28 Days Later (2002) Fox Searchlight/Horror RT: 113 minutes Rated R (strong violence and gore, language and graphic nudity) Director: Danny Boyle Screenplay: Alex Garland Music: John Murphy Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle Release date: November 1, 2002 (UK)/June 27, 2003 (US) Cast: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, Christopher Eccleston, Noah Huntley, Stuart McQuarrie, Ricci Hartnett, Leo Bill, Luke Mably, Junior Laniyan, Ray Panthaki, Sanjay Rambaruth, Marvin Campbell. Box Office: $45M (US)/$84.9M (World)
Rating: *** ½
The zenith of zombie horror movies will always be George A. Romero’s original Living Dead trilogy: Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985). These movies are iconic. Nobody will ever be able to top them. Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) gives it a good try with 28 Days Later and while he doesn’t succeed in improving on perfection, he does succeed in making a damn good survival horror movie with actual characters rather than caricatures whose sole purpose of being is zombie chow.
Although I’ve used the word twice, 28 Days Later isn’t technically a zombie movie. The “zombies” in this tale are actually people infected by some kind of virus that causes extreme rage. It’s transmitted through exposure to bodily fluids from an infected person. It manifests itself in 20 seconds. It sends the person into a murderous rage. These beings run rather than shuffle slowly and mindlessly like traditional zombies. Also, they don’t eat their victims. Their intention is to spread the virus. HOWEVER, 28 Days Later plays out exactly like a zombie movie so I will refer to the creatures as such even though they’re really not, not really.
Who brought about the end of civilization in the UK? It was a bunch of animal rights activists who thought it was a good idea to free a bunch of chimps from a laboratory. A scientist tries to warn them these particular primates are infected with a highly infectious Rage Virus, but they don’t listen. One of them gets bitten and immediately attacks the others, infecting them with the virus. It doesn’t take long for it to wipe out pretty much all of Britain.
Bike messenger Jim (Murphy, Batman Begins) wakes up from a coma 28 days later to find that everybody is gone. In a harrowing scene, he wanders the empty streets of London, picking up bits of info from discarded newspapers. He doesn’t realize the gravity of his situation until he’s attacked by zombies in a church. Fortunately, he’s saved by two uninfected survivors, Selena (Harris, Skyfall) and Mark (Huntley, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), who clue him in to what’s happening in the world.
After a stopover at Jim’s parents’ house, they find two more survivors, taxi driver Frank (Gleeson, Braveheart) and his teen daughter Hannah (Burns, Liam). Frank plays them a military radio broadcast urging survivors to make their way to a facility outside Manchester where they’ll be safe. They go there where they’re welcomed by Major West (Eccleston, Shadow Grave) who offers them food, drink and shelter. Of course, his true intentions are anything but altruistic.
In order to give 28 Days Later a more immediate feel, Boyle with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle shot the film on video. The lack of studio polish makes it feel more real. In addition, none of what you see is a studio set. Boyle and his crew actually filmed it in the streets of London, early Sunday mornings before they got too crowded with people and cars. It’s unsettling to see the normally busy locations completely devoid of life. It really feels like the end of the world. The makeup effects (all practical, no CGI) are quite good. The “zombies” are legitimately scary looking. The problem is the wild overediting during the attack scenes. WHY?! Can’t you let us enjoy the good stuff without developing a migraine?
One of the things that makes 28 Days Later stand out from the likes of Resident Evil (Part Whatever, it doesn’t matter) is how writer Alex Garland (Civil War) gives us well-developed characters. A lot of times, the human characters in these movies are merely lambs lined up for the slaughter. Not here. Jim, for example, isn’t your ordinary hero. He’s a regular guy, a bike messenger who slept through the worst of the pandemic because of a traffic accident that put him in a coma. He’s understandably confused at first. Then he’s sad because he has no family left. He goes through an ordeal before he finally shifts into kick ass mode. Selena, a chemist by trade, is a bad ass throughout. She lets Jim know, in no uncertain terms, that she will kill him “in a heartbeat” if he gets infected. They end up making a good team.
The acting in 28 Days Later is great. Murphy, future Oscar winner for Oppenheimer, does fine work as Jim. Harris, like I already said, is a legit bad ass. Gleeson is very good as Frank, a dad trying to keep his daughter safe in a world gone mad. Burns is also good as the daughter. Eccleston is sufficiently slimy as the military leader who’s anything but a protector.
I watched 28 Days Later for the first time in over 20 years this past weekend. I forgot how really good it is. It’s especially interesting to watch it now post-pandemic. What if things got that out of hand in real life? It’s a frightening thought. That’s where the film’s power lies. It taps into a real world fear. It’s even more effective now than it was two decades ago. It’s brilliant!
