Zombieland Double Tap: 25 Easter Eggs And References In The Apocolypse
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Zombieland is back after 10 years and it's full of all the references and Easter Eggs you'd expect.
Sure, it's been ten real-life years since the first Zombieland movie, but that doesn't mean that Zombieland Double Tap is any less of a rollicking pop culture reference-fueled undead extravaganza than its predecessor. In fact, in the time that's passed for our friends Columbus, Tallahassee, Little Rock and Wichita, it actually feels like the Easter eggs and callbacks have gotten even more prevalent. Call it a coping mechanism for dealing with the end of the world, we guess.
Naturally, in that spirit, we've compiled a comprehensive list of every little wink, nod, and nudge to the wide world of entertainment you'll find in Zombieland Double Tap--25 of them, to be exact. From Paul Blart to Garfield--you know, the sort of thing you'd expect in a movie about the living dead rising up and taking over the planet.
1. Columbia Pictures
In case you forgot you were seeing a zombie movie, the Columbia Pictures logo herself gets in on the action, fending off the undead even before the opening credits roll.
2. Homer
The zombies of Zombieland have evolved, some for the better and others, not so much. One unfortunate new class of zombie is the "Homer," a nod to the Simpsons character for, well, reasons that are probably obvious as the Homers start toddling around trying to eat statues and chasing butterflies.
The smarter cousin of the Homers are the Hawkings, the genius zombies able to outsmart things like security locks and sneak up on their prey. Their name is, of course, a reference to Stephen Hawking.
4. Clever Girl
Our first encounter with a Hawking comes complete with a perfect little Jurassic Park nod--Clever Girl indeed.
5. Blue suede shoes
During their stop off at the fictional Hound Dog Hotel, Columbus finds Elvis's very real blue suede shoes on display and is delighted to learn that they fit him. Apparently he and The King share the same shoe size, much to Tallahassee's dismay.
6. Master of Puppets
Let's be honest: At least half of a good zombie slaughtering montage is the music, and Zombieland's are no exception. During the credits, we get the classic Metallica song "Master Of Puppets" as the crew clears a path to the White House.
7. 1st Edition Tolkien
Columbus is, as always, a tried and true nerd, so it makes complete sense that Wichita gives him a 1st edition copy of Lord of The Rings for Christmas--even if she does deface it by signing it.
8. Elvis's Colt .45
The Colt .45 Tallahassee gives Little Rock is a real thing, and really was a gift from Elvis to Richard Nixon.
9. The Walking Dead #27
A lot has changed since the first Zombieland hit theaters ten years ago, and The Walking Dead taking over as the single most popular zombie story in pop culture thanks to the TV show is one of them. But Walking Dead didn't get its start as a show, it kicked off as a comic--a comic that Columbus has gotten his hands on.
10. Dragon's Lair
Vintage fashion is still very much a thing in Zombieland, as demonstrated by Columbus's Dragon's Lair t-shirt, a nod to the old arcade game of the same name.
11. Hope Diamond
Columbus proposes to Wichita with the Hope Diamond, the famously huge (and cursed) blue diamond kept on display in the Smithsonian.
12. Twinkies
Tallahassee's love of Twinkies doesn't get as much of a shoutout in this movie as you may have expected, but there is a nod. On the grill of "The Beast," Tallahassee's beloved zombie-killing car, is a plush of the Twinkie mascot known as Twinkie the Kid.
13. Paul Blart
Madison may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but she's quick with nicknames. She immediately clocks a segway-driving Tallahassee as "Paul Blart" when she first encounters him and Columbus in her mall hideout. You know, like the mall cop? You get it. Also to note, in Zombieland, only the first Paul Blart movie would exist--it was released only a handful of months before the original movie hit theaters if we're using the original movie's release date as a rough approximation for when the in-universe apocalypse happened. Paul Blart 2 would have never been made.
14. Mountain Dew Code Red
Columbus's favorite pre-Zombieland beverage, Mountain Dew Code Red, is still plentiful even all these years into the apocalypse. Apparently Columbus (and certain members of GameSpot's staff) really are the only fans of the soda. Whatever, that's fine, more for us, then.
15. Girl in Apt 406
Upon meeting Madison, Columbus compares her to the "girl in apartment 406," a nod to his old pre-apocalypse crush on his neighbor (played by Amber Heard), who, consequently, wound up being the first zombie he encountered.
16. Dawn of the Dead
Madison's mall hideout is deeply reminiscent of the classic zombie movie Dawn of the Dead, where a group of survivors hole up inside a mall as they fight off the swarms of the undead that have them surrounded. Needless to say, Madison has a decidedly less dire time of surviving than the Dawn of the Dead folks do.
17. T-800s
The most elite version of the zombies in Zombieland, named after The Terminator. These zombies are seemingly resistant to gunshots and will keep coming back, just like Arnold himself.
18. Of Mice and Men
Columbus makes a reference to Of Mice and Men before he leaves the van to mercy kill Madison when they think she’s infected, referring to her as Lennie. For those who don't remember the novel, Lennie was a character who didn't understand his own strength or circumstances and kept killing things he meant to be gentle with. His pal George eventually has to "euthanize" him. Seriously, why is this book on so many high school curriculums?
19. Graceland
Tallahassee's love of Elvis manifests in many ways, but unfortunately, a trip to the real-life home of The King, Graceland, isn't one of them--not for lack of trying, of course, but because in Zombieland, Graceland is basically just a pile of rubble.
20. "Murray'ing"
Nevada describes the act of killing someone who they mistake for a zombie as “Murray’ing," thanks to a nasty rumor that has somehow spread around Zombieland: Someone (or, as we the audience know, Columbus) shot Bill Murray believing he was a zombie. See Zombieland 1 for more details on that particular mishap, though that won't help you understand how anyone but the core characters is aware of what happened.
21. Fantasia
Columbus says Terminator 2 is his 2nd favorite movie. Flagstaff asks Columbus what #1 is, to which he replies, “Fantasia," the animated Disney classic.
22. Tower of Pisa
One of the Zombie Kills Of The Year went to a man in Italy who used mannequins of a fake family to lure zombies and then while they were distracted, dropped the famous leaning Tower of Pisa on them.
23. Temptation Island
Tallahassee suggests they move to an island to get away from zombies, to which Madison suggests they move to Temptation Island, referring to the Fox reality dating show.
24. Garfield 3
Who doesn't love a good Garfield movie? In Zombieland, Bill Murray continued to voice the world's favorite fat cat into a trilogy. For those of you who don't remember, the first two Garfield movies really did cast Murray as the voice and really do exist. You could go watch them today if you wanted--we can't stop you. There's even a perfect little "I hate mondays" gag to really ice the Garfield cake as the world goes to hell during the junket.
25. Al Roker
Bill Murray’s final interview at the Garfield 3 press junket is with Al Roker, the weather anchor of NBC’s Today show, because why not, right?