Movie Review: 28 Days Later

28 Days Later (2003) 

Directed by Danny Boyle

Written by Alex Garland 

Starring Cillian Murphy, Noah Huntley, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Christopher Eccleston

Release Date June 27th, 2003 

Published June 27th, 2003

While the masses seek out mindless entertainment in Charlie’s Angels amongst others, real film fans have been anticipating the release of this much buzzed about British horror film that portends the end of the world. Oh yeah and it's got zombies. 28 Days Later, the newest work from Trainspotting auteur Danny Boyle, was actually released some 6 months ago worldwide. Only now reaching the States, it has not lost anything of the buzz and in fact, it's one of the rare films that surpass the buzz to become something even more than expected.

In a scenario that will have Republicans smiling, a group of animal activists break into a research facility and release a group of monkeys who they believe are being abused. Unfortunately, the monkeys happen to be infected with a disease that the doctors call the rage virus. The infection is passed by blood and when the monkey bites a human, it takes little more than 30 seconds before that person becomes a mindless flesh-eating zombie. The zombies can be killed like any normal human being but they are also excessively quick and strong.

Within 28 days, the virus has spread throughout the whole of Britain. Only a few lucky people remain uninfected. One of the uninfected is Jim (Cillian Murphy) who has just awakened from a coma to find the hospital entirely empty. He then finds the neighborhood around the hospital empty, then finally all of London. That is until he stumbles into a church filled with zombies.

Jim escapes with the aid of a pair of survivors, Mark (Noah Huntley) and Selena (Naomie Harris). They give Jim the 411 on what has happened since his coma and then accompany Jim to his parents home where he finds his parents dead. It's not long before the zombies arrive there and Mark is killed by Selena after he is bitten. As she has explained to Jim, if someone is infected you have only seconds to kill them before they turn. She won't hesitate to kill Jim if the same happens to him.

The two then venture out to find new shelter and stumble upon a father and daughter (Brenden Gleeson and Megan Burns) who are hiding out in what remains of their apartment building. Though they have had little to no interaction with the outside world, they have heard what they believe is a recorded message on the radio about some military officers who may have a cure for the virus. Whether that is true or not, the soldiers at least offer protection from the zombies and that is good enough to get them on the road. Once arriving at the military base, they find a ramshackle crew who is no more well prepared than they are.

It's best to stop there because to give away too much would ruin what is a terrifying, brilliant story. The conceit is a frightening one, a virus that could wipe out a large group of people in a short amount of time is a concern right out of our Homeland Security department. In the time of Anthrax and Monkeypox, the story put forth in 28 Days Later is more immediate and frightening. Though the zombie thing gives the film a far-fetched feeling, the reality comes in Boyle's camerawork that has a mind’s eye feeling to it. It's  very unsettling the way Boyle's camera becomes like a dream from your own mind.

28 Days Later is the rare horror film with actual horror in it. There is very little of the camp that marks most modern horror films. There is wit to it, a welcome black humor amidst a sea of jarring horror imagery. Boyle never allows the film to rollover into parody even in it's odd Lord Of the Flies style climax in the military base.

The buzz that accompanied 28 Days Later is well deserved, it's an art house horror film that has real scares and real behind the scenes talent in director Danny Boyle. I wasn't a big fan of Boyle's previous work, but 28 Days Later has me seeking out his other films for re-evaluation of what looks to a great director for years to come.