20 Post-Apocalyptic Stories That Aren’t Totally Depressing

7. Zombieland

Who said the end of the world couldn’t be funny?

Zombieland is a crackling-smart, self-aware movie that fully embraces the weirdness of the apocalypse. As you may have guessed by the title, the particular catastrophe in this world centers on the undead. Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), a college student, travels the wasteland on his own. It’s an uncomfortable situation for the awkward loner, but what else should he do?

While Columbus is evading zombies and attempting to reach his family, he meets up with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson). Tallahassee takes joy in running down the zombies. He is also on a single-minded quest to find some of the last remaining Twinkies. A crashed Hostess truck full of Sno Balls only fills him with frustrated rage.

The pair travels together and eventually pick up Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), two con-artist sisters. Though the women initially swindle Columbus and Tallahassee, the four of them eventually team up to find a near-mythical zombie-free place.

Now, this is still a dark reality. Corpses, both semi-living and otherwise, litter the landscape. There are few creature comforts to be enjoyed. Yet, Zombieland shows that the apocalypse can sometimes be fun, given the right group of people. Also, it helps if you manage to meet up with Bill Murray – but I’ll let you discover that particular plot point yourself.