When Zombieland arrived a decade ago – god, was it really that long? – it featured an entertaining and likeable, if not A-list cast. Emma Stone was pre-Easy A but post-Superbad, Jesse Eisenberg was yet to launch Facebook in The Social Network, and Woody Harrelson… well, he was already a cult favourite. But considering where that cast – also including Little Miss Sunshine’s Abigail Breslin – ended up going in the intervening years (awards success, super-stardom, high-profile dramas and blockbusters) it’s remarkable that they’re all back for a long-awaited sequel. This one’s called Zombieland: Double Tap (a reference to the original’s cardinal rule for zombie-killing – make sure it’s doubly dead), and the first trailer has just shuffled online.
This time, Wichita (Emma Stone), Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) are continuing to survive in the post-apocalypse – and this time they’re taking over the White House, in an America which seems to have never reached the Trump presidency. Who knew zombie films could offer a preferable version of the future? Elsewhere, this one seems to revel in coming-of-age tropes as much as slow-mo zombie killing – notably, Columbus finding an annoying blonde girlfriend, and Little Rock getting a weed-smoking hippy boyfriend. Could the family unit be breaking apart, to the dismay of Tallahassee and Wichita?
Double Tap brings back original director Ruben Fleischer, who last helmed Venom, with another screenplay from Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, this time joined by Dave Callahan. Also starring at the likes of Rosario Dawson, Zoey Deutch, Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch. We’ll find out if there’s still life – and laughs – in the undead when Zombieland: Double Tap claws its way to UK cinemas on 18 October.