*Spoilers Ahead For 28 Days/Weeks/Years Later*
It’s been nearly 23 years (not 28) since we were first introduced to the world of 28 Days Later (2002). The terrifying cries of the infected were matched by the hideous concept of a group of male soldiers who were intent on raping survivors. Watching it back, it looks as though the film was recorded on an old Nokia phone of the early noughties, yet the film’s impact on popular culture for the next few decades was undeniable.
Earlier this year, season two of The Last of Us was released to mixed reviews. Then there is The Walking Dead, whose first episode is eerily similar to the start of 28 Days Later. Now, the show is struggling to remain relevant with its multiple spin-off series.
So, has the idea run dry, or does it just need a new perspective from its original source? Can Danny Boyle and his film 28 Years Later (2025) save the remaining embers and reignite the world’s interest in the apocalypse?
28 Years Earlier- How did we get here?
Simply put, some animal rights activists broke into a lab where chimpanzees had been the subject of scientific experiments. In trying to save them, the activists let out an infectious disease, which the scientist called rage. We’re then taken on an eerie journey through a deserted London with Jim (Cillian Murphy), who is being introduced to the apocalyptic Britain with us. Jim does manage to escape multiple scenarios, each more dangerous than the next, but we’re not aware of his character’s fate after 28 years of trying to survive.
All we do know is that 28 Weeks Later (2007) details the harrowing story of Britain’s quarantine from the rest of the world. The Americans nearly contained the virus to extinction, only for their plans to succumb to a carrier who inadvertently spreads the virus to her husband. He then goes on a horrific killing spree, meaning that Britain remains quarantined when we arrive at the story of Spike and his dad, 28 Years Later.
What’s your order of Zombie, Sir?
It’s not long before we encounter our first infected human, ironically, in a church. Many people may not have seen 28 Days Later or its successors, meaning that their idea of a zombie is the slow ‘Walkers’ in The Walking Dead (2010-2022). Being honest, it’s challenging to think of a scenario where the Walkers can harm you, so the show relied on character stupidity to make them a threat. Similarly, Shaun of the Dead (2004) had slow-strolling zombies, and although it was only a comedy, they still proved to be deadly when in a group surrounding your building.
Back to the priest, and it’s the rage element that is so terrifying. The infected are appallingly violent, so there are large volumes of blood consistently on screen. Sometimes it’s from the survivors, and other times it’s from the infected punching themselves in the head in anger.
The infected in 28 Days Later pose a much more serious threat than the others. The only zombies that I fear more are World War Z’s (2013) iteration, because they all turned into Olympic sprinters and could jump on each other’s backs until they climbed over a 70-foot wall. Although whenever I was brutally murdered by a ‘Clicker’ in The Last of Us video games, I shrieked like a little girl on a Monster House ride.
All of my training on Call of Duty’s Kino Der Toten (2010) left me feeling pretty confident that I could survive a zombie apocalypse, but after seeing the Alpha’s in 28 Years Later, I’d probably die pretty quickly, and brutally.
Welcome Back to the Mayhem of Post-Apocalyptic Britain
You sit down with your popcorn box and unwrap your chocolate bar. After you’ve taken an early bite of your delicious snack, you pick up your drink and take a slurp of its refreshing goodness. Before you manage to put your drink back in its holder, and before your seat has been overwhelmed by the warmth of your body, you hear the Teletubbies theme tune. Yet, this is no happy introduction. Children are crying, and adults are scrambling to prepare for an oncoming attack, but what could be attacking them?
By the time you’ve scrambled yourself to find the hole that your drink fits in, everyone on screen has been brutally murdered, except a child hiding under a church. His father is a priest who perceives the infected to be a sign from God. Was this symbolic of the deluded nature of man, or just a cynical view of humanity in its current form?
Either way, the priest became infected while his son was holding a cross and praying. In hindsight, I wish that was the last time we saw that character in this movie, but unfortunately, it wasn’t.
In the Middle of Nowhere
The story then moves on to Spike (Alfie Williams), a twelve-year-old boy who lives on a tiny island called Lindisfarne. He and his father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) go on an adrenaline-filled hunt for Spike to get his first kill, and as they’re leaving the island, we’re treated to a display which is used to unsettle army personnel, let alone us, shaking in our cinema seats. I’m talking, of course, about Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘Boots’ (1903).
