Comic-Con Fans Dig Zombieland’s Menu of Flesh, Twinkies and Bill Murray

Woody Harrelson, roller coaster massacres and an epic quest to find the last Twinkie on earth… If the deafening roar of approval from Comic-Con is any indication, Zombieland is shaping up to be a bloody, hilarious, horrifying hit.

Back in June, FirstShowing started spreading the good word about the debut of Sony’s first Zombieland trailer, which they called a “must-see” and lavished with anticipatory praise. “This kind of looks like if Adventureland and Shaun of the Dead and I Am Legend were mixed together into one undead comedic masterpiece. Not only does it look like it has a whole lot of great zombie kills in it, but it looks like it might have a great little plot involving Emma Stone. Does she fall in love with Jesse Eisenberg? Does that really matter? Whatever the case, I’m loving this trailer, I can’t wait to see it. Killing zombies for fun?! Is there anything better?!”

Horror enthusiasts far and wide echoed his sentiments, so you can imagine the frenzy that ensued when director Ruben Fleischer and his stars presented a new red-band trailer for the movie and some footage from the flick to the nerds at Comic-Con. Zombie-tastic!

In his report from the road, Alex Phan of the Los Angeles Times’ Movie Blog proclaimed Zombieland is ‘keep[ing] the… genre alive,” and went on to praise its “witty script” and cast, which includes Harrelson, up-and-comer Jesse Eisenberg and powerhouse child actor Abigail Breslin. Slashfilm’s Russ Fischer, also at Comic-Con, chimed in breathlessly on the subject of Breslin’s Oscar nomination at the age of ten for Little Miss Sunshine and touted Zombieland’s red-band trailer, calling it “fantastic, full of slo-mo zombie kills (this is a great way to use speed ramping) and some great humor from Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson.” io9 went so far as to accord Zombieland the number two slot on its “Who Won Comic Con’s Buzz War?” list, explaining, “Another sleeper project, and one that features the overexposed undead, Zombieland crawled out of a buzz grave at Comic Con. This movie was just so gleeful and so outrageously gonzo with its mayhem, and the panel was full of great quotable soundbites.”

So where can you see this fine footage, you ask? Ay, there’s the rub! Though persevering bloggers at sites like io9 and Geeks of Doom managed to find an online copy, no sooner had they alerted their readers to its presence then the clip was unceremoniously yanked offline. On August 2nd, Fangoria.com announced the red-band trailer’s online premiere for August 3rd, but it was a no-show. On the 4th, an amended post reported a new date: Thursday, August 6th.

In any event, judging by comments from the fortunate few who saw the elusive clip, things are nonetheless looking good. Claims of the trailer’s mind-blowing awesomeness abound, with one particularly jazzed io9 reader going to so far as to say “I got more entertainment value out of that trailer than I have other entire movies.” Not too shabby.

With the jump Zombieland got from its Comic-Con exposure, it’s only a matter of time before Sony decides to share the red-band trailer with the clamoring masses. If you start hearing banjo music and seeing zombies that look suspiciously like a certain very successful SNL alum — the panelists are denying it, but rumors that Bill Murray makes an uncredited cameo are flying — you’ll know you’re in the right place.

Update: The Red-Band trailer has arrived! And yes, you’re really expected to enter your birthdate and year in those teeny-tiny squares. Good luck.