Hilarious, kooky and brimming with surprises, the zany-scary comedy-horror Zombieland puts a new spin on all those Night of the Living Dead movies. And just in time for Halloween.

It’s a mismatched buddy road movie with a pair of unlikely compadres –– Woody Harrelson as the daredevil Tallahassee, who risks everything time and again because he no longer has anything to lose and Jesse Eisenberg as the skittish Columbus, who has a long list of rules that have enabled him to survive in a nation where most of the populace has been replaced by an army of the hard-to-kill, people-gnawing undead.

Eisenberg brings his brand of wry, antsy delivery to Columbus, something that has served his characters so well before in everything from The Squid and the Whale to the Rhode Island-made The Education of Charlie Banks to this year’s underappreciated Adventureland. A loner who has been too shy and awkward to have ever had a relationship with a girl, Columbus has surprised himself by being one of the last humans alive despite his irritable bowel syndrome and the fact that he’s afraid of just about everything, especially clowns.

So far he has been well served by his long list of rules of survival which include Rule #1 Cardio (the ability to outrun the fleet-footed zombies), Rule #31 (always check the back seat before driving off) and Rule #17 (don’t be a hero). Amusingly, these rules pop up in bold letters on screen when they’re most needed to remind Columbus and the audience of what must be done.

With a witty script by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, director Ruben Fleischer barrels through one insane situation after another. The opening scenes introduce us to the zombies and the dire situations the few remaining humans face in a world where a 21st-century plague has turned just about everyone into people eaters. In funny succession we see bride zombies, little girl zombies, stripper zombies. No place is safe, not even a restroom stall.

Shortly into the film Columbus is on his way from his college campus in Austin, Texas, to check on his parents in Columbus, Ohio, with the hope of seeing a face “without blood dripping from its lips and flesh between its teeth.” Soon he comes upon the no-nonsense, super-heroic Tallahassee (Harrelson).

We never find out the real name of either character. Tallahassee and Columbus are nicknames, bestowed by Tallahassee on people he meets along the way, naming them for the places each is hoping to reach. The idea is that nicknames eliminate any real closeness, just in case one of his traveling companions meets an unfortunate end. Swilling whisky from a bottle and on a never-ending search for his own personal goal –– finding the last Twinkies on Earth before they reach their expiration dates, which becomes a running gag –– Harrelson makes Tallahassee a funny, clever, larger-than-life redneck who thrives on danger and is a whiz at dispatching killer zombies in the most grisly ways. Columbus thinks of himself as “like a Sancho Panza” to Tallahassee’s Don Quixote.

Harrelson and Eisenberg make for a lunatic, wacky odd couple and things only get weirder when they meet a pair of sisters –– Emma Stone as Wichita, Abigail Breslin as 12-year-old Little Rock –– who are on their way to the California amusement park where they hold joyful childhood memories, a place they believe is zombie-free. Ho, ho, ho to that. Columbus is drawn to the lovely Wichita despite her larcenous nature. And as the film goes along, we discover her caring side and an attempt at an on-again off-again romance.

There are funny moments in a Native American souvenir store, where the foursome relieves the tension of constantly trying to avoid zombies, and even funnier moments in a Beverly Hills mansion where they have taken refuge — they think.

Zombieland is crammed with outrageous surprises … some scary, some belly-laugh hilarious. It’s a one-of-a-kind horror fest that ushers in the Halloween season with a mirthful bang.

*****Zombieland

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Abigail Breslin, Emma Stone.

Rated: R, contains violence, grisly images, profanity, drugs, adult themes.

mjanuson@projo.com