28 Weeks Later, a review by Jon
28 Weeks Later4 out of 5
A devastated Britain is being repopulated now that the Rage virus is under control. But a family coming back together proves disastrous and it's on the move again.
28 Weeks Later starts with an incredible sequence featuring survivors in a farmhouse coming under a vicious attack. Dom (Robert Carlyle) is the only survivor, leaving his wife for dead, running from what can only be described as a swarm of infected. The shot of them sweeping down the hill is incredible.
The missus pops up later on surviving because she is a carrier; unaffected by the virus but still contagious. Her son is the same and 28 weeks after the outbreak, he and his older sister return to Britain and their dad, now living and working in the green zone. This family is the films focus and strength. While they expand the story logically and present a terrifyingly feasible Britain completely broken, the story stays grounded by sticking with the family.
It's incredibly bleak and gory. A sequence with a helicopter and field full of infected should go down as a horror classic! This visceral, in-your-face style in unrelenting, an improvement on the original I feel. There are holes in the story if you want to be picky, but first and foremost this is entertainment.
28 Days Later and the remake of Dawn of the Dead caused debate amongst horror fans about what type of zombie they thought was correct: runners or shufflers. I prefer the latter, but I think the full speed zombies can be excused here because they aren't dead. They're poorly.
But regardless of your opinion, this compares rather too well with its contemporaries. I liked Diary of the Dead, but what that film gains in social commentary it loses in sheer entertainment value against this. Romero needs to step up a gear and show his slow zombies are still a viable threat in cinema. His touch of humour was desperately needed here. And in the previous post I've dropped the rating of I Am Legend. 28 Weeks Later is relatively low budget, but handles everything better in a fundamentally similar story. Ironically, according to the making of interview with Robert Carlyle, he says the infected actors were told to behave like there was still some humanity left. A cynic might say on a film like this that only his character needed that heart, yet I Am Legend demanded it and they didn't even use actors!
This is a great sequel. It takes what made the original great and expands on it. And the end is still open so maybe a franchise beckons.
(From October Marathon: Horror! on October 5th, 2008)
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May 18, 2024, 09:34:12 PM
