“I require a shower and a good amount of CBD.”
This was the first message I sent to my colleagues after exiting the cinema post-screening of 28 Years Later. My nails were chewed down to the quick, and as a film critic, I was profoundly unsettled after experiencing the reunion of director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland nearly 28 years post their chilling, groundbreaking, genre-bending 2002 feature 28 Days Later.
Since this franchise debuted its gruesome, pursuing zombies, popular series like The Walking Dead and The Last of Us, along with acclaimed films like Train to Busan, have populated the undead scene on screen. However, Garland and Boyle introduce fresh frights and existential terror, reminding viewers of the legacy established by their 2002 success.
One of the most unyielding and terrifying films this year, 28 Years Later warrants the most expansive screen and audio system available — and some serious bravery. Close to three decades later, we return (spine intact).
28 Years Later starts in a quaint sanctuary
Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Spike (Alfie Williams) face challenges to their resolve. Credit: Sony Pictures
Since the Rage Virus ravaged the United Kingdom in 28 Days Later, the nation has endured around 30 years of turmoil in its own petri dish of enraged contagion. Survivors are left to survive independently, with no outside assistance forthcoming. In fact, European quarantine vessels patrol the coastal waters ensuring Britain is acutely aware of its boundaries (the term “Brexit” isn’t uttered in this film, but let’s be real…). Within this dire landscape, a small community has secured an island off the English coast, safeguarded from the undead by the tides, robust walls, and a wealth of classic grassroots architecture (thanks to production and costume designers Carson McColl and Gareth Pugh).
Essential supplies for “Holy Island” lie on the mainland, a place considered a rite of passage for younger inhabitants to explore, including 12-year-old Spike (a solemn, gritty portrayal from newcomer Alfie Williams). There’s just one stipulation: If you leave and fail to return, no one is permitted to cross the causeway to save you. While his mother, Isla (an outstanding Jodie Comer), suffers from an undiagnosed ailment and endures her own personal torment, Spike and his father, Jamie (an intense and foul-mouthed Aaron Taylor-Johnson) head to the mainland for some father-son bonding, discovering nothing amiss. Everything appears perfect! Yeah, this is a 28 Days film, you know it’s not.
On the mainland, Spike and Jamie encounter their courage challenged in countless terrifying ways. As anticipated, these rolling English hills are teeming with infected, bloodthirsty individuals, some of whom have unexpectedly evolved into new forms, including the chilling “Alphas”. But there’s smoke looming in the distance, with the enigma of this ever-burning inferno enticing Spike’s curiosity farther from the safety of his island haven.
28 Years Later is merciless in every respect
You’ll want to return to that island pretty swiftly. Credit: Sony Pictures
As a zombie film following in the tradition of one of the most acclaimed, violent, and savage horror films of the 2000s, 28 Years Later spares no effort on the gore scale, tween protagonist notwithstanding! Boyle and Garland unveil more than one skull-attached spine throughout the film, splattering explosive blood onto television screens airing the Teletubbies, while hinting at a mountain of skulls ominously ahead, each moment a visceral blow to the audience.
This dizzying visual violence is enhanced by Boyle’s hallmark approach to disruptive filmmaking. In one of the film’s most striking segments, Boyle and editor Jon Harris transform what could be a simple scene of Spike’s initial moments on the mainland into a frenetic, fragmented montage. Intercut with father and son striding across an abandoned beach is a barrage of archival imagery of child soldiers, clips from Laurence Olivier’s 1944 Shakespeare adaptation Henry V (a film “devised as a wartime morale-booster” for British viewers during World War II), and the urgent, desperate voiceover of British author Rudyard Kipling’s 1903 war poem “Boots,” which also appeared in the film’s gripping trailer.
It’s a distressing, jarring, political sequence hinting at horrific violence, broken innocence, and national downfall. Even if you cannot pinpoint the references in the footage, the dread is palpable. At the film’s outset, Boyle keeps you both uncertain and acutely aware of what lies ahead, and it doesn’t bode well for Spike and his family.
Masterful and creative cinematography renders 28 Years Later horrifically immersive
Uh, hey… Credit: Sony Pictures
Doyle reunites with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, who utilized a notoriously unconventional method of digital camcorders for both extreme close-ups and solitary wide shots in