28 Weeks Later
28 Weeks Later is the sequel to Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, the 2002 horror thriller that pumped adrenaline back into the zombie genre.
28 Days Later was something of a flawed masterpiece. It had a fantastic premise – British animal activists accidentally unleash Rage, an Ebola-like virus that, through blood and saliva contact, instantly transforms victims into berserk, blood-spewing beings. Within 28 days, England is decimated, and the few remaining survivors have to outrun this new breed of frenzied “zombies”, while simultaneously struggling with distrust of one another. The Rage-fuelled chase sequences were the stuff of nightmares, but the film lost momentum once the core group of survivors reached a lone military outpost.
Much of the early buzz around sequel 28 Weeks Later, this time directed by Spain’s Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, was that it kept the terror tempo cranked to the max.
The film certainly starts off well, with a group of disparate survivors sheltering together in a boarded-up house. These scenes offer a tense, powerful examination of how human beings respond differently to forced passivity in a “war” situation. Of course, it isn’t long before the characters are faced with an intense emotional battle between love and self preservation.
Fast-forward 6 months, and the Rage virus has apparently vanished. The US military is overseeing the return of civilians to a quarantined section of London. Don (Robert Carlyle), one of the survivors from the opening scene, is reunited with his children – the natural, non-irritating Mackintosh Muggleton and Imogen Poots.
It’s here where one of the main problems of 28 Weeks Later kicks in. Much like in Children of Men, viewers want to see more of this eerily recognisable alternate reality, where people are expected to reconstruct their lives with sniper rifles and CCTV cameras constantly pointed at them. However, the film makers have chosen to prioritise action over human interaction and these scenes, full of promise, are too brief. Don’s story of his wife “death”, related to children, is the only time the audience is exposed to the trauma and guilt of Rage survivors.
Character development is minimal, although this is nothing unusual in the zombie horror genre, where even big name cast members are fair game for undead attacks. Yes, as you may have guessed, despite the military’s precautions, the Rage virus returns to London with a vengeance.
Unfortunately, Fresnadillo and his cinematographer have adopted a shaky handheld camera approach to capture the panic of survivors and the out-of-control rage of the infected. And one infection scene, depicted here when it was only described in the first film, takes place mostly in the dark. This is intensely confusing and frustrating for the viewer, particularly when you want to witness the carnage in all its bloody, squirm-inducing glory.
Despite these complaints, 28 Weeks Later remains better than the vast majority of horror films these days. Performances are solid across the board, and it’s nice to see the return of Braveheart’s Catherine McCormack as Alice, Don’s wife, even if her screen time is so short. It’s just disappointing that despite the very positive reviews 28 Weeks Later has been receiving, in the end it misses too many opportunities and slips into conventionality.
28 Days Later was something of a flawed masterpiece. It had a fantastic premise – British animal activists accidentally unleash Rage, an Ebola-like virus that, through blood and saliva contact, instantly transforms victims into berserk, blood-spewing beings. Within 28 days, England is decimated, and the few remaining survivors have to outrun this new breed of frenzied “zombies”, while simultaneously struggling with distrust of one another. The Rage-fuelled chase sequences were the stuff of nightmares, but the film lost momentum once the core group of survivors reached a lone military outpost.
Much of the early buzz around sequel 28 Weeks Later, this time directed by Spain’s Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, was that it kept the terror tempo cranked to the max.
The film certainly starts off well, with a group of disparate survivors sheltering together in a boarded-up house. These scenes offer a tense, powerful examination of how human beings respond differently to forced passivity in a “war” situation. Of course, it isn’t long before the characters are faced with an intense emotional battle between love and self preservation.
Fast-forward 6 months, and the Rage virus has apparently vanished. The US military is overseeing the return of civilians to a quarantined section of London. Don (Robert Carlyle), one of the survivors from the opening scene, is reunited with his children – the natural, non-irritating Mackintosh Muggleton and Imogen Poots.
It’s here where one of the main problems of 28 Weeks Later kicks in. Much like in Children of Men, viewers want to see more of this eerily recognisable alternate reality, where people are expected to reconstruct their lives with sniper rifles and CCTV cameras constantly pointed at them. However, the film makers have chosen to prioritise action over human interaction and these scenes, full of promise, are too brief. Don’s story of his wife “death”, related to children, is the only time the audience is exposed to the trauma and guilt of Rage survivors.
Character development is minimal, although this is nothing unusual in the zombie horror genre, where even big name cast members are fair game for undead attacks. Yes, as you may have guessed, despite the military’s precautions, the Rage virus returns to London with a vengeance.
Unfortunately, Fresnadillo and his cinematographer have adopted a shaky handheld camera approach to capture the panic of survivors and the out-of-control rage of the infected. And one infection scene, depicted here when it was only described in the first film, takes place mostly in the dark. This is intensely confusing and frustrating for the viewer, particularly when you want to witness the carnage in all its bloody, squirm-inducing glory.
Despite these complaints, 28 Weeks Later remains better than the vast majority of horror films these days. Performances are solid across the board, and it’s nice to see the return of Braveheart’s Catherine McCormack as Alice, Don’s wife, even if her screen time is so short. It’s just disappointing that despite the very positive reviews 28 Weeks Later has been receiving, in the end it misses too many opportunities and slips into conventionality.
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