While it throws off the symmetry a little, 23 years earlier, director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland gave us 28 Days Later, a movie that, despite technically containing no zombies, arguably changed the face of the zombie genre forever. If that wasn’t enough, it also remains one of the greatest horror films of the 2000s at its unforgettable views of a deserted London means that even after it’s release, the similar scenes seen during the COVID outbreak means that it remains as vital now as it did back in 2002.
However, while the 2007 sequel, 28 Weeks Later, was fun, something vital was lacking from it’s DNA, however, now that Boyle and Garland have chosen to return to the virus ravaged world they created with 28 Years Later (no 28 Months Later I’m afraid – sorry completists), hope rose that they’d deliver a sequel that would remain as challenging, yet as unbearably tense as the original. A quick warning however, those who don’t find the appeal of full frontal zombie nudity might want to cover their eyes…
As the title suggests, 28 years have passed since the Rage virus wiped out England not once, but twice; however, after discovering that the march of the infection was successfully beaten back in Europe, dear old blighty remains in quarantine from the rest of the world. Anyone left in the country was essentially on their own and in the time since, some communities have managed to survive. One such place is the small village that exists on a tidal island that aided greatly in its defence by the fact that it’s joined to the mainland by a single causeway that sinks below the waves every high tide.
It’s here we meet Spike, a twelve year old boy who is about to be taken by his dad, Jamie, onto the mainland for the first time to kill an infected to mark his passing into manhood; but while he’s understandably nervous, he’s more worried about leaving his sick mother, Isla, at home. Of course, when your alpha male dad tells you it’s time to head out into a dystopian world flecked with infected creatures in order to teach you to kill, you do it (it’s a generational thing). However, as Spike heads out into the wider world for the first, we’re technically seeing this world with new eyes too and we’re soon brought up to speed on how things have changes to the 28 intervening years.
Firstly, there are now different types of Infected, there are the slow type (obese creatures that crawl across the ground constantly eating worms and whatever is dumb enough to get caught), the fast type (your basic, standard Infected) and the Alphas, Infected whose biology and physiology have been given a boost by the Rage virus that’s basically turned them into ‘roided out man monsters. However, as Spike’s ordeal continues, he learns more and more and when he hears the legends of Dr. Ian Kelson, he figures he might just have found a way to heal his ailing mother.
Even though Boyle has ensured that a lot of classic, 28 Days Later tropes remain (warped views of daily English life; digital photography; intense setpieces), those who think they know exactly what they’re in for in settling in for 28 Years Later may be taken a bit by surprise. Yes, the movie delivers an epic, sprawling look at a country that literally has been separated from the rest of the world and has had to discover how to go it alone (undoubtedly a cheeky little dig a Brexit), but there’s other themes at play that not only dominate the second half of the movie, but spill out past the end of the film where they’ll (hopefully) be addressed in the proposed trilogy that’s going to continue in 2026. However, for those who are feeling anxiety that Boyle and Garland have overegged the pudding let me assure you, 28 Years Later remains a riveting watch that packs in some big ideas along with its infected action.
In fact, the whole first of the movie is a first-rate knuckle biter that firsts brings us up to date with a world that’s moved on over the decades and then sends us out into it along with young Spike. It’s a slice of masterful world-building that feels weirdly more solid than the use of Canary Wharf as a fortress in the previous movie and it also has a couple of issues to raise with the little englander mindset as Spike’s community may be close, but they’re also overwhelming insular. Building on this even further is the relationship Spike has with his father, Jamie, an alpha male who pushes his pre-teen son into manhood, who acts like a pillar of the community and who has to tend to his ailing wife but behind closed doors (or in secluded alleyways) he fulfills a lot of the negative acts of a boorish hypocrite. However, if this is starting to feel like Boyle’s just made George A. Romero’s Kes, the trip to the mainland proves to be an edge of your seat adventure contained with dazzling imagery and memorable sights – someone really needs to sew the Infected some pants, stat.
However, in the second half, Boyle decides to take some major swings and starts adding some major tone shifts to the central subject of survival horror. As young Spike decides to reject his father’s influence and head back out to the mainland with the sick Isla in order to locate a reclusive doctor, Garland’s script and Boyle’s direction follow suit, hitting us with big ideas and even bigger dicks thanks to the fact that the movie certainly doesn’t shy away from showing us a lot of zombie cock (take your pick between 28 Inches Later or Dong Of The Dead). Instances involving Ralph Fiennes’ iodine covered eccentric creating an extravagant memorial to the dead, a pregnant infected and a random encounter with a stranded, Swedish NATO soldier may distract from the central threat, but they all introduce fascinating concepts that expand the on the franchise.
However, it’s that expansive nature that slight trips the film up here and there. The story is so big that this is only the opening salvo and it seems to me that it will continue to encompass Spike’s journey into manhood, but I challenge you not to be utterly thrown by the final four minutes that almost veer into total parody and will make absolutely no sense if the other installments don’t get made (at time of wtiting, the second is guaranteed, the third is currently not). Still, when Boyle is having this much fun, you can forgive him for being ambitious and while the cast all put in strong performances, it’s the director’s visual quirks that stand out most. A night time chase across a partially flooded causeway lit only by a galaxy full of stars is absolutely jaw dropping, the weird little mini-bullet time moments where the camera suddenly jerks to a different angle during the kills are wonderfully jarring and the bone towers that have been made by Kelson are legitimately haunting.
At turns, tense, gruesome, moving and, at times, surprisingly tender, 28 Years Later manages to catch us unawares like one of the stealthier members of the Infected. However, some may be distracted by the tone shifts, the baffling ending and the numerous instances of zombie members flopping all over the place.
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