The recording by Taylor Holmes sends shivers down the spine of those brave enough to listen to it. I thought it was a genius idea to unnerve us viewers by accompanying it with flashes of past warfare. Spike does manage to get his kill by expertly placing his arrow into the neck of an admittedly slow-moving infected, but the danger isn’t over.
Their plan to return home gets scuppered when they run into an Alpha. The horrifying evolution of an infected who has worked out a way to control the others, like the infected Will Smith fights in I Am Legend (2007), only bigger (penis) and scarier (penis) in every way. They make it back to the island just in time, before the Alpha catches up with them, and then the focus of the story turns to Spike’s mother, Isla (Jodie Comer).
The Range of Human Emotions in an Inhumane World
Isla is unwell with an undiagnosed illness. So, after Spike has an explosive fight with his father, he takes his mother to find Doctor Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), a lone survivor on the mainland who is rumoured to have gone insane, in the hope that he can cure her. We’re then taken on a heartbreaking journey, as Alfie Williams portrays the sudden confusion of the horrendous situation incredibly well. Even in a world full of horror, we’re still moved by the agony of a boy who has to lose his mother to illness.
Dr Kerson brought a lot of intrigue to the story. From his appearance, and by that I mean the iodine, it’s clear he’s a man who is teetering on the edge of insanity. Yet, to maintain the level of sanity he did to deal with the situation of Isla’s death so compassionately, considering he probably hasn’t seen other survivors in a very long time, was so interesting. I don’t think this is the last we’ve seen of him or The Bone Temple.
The other important moment, which could play a vital role in the fate of Britain, is the uninfected baby. There are just so many unanswered questions. Why wasn’t it affected by its mother’s infection? Could it be the answer to a cure? There is just so much potential there.
Spike placed the skull of his mother on top of the Bone Temple before leaving the baby on the fence of the island for his fellow survivors to find, and then left again. The film ends with Jamie reading Spike’s letter before running out into the ocean in a state of anguish. That’s where the film ends, perfectly setting us up for the next instalment in the franchise. Oh, wait, no. That’s what I wished had happened.
Another 28 Years? Where do we go from here?
Instead, the film carried on for another ten minutes or so. In those ten minutes, I was torn between whether the Vue employees had accidentally started the latest Marvel movie, or whether I was having a stroke.
I was in a state of total perplexity as a group of people dressed up as Jimmy Saville were now killing the infected while doing fancy acrobatics as they giggled with each other. This review was going to be about how Danny Boyle had rescued this genre from being forgotten, focusing on the constant pain of a world riddled with disease and heartbreak. Instead, I’m now having to write about a group of weirdos who completely turned the film on its head.
It wouldn’t have been so bad if Jack O’Connell and his buddies just existed in the movie. That I could understand, especially as Doctor Kerson had a similarly strange vibe to him. Frankly, after 28 years of living in that reality, I’m sure most survivors would have been driven insane. But it’s the way they entered the film.
It’s the way they killed the infected that made me feel like I was watching something from an anime movie. That’s great if you like anime, but it’s very out of place in a post-apocalyptic film. It’s vital that a zombie story remains terrifying and heartless. If it turns into a soap opera, like The Walking Dead did after Disney bought the rights to it, then it will fail pretty quickly. That’s my concern now for the next movie. I am looking forward to the next film, I just really hope the Jimmy Saville group die extremely quickly.
How does 28 Years Later compare to its predecessors?
The world that 28 Days Later created is so raw and unforgiving. I’ve mentioned previously how dated the camera quality was when it was filmed, but maybe that’s just what the creators were going for. It certainly heightened the fear factor for viewers. With that said, I am glad that 28 Years Later used a camera from the present day.
The sense of jeopardy has been prevalent throughout all of the films, as it has always felt like anyone could die at any moment. My favourite shot in the movie was when the England flag was burning. Yet, there were many other details I loved too.
From the soundtrack to the ‘Boots’ recording, to the footage of warfare, and the clever transitions when the arrows struck the heads of the infected. Every little detail ensured that the movie felt well-made and thought through.
There is a lot to look forward to in the future of this franchise. Where will Cillian Murphy’s Jim fit into the story? Do they take the story in the direction of finding a cure, or is it just false hope, and the infected are actually going to run riot worldwide? Whatever happens, I’ll be watching. This was nearly the perfect movie, and one that should definitely stoke the fires of apocalypse enthusiasm for the meantime at least.
Verdict
My overall rating of 28 Years Later is 9/10. It was as close to a 10/10 you can get, but the ending made me feel like I was cheated out of experiencing the perfect film.
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