Zombieland | 2009

After a raging infection turns the US into the United States of Zombieland, socially inept loner (Jesse Eisenberg) sets out to make his way from ‘Texas’ to his parents in ‘Ohio’, while avoiding hordes of ravenous flesh-eaters.

Columbus, as he comes to be known after his destination, catches a ride with Twinkie-fixated Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) in his handy black Escalade.

Despite appearing to range across the country, the film was made almost entirely in Georgia.

The scenes of urban chaos as Columbus enumerates his rules for survival are staged on on Edgewood Avenue NE at Park Place NE, in downtown Atlanta.

Raiding a deserted grocery store in an unceasing quest for the sought-after confectionery, the pair Columbus and Tallahassee run into two resourceful survivalist sisters, Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), who make off with both the vehicle and the weapons.

‘Blaine’s Grocery’ was a vacant building on CH James Parkway/Hwy 278at the southern junction with Brownsville Road, just west of Powder Springs, about 20 miles northwest of Atlanta.

The ‘Gas’n’Gulp’ filling station, where the sisters are seen in flashback working an engagement ring scam, is the Pure Service, 249 East Ponce de Leon Avenue at North Candler Street in Decatur.

Columbus and Tallahassee meanwhile find themselves trudging on foot through Court Square, Newnan, on I-85, southwest of Atlanta. Tallahassee takes out his frustrations on a van parked on Jefferson Street.

The two pairs inevitably team up and head toward California, stopping to vent their destructive impulses again on ‘Kemo Sabe’ – a kitschy faux-Native American trading post (which was mocked up in a warehouse in the town of Rutledge, east of Atlanta.

The uneasy foursome arrives in Los Angeles, crossing the 4th Street Bridge into downtown and heading, naturally, to Hollywood.

They grab a map to the homes of the stars from in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, 6925 Hollywood Boulevard, where it’s reassuring to see the customary deluge of costumed characters will persist, though more bloodily, even after the zombie apocalypse.

Guided through the generic palm trees of ‘Beverly Hills’, they make their way to a palatial home owned by Bill Murray.

Of course, this is not really ‘Beverly Hills’. The grand mansion is 490 West Paces Ferry Road, in the Argonne Forest suburb of northern Atlanta. The house is also featured in the Farrelly brothers’ 2012 film, The Three Stooges.

Murray has cunningly coped with the zombocalypse, but sadly doesn’t survive the arrival of Columbus and co.

After living the high life for a while, Wichita and Little Rock take off to find the legendary ‘Pacific Playground’ amusement park, where their enjoyment is cut short by the inevitable arrival of infected hordes. The park is Wild Adventures Theme Park, 3766 Old Clyattville Road, Valdosta.

Good news – yes, you can ride the vertical ‘Blast Off’ on which they find themselves besieged by blood-crazed hordes. In reality, it’s called the Firecracker.

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