Their journey from Texas is sidetracked, however, when they meet Wichita (EMMA STONE) and Little Rock (ABIGAIL BRESLIN). Those two say they're sisters and that Little Rock is infected, but are doing so as a ruse so that they can steal the guys' guns and ride. Their intent is to make their way to a Los Angeles amusement park they've heard is supposedly zombie free.

The guys eventually catch up with the sisters and the four end up forming an unlikely quartet as they make their way across the country, all while avoiding or killing blood-thirsty zombies along the way.

Sure, there was George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead," but its scares soon segued into greater amounts of camp in subsequent zombie outings, stemming from bits and pieces of the same in that 1968 classic. Heck, Michael Jackson even included them dancing and prancing about in the music video for "Thriller."

Then along came "Shaun of the Dead" in 2004, writer/director Edgar Wright's pure camp homage to the genre that he co-penned with star Simon Pegg. While gory and violent, it was quite funny not only for turning the sub genre completely on its head, but also for its decidedly British sense of humor. Although clearly not for all audiences, it was highly entertaining for those looking for a fun ride and/or desire of counting up the ways the undead could be creatively dispatched.

Following in those entertaining but not widely seen footsteps (the film only made just north of $30 million worldwide) is "Zombieland," yet another horror comedy after a number of characters dealing with an infestation of the undead. As was the case with the predecessor, the reaction to such encounters isn't with cowering or running off into the distance screaming like a little girl. Instead, it's to get rid of them as quickly and efficiently as possible, with some imagination and vengeful malice occasionally thrown in for good measure.

Had "Shaun" not come along before it, this might be viewed as an instant camp classic (and some reviewers are stating it's exactly that, strangely forgetting or just ignoring its quite similar predecessor). Yes, it's entertaining in all of the right places, and features the right mixture of laughs and gore, but it can't escape the feeling that it's digging up and playing with material already mined five years ago.

That said, there are decent laughs to be had here, ranging from the various highly regimented rules one character (played by Jesse Eisenberg) has used to stay alive despite him coming off as an unlikely survivor, to the more impromptu work of his new partner (Woody Harrelson having a figurative and literal blast in the role).

The best moment, however, comes near the middle of the flick when those guys and their reluctant traveling partners (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin as two con artists) end up at the mansion of a famous Hollywood actor. The real performer than shows up, playing himself, and the result is comedy nirvana, from his deadpan shtick to various lines of dialogue and finally the way his extended cameo ends.

To avoid spoiling the fun, I won't say who the person is, but that section of the film is the absolute best, and while there are laughs of various sizes and effectiveness to be had elsewhere, one ends up wishing the overall production could have managed to stay at that level throughout. After that point, it ends up heading down a fairly routine and predictable path to its conclusion.

In fact, and notwithstanding that sequence and/or the dialogue and jokes stemming from what's said, the basic plot is fairly threadbare and ends up as the weakest link. If one's essentially going to make an American version of "Shaun of the Dead," the resultant pick should be more creative and imaginative with the A to Z (for zombie, of course) storyline. What's present works, but beyond the mansion stopover and related cameo, the basic plot doesn't offer much in the way of additional laughs.

Nonetheless, the film is still fairly entertaining and enjoyable, particularly for those who never saw its slightly better predecessor. Proving (yet again) that there's more than one way to kill a zombie for the enjoyment of viewers looking for grisly fun and laughs, "Zombieland" delivers the goods as well as a good number of laughs. It rates as a 6 out of 10.