The addition of these new characters alone sets “Zombieland: Double Tap” apart from the first movie and the new big names attract members of a generation who grew up watching them like the 2009 film did with Harrelson and Eisenberg. New supporting characters who help guide the movie’s plot include a hippy poser from Berkeley, California (Avan Jogia), Madison who epitomizes the “dumb blonde” trope (Zoey Deutch), and the ultimate independent woman Nevada (Rosario Dawson). Harrelson’s comedic timing is unmatched, Eisenberg and Stone’s on-screen chemistry is palpable, and Breslin’s portrayal of an angsty teenager is scarily realistic and relatable to the franchise’s new Gen Z audience.

Reliant on tropes that make other horror-comedies successful such as physical comedy, laughably unrealistic but still somehow unsettling violence, and lots of colorful language, “Zombieland: Double Tap” is still unique in its own right. In an oversaturated movie genre, “Zombieland: Double Tap” manages to stand out, even against the original. When Wichita returns to the White House with news that Little Rock has run away with a boy, she, Tallahassee, and Columbus search for the teen on a cross-country adventure that leads them to an Elvis-themed hotel, an organic, pacifist co-op full of hippies, and up against a hoard of a faster, stronger, and more bloodthirsty new strain of zombie. Columbus and Wichita are still in love but when Columbus proposes, Wichita’s fear of marriage and divorce causes her to abruptly leave him behind, taking Little Rock with her. Tallahassee has become an overbearing father to a now teenaged Little Rock, who is yearning for adventure and friends her own age. After moving into the most secure building in the United States of Zombieland - what was once the White House - this makeshift, dysfunctional, zombie-hunting family of four begin to drift apart. Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is still geeky and still religiously follows his rules for survival gun-toting, twinkie-obsessed Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) is still kind of a jerk and sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) are still more badass than any of the other characters. With the main cast of the first film reclaiming their original roles, “Zombieland: Double Tap” picks up 10 years after the events of its predecessor. In short, it needed to be “Zombieland: Double Tap.” However, if the world did, in fact, have space for one more - and very late - zombie movie, it needed to be exceptional. The world definitely did not need a zombie movie sequel 10 years after the original movie premiered. The world did not need another zombie movie.

It is safe to say that the zombie movie category has been overdone. From “Resident Evil” to “Shaun of the Dead,” from “World War Z” to “Warm Bodies,” the past 20 years of zombie movies encompass terror, comedy, politics, and even romance.

Zombieland movie plot