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A disease known as “The Rage” infects most of England. Those infected become crazy and run around, killing and/or infecting anyone they see. Our protagonist, Jim, happened to be in a coma while “The Rage” was spreading. He wakes up 28 days after the first infection, thus the title of the movie. The plot thickens as Jim encounters more survivors, and like so many zombie/horror movies in the past, Jim soon discovers that the greatest threat may not come from the infected, but from some of his fellow survivors.
It would have been easy for 28 Days Later to be your typical zombie movie, and this became more evident to me as I wrote the overview for it. Luckily, this movie is not your typical zombie movie. Director Danny Boyle has given us a smart horror movie, which pays tribute to some of the past great zombie movies. This movie has substance to it. Jim encounters different father figures as he progresses through the plot, which reinforces the whole point of the movie. 28 Days Later isn’t just about zombie-like creatures running around and causing havoc. It is about Jim finding himself, and in the process becoming a better person. For a lack of a better expression, Jim grows up before our eyes in this film. By the end, we come to realize that Jim has exhausted his need for father figures, and that he needs no one to rely upon except for himself. The director’s commentary for the DVD version gives the movie extra entertainment value. Unlike director commentaries on the original Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, 28 Days Later commentary deals with the themes and characterization in the movie. I’ve always found that the commentaries for the original Dawn and Day had too many people on them, which often lead to people going on too many tangents or too many people talking at once. The commentary for 28 Days Later features just Danny Boyle and the writer of the movie, Alex Garland. I actually found that I looked at this movie differently after listening to the director and writer talk about it. Before listening to the commentary, I noticed that Jim kept encountering father figures, but I never thought about it in the same detail that Boyle and Garland talk in.
One of the major strengths of 28 Days Later is that it is creepy and suspenseful. There are moments where you will find yourself sitting on the edge of your seat, waiting for something scary to happen. There’s some decent gore in this movie, but there isn’t nearly as much you’ll find in a lot of the horror movies made at the same time as 28 Days Later. The suspense and eerie atmosphere make up for the lack of gore. As well, the music adds a lot to this movie. One scene near the beginning, where Jim is looking at a public bulletin board, is made a lot creepier by the music that plays as he realizes that some sort of catastrophe has happened in London.
The Rage… I understand from listening to Boyle on the commentary what the logic was behind calling the disease that. However, the name, “The Rage,” just sounds goofy. My friends and I still make jokes to this day, calling it “The Rage” whenever someone we know gets mad about something. I think this is one of those times where throwing some scientific babble at people may have been a better idea. The infected aren’t zombies, meaning this movie didn’t scoop the remake of Dawn of the Dead with its use of the agile living dead. Those infected seem like zombies that can run, but one major difference is that they can be killed the same way as a regular person. In other words, there’s no need to shoot them in the head as shooting them in the body will kill them too. The problem with killing the infected is that their blood will infect the person shooting them if they get any on their skin. Some people were annoyed that the trailer for this movie made it seem like a zombie movie, but there were technically no zombies in it. Personally, I didn’t find this to be an issue, but I do have a friend who hates this movie to this day because the infected aren’t technically zombies.
My other problem would be with the pacing of the movie. In the last forty to fifty-five minutes we’re introduced to what is left of the British military. This part of the movie seems a bit out of place with the rest of the movie. I firmly believe that they could have made two movies out of the material they had for this one film. The first movie could have ended with the military shooting the infected Frank, and then the second movie could have dealt with them living with the soldiers and the eventually breakdown that leaves them at odds with each other. Of course, this is probably just an example of me being greedy and wanting two excellent horror movies instead of one.
I would recommend 28 Days Later to any horror fans. The creepy atmosphere makes this the type of movie most people won’t watch with the lights off. If you’re looking for a horror movie that isn’t just about mindless violence and guts, then 28 Days Later is a movie you should pick up.
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