Are the Zombies in Zombieland actually undead?

Question

In the movie adaptation of Zombieland, are the Zombies specifically reanimated corpses\undead in the same way as Zombies in Franchise such as The Walking Dead?

For example, can they starve to death, or will their heads live on if cut off?

Answer 1

They're still alive, according to the film's makers, just infected.

Ruben Fleischer, special effects makeup designer Tony Gardner, and Tony Gardner's team researched infectious diseases, and their physical manifestations in the extreme stages. Explains SFX makeup artist Stephen Prouty, "What we wanted to show was that these people were infected. They're still alive, but they're ravaged with fever so they're always wet and dripping, they're hemorrhaging from all their orifices and spewing up a black bile-like substance."

_{^{Female.com.au - Zombieland Interview}}

and

Q: How much did you focus on the rules of zombies-- fast vs. slow, how to kill them, etc.?

RF: I think we were pretty clear. We definitely went with the fast zombies, the viral zombies, like from 28 Days Later. Our zombies you don't have to kill by shooting in the head. They're not undead. They don't come back from the grave. They're people that have become infected as opposed to people who have died and supernaturally risen from the grave. Zombie purists don't even call our zombies zombies, because to be a zombie you have to be undead. That's something zombie purists can fight about for years and years to come.

_{^{Exclusive Interview: Zombieland Director Ruben Fleischer}}

It follows that anything that would kill a normal (uninfected) human would kill an infected 'zombie' human.