Horror Movie Reviews: Chris Reviews 28 Days Later

28 Days Later (2002)
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris
IMDB: 7.7
RT: 87
Box Office: $82.7 Million (Worldwide)

Summary- 

After animal rights activists let out infected chimpanzees, a virus sweeps across Great Britain. Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up 28 days after the outbreak to an abandoned London. He meets Selena (Naomie Harris) and together with Frank (Brenadan Gleeson) and his daughter they attempt to find somewhere safe from the infected people.


Review (SPOILERS!)-

I am pretty new to the Zombie genre. I have always had an interest in post apocalyptic films because its a genre my dad likes a lot but I had never seen many zombie films. The Walking Dead was really what sparked my interest and now I really want to dig into this genre. 28 Days Later was a film I had always heard great things about and it looked interesting from the few scenes I had seen.

The films opens with some animal rights activists breaking into an animal testing facility. They plan to release some chimpanzees despite a scientist warning them that they are infected with "Rage". The chimpanzees get out and attack the people and after they are bitten the people turn into blood puking, crazed zombies. It then cuts to "28 Days Later" and Jim waking up in a hospital bed. He gets out of the hospital and starts wandering the streets of London and there is no one in sight. I really liked the cinematography in the opening few scenes but the intentionally bad video quality really bothered me. All of the colors are very muted and the whole film looks like it was shot on a SD Sony Handycam or something. I was able to get passed that later in the film but initially it really bothered me.

Jim wandering through London

After wandering around for a bit he goes into a church and sees bodies laying everywhere. He attempts to talk to the people in there and they try to attack him. He starts to run and is rescued by Selena and another person. They explain the situation to him and then come with him to his house as he wants to know what happened to his parents. He finds out there dead and then during the night they get attacked by some of the zombies and the other guy gets bit and Selena kills him instantly. You find out that it only takes about 15 seconds to start to turn. I really liked that element of the film. It makes encounters with these zombies a lot more intense in that if someone gets blood in their system you have to kill them right away, there is no time to grieve about it.  The first act wraps up with Selena and Jim being rescued by Frank (Brendan Gleeson) and them hearing about a safe zone over the radio and deciding to go for it.

Manchester on Fire

 As they make there way to this safe zone there are a couple of very interesting scenes that I liked. My favorite is when they attempt to go through a tunnel and encounter a huge pileup of cars. They plow through them and get to the other side but get a flat tire. Then hoards of rats start coming towards them as they are running from the zombies. I think that is the most intense tire changing scene I have ever seen as they manage to get the tire changed right as the zombies get to the car. There are also some more lighthearted moments such as the time they go to the grocery story or when they eat lunch and watch the horse running in the countryside. There is a nice balance of horror and happiness although I think I might have preferred to keep the tone darker throughout the whole film. When they finally reach their destination it appears to be abandoned which upsets Frank who is subsequently infected with a drop of blood that gets in his eye. Right as he is starting to change he is shot dead and they are rescued by some military personnel. This begins the third act as they are brought to a house that has become a military stronghold.   

 

The third act is where a lot of the action takes place as we not only see how this military unit fights the zombies but also fighting among the non-infected. I don't want to spoil it too much if you have not yet seen the film but suffice it to say the military guys are not good either. This leads to a violent but somewhat confusing climax. That being said there is a happy and satisfying ending to the film.

Final Thoughts-

If you really want to dig into this film you can find a lot of social commentary and symbolism. For instance when Jim wakes up in the hospital he is completely naked which is supposed to represent him being born into this world. He is innocent but is exposed to horrible violence from the infected and in the third act he becomes violent himself in order to save the people he cares about. Its an interesting social commentary and makes this film a bit more interesting than I thought it was immediately after watching it. That in combination with the solid direction and writing make this an above average horror film for me. Sure I'm not crazy about the video quality aesthetic but that does not detract enough from the film to prevent me from liking it. 

MY RATING-

3.5 out of 5

-Chris "Da Franchize" Hart