28 Days Later (2002)

With 28 Years Later coming out, it seems like an opportune moment to see the previous two instalments. 28 Days Later is a film that reset the zombie horror genre even though they aren't zombies in this film but infected. The film starts with a trio of animal activists who release one of the chimps that are being infected with rage and things go quickly wrong. If only they hadn't done that then the next three films would never have happened. The film then moves along appropriately enough 28 days and we see a naked Cillian Murphy wake up. I’m not quite sure why he’s naked. I saw this after The Walking Dead and it's weird to see how similar they are. The film sees Jim walk around a deserted London which is strange to see and then comes across Naomie Harris’ Selena and Noah Huntley’s Mark and they go to Jim’s family home but then Mark gets killed then Jim and Selena carry on and come across Frank (Brendan Gleeson) and Hannah (Megan Burns). Together they decide to go to Manchester and see help but when they get there then Frank is infected and killed and the soldiers do help but they become really sinister when Christopher Eccleston’s Major West says that he promised his soldiers a woman and that is when things go really wrong and then the infected take over the house.

This is one of those films that had a cast that were not particularly well known at the time but would go on to be big names. Cillian Murphy would go on to win an Oscar, Naomie Harris would go on to find fame and most recently played Miss Moneypenny in the Bond films, Brendan Gleeson is great in pretty much anything and was especially great in The Banshees of Inisherin. Christopher Eccelston is the one that stands out for me because he played the Doctor in Doctor Who back in 2005. Probably one of the most underrated actors to play the Doctor in the new era. He is horrible as Major Henry West. He is the leader of the army soldiers and is playing the nice guy hiding a sinister bully and he’s very good in the role although I do find the posh accent strange coming from Eccleston. Cillian Murphy is good as Jim. I think he does much better work in later years so I can't be too harsh about his acting because he does a good job, just not a great job. Naomie Harris is hard to like at first but once the story progresses she gets better and becomes a nice supporting performer next to Murphy. Brendan Gleeson like Eccleston does an accent that is slightly distracting (this time a cockney accent) but he is the father to Hannah and is the likeable supporting person that he would do in countless other films. I always dislike the fact that he dies because a drip of blood gets in his eye. I just wish he moved to one side as it fell but it's because I like Gleeson.

There is a TV show from the 70’s called Survivors about a pandemic wiping out the world (bit far fetched) but in that there is a scene where they go to a supermarket for supplies and there is someone hanging from the ceiling with a sign saying that looters would be killed and I felt that the scene when they go shopping needed a a darker moment although I understand why they did what they did. The film has plenty of dark moments in this film and the gore still seems effective even after all this time. The camera work is a bit ropey because it is hard to see what is going on especially during the final act when it's the middle of the night and there is very little light.

From a 2025 point of view, the worst thing about this film is the quality of the picture. I know that it was made in 2002 before HD was invented but would it have killed Columbia or Sony to spend a bit of money upgrading the image. There were a couple of shots that looked very grainy and some that looked a bit blurry. The worst part came in the early stages when things looked so dark I thought it was a joke. Also (and this is more of an observation), when this film came out in 2002 it was an 18 but now in 2025 it is a 15 certificate and it shows how far horror has come over the last 23 years. The important thing though is that this film still holds up and is in one of 100 favourite horror films. It would blow a lot of modern horror films, especially Blumhouse films out of the water.  It’s a horror film so it should be scary and there are still a lot of things that are scary and it ends with an upbeat ending which doesn't feel like it seems out of place. I missed this film when it came out in 2002 as it was years before my film appreciation improved to where it is today and I am so glad that I saw it on the big screen. I am very much looking forward to 28 Weeks Later. 

On a related note, there was a sneak peak scene of 28 Years Later and it does very much feel like its in keeping with 28 Days Later. It's a bit from the trailer where Aaron Taylor-Johnson and the kid come across the body hanging from the ceiling where ATJ is telling his son (????) to kill the body as a test. It was short but sweet.