolve. After Columbus met Tallahassee, an advanced zombie killer who had a humor and a bit of an attitude, the pair met up with two feisty sisters, Wichita and Little Rock. At first tricking the pair and taking their supplies, they ended up crossing roads with them and creating connections amongst them, especially between Columbus and Wichita. I actually took my hands off of my ears and started to become interested. Of course every minute or two there was a zombie who was brutally killed, but by that point, I was used to the axes and hammers. The movie ended with an adorable love scene and a reunited zombie apocalypse team that started out against each other.

THE VERDICT

By the end, I couldn’t tell if I was delighted that it was over, or delighted because of the ending. But I had survived, and I was glad I made it to the end.

by RACHEL MARQUARDT