kept the story on a track that would feed zombie fans ' hunger for blood-and-guts action . '' -LSB- The -RSB- zombie genre is so well traveled , there is really no reason to get into it unless we could do it in a fresh , different way , '' Reese said . `` We were almost forced to think outside the box to make it an entertaining zombie movie . '' `` Zombieland '' is set in the United States months after a fast-moving virus begins turning most people into flesh-eating zombies . A handful of survivors come together to fight back . Wernick and Reese literally rewrote the rules for zombie films in this movie . Eisenberg 's character is an obsessive-compulsive man who developed 47 rules -- such as `` fasten your seat belt '' -- designed to help him survive in Zombieland . While Eisenberg journeys to find his parents , he joins Harrelson , a zombie killer who is searching for the last Hostess Twinkie before its expiration date . Stone and Breslin play sisters who survive on their con artist skills . Their goal is to reach a California amusement park , which they
LOS ANGELES , California -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Like all zombie movies , `` Zombieland '' has hundreds of zombies doing awful things , such as attacking and eating humans , but you could argue it 's not a zombie movie . Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson find themselves battling the undead in `` Zombieland . '' Zombie hordes do chase the main characters in a post-apocalyptic world , but the focus is on the comedy 's stars , including two Oscar nominees -- Woody Harrelson and Abigail Breslin -- along with Jesse Eisenberg and Emma Stone . -LRB- Spoiler alert : A third Oscar nominee makes a remarkable cameo appearance , but this story will avoid spoiling the surprise by naming him . -RRB- `` We wanted to make a cool , kick-ass road movie about a dysfunctional family traveling across the country and zombies provide us the antagonists , the threat that our characters need to come together , '' said Paul Wernick , who wrote the screenplay with partner Rhett Reese . In fact , Wernick had only seen one zombie film before writing this script . Reese , who is a fan of the genre ,