28 Days Later

“REPENT THE END IS EXTREMELY FUCKING NIGH”

I have a complicated relationship with zombie films. There are a lot of zombie films that I really love (like Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead) and some that I really don’t (looking at you White Zombie). It’s a genre that has a lot of potential for greatness, but these days frequently feels overplayed and underwhelming. I won’t put all of the blame on AMC’s The Walking Dead, but it deserves a fair amount of it. Modern zombie films frequently fail because of poor characterization and repetitive plotting. 28 Days Later, while seemingly pretty standard on the surface, is not one of those films.

28 Days Later was written by Alex Garland (Never Let Me Go, Ex Machina, Annihilation) and directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, Yesterday) and was released on November 1st, 2002. 28 Days Later received positive reviews upon release, with critics praising Boyle’s direction. 28 Days Later was made for a budget of $8,000,000, made $10,061,858 upon opening, and went on to make $85,720,385 worldwide. 

28 Days Later features the aftermath of an epidemic that turns the infected into blood-thirsty killing machines. A small group of uninfected people escape London to find shelter at a military base, only to find that their “saviors” may be more dangerous than the infected.

I’ve seen 28 Days Later many times but it’s only been recently that I’ve really come to appreciate how beautiful the film actually is. Yes, it’s rather violent and the soldiers are disturbing but there is some truly beautiful imagery throughout the film, especially once Jim (Cillian Murphy), Selena (Naomie Harris), Hannah (Megan Burns), and Frank (Brendan Gleeson) make it out of the city. The two scenes that stick out the most are the scene with the horses and a quick shot of the huge field full of flowers. These sequences, plus the hauntingly beautiful shots of a deserted London during the first half of the film, makes this quote from Sergeant Farrell (Stuart McQuarrie) near the end of the film thematically relevant: “Well, I think Bill's got a point. If you look at the whole life of the planet, we... you know, man, has only been around for a few blinks of an eye. So if the infection wipes us all out, that is a return to normality.”

It’s not coincidence that the major threat at the climax of the film doesn’t come from the infected, but from other humans. Of course it’s not all black and white, our heroes, despite being ostensibly good people are still forced to do things that go against their nature (Jim killing the boy at the gas station, Selena turning on Mark (Noah Huntley) within moments of his being infected, Hannah allowing West (Christopher Eccleston) to be killed by the infected, etc.). We don’t blame them for these actions, they are clearly the only course to take, but they clearly don’t relish having to do it. The soldiers are in the same boat. They have decided the same thing that Selena has, that “survival is not as good as it gets” but have taken that line of thought to a much darker place. 

The film posits that the non-infected and the infected are really not so different at their core. Jim’s rampage at the end and Selena’s uncertainty if he has been infected or not really drives this point home. The infected are not undead, brainless zombies, they are human beings who have had certain inhibitions stripped away and have been left with nothing but a primal rage. The same thing is happening to the survivors, just slower. There is hope though; despite her protestations earlier in the film Selena waits “longer than a heartbeat”.

Despite the bleak nature of the film, I think that it is telling that the film ends on such an optimistic note. Jim, Selena and Hannah have formed a pseudo-family unit and have found a reason to survive other than survival itself. This is going to save them from becoming like the soldiers or the infected, they are whole human beings.

28 Days Later is across the board an excellent film. Boyle’s direction is superb, the cinematography is haunting and beautiful, and thematically the story comes together so well. The entire cast is great but I want to give particular praise to Naomie Harris as Selena. Harris has been acting for over 30 years and doesn’t get the attention she deserves. I would highly recommend checking out 28 Days Later if you haven’t already.

Rating: 4.5 crèmes de menthe out of 5

Other Observations

• Does the Dog Die? No animals are killed.

• Harrison’s Favorite Scare: Jim’s first encounter with the infected in the church.

• 28 Weeks Later is a great sequel and I’m excited to revisit it sometime. As of last year Boyle and Garland were in talks about 28 Months Later.

• Yes, I am labelling this as a zombie movie. No, I will not be debating that stance.

• The scene in the grocery store is very fun.

• “This is what I've seen in the four weeks since infection. People killing people. Which is much what I saw in the four weeks before infection, and the four weeks before that, and before that, and as far back as I care to remember. People killing people. Which to my mind, puts us in a state of normality right now.” – Major West

• Cillian Murphy is really hot and I’ll keep my thoughts about his nude scene at the beginning to myself.

• The context is horrifying, but Hannah’s dialogue after Selena drugs her is hilarious.

• For a recommendation of a modern zombie movie that doesn’t have the problems I listed in the opening, check out South Korea’s Train to Busan. It’s excellent.

• Next Week: We’re going to be checking out a new-to-me classic with the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers.