Posted: 06/26/2003

28 Days Later

(2003)

by Jonathan Shapiro

New Brit horror film succeeds and nearly misses all at once.

Director Danny Boyle’s (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, The Beach) new film 28 Days Later is a tale of two movies. In a time where true horror films are as common as water in the Sahara, Boyle delivers a solid film with plenty of scares. Unfortunately the last 45 minutes of the film fall short of greatness and left me wondering why the movie took such an unexpected downturn.

28 Days Later starts in a medical testing laboratory in London that does horrible experiments on animals. A group of radical animal rights protestors break into the lab to free the animals, unaware of what kinds of experiments are taking place. It turns out that the scientists have infected the monkeys with a rage hormone that is extremely contagious. As horror movies often go, one of the monkeys is freed and attacks the people in the lab, immediately the humans begin to vomit blood and become mindless zombies. The plague infects all of London and turns the city into a ghost town. 28 days after the initial infection, Jim (Cillian Murphy) awakes from a coma and has no idea what is going on. Murphy does an excellent job in the film; Danny Boyle captures Jim’s confusion in a clever manner. The film’s soundtrack adds an element of excitement, it’s fast and is constantly driving the film. Jim eventually gets discovered by Selena (Naomie Harris) and one other human, they are some of the only survivors of the plague. Selena and Jim meet Frank (Brendan Gleeson) and Hannah (Megan Burns) a father and daughter that have been holding fort in their apartment. From this point on the four survivors take a journey that will hopefully lead to some sort of salvation.

28 Days Later is stylishly shot, without crazy special effects. The zombies are extremely scary, complete with ear piercing yells and eyes stained with blood. There are plenty of instances in the film where I found myself gripping the armrests and jumping out of my seat. The faulty second part of the film can be blamed on screenwriter Alex Garland. Garland was on the right track, and definitely did a solid job, however he went blank and took the easy way out at the end. I left the theater feeling slightly cheated because I wasn’t scared. There are underlying themes in the film about survival and human nature, however they should have never been introduced. The film should have stayed like Night of the Living Dead and not become a twisted version of Lord of the Flies meets Hamburger Hill. The actor’s did an exceptional job with the material. I was particularly impressed with Brendan Gleeson’s performance as Frank; in a matter of seconds he goes from ass kicking zombie killer, to loving and concerned father. Cillian Murphy does an excellent job as Jim; the character goes through visible emotional changes that are triggered at different points in the film.

28 Days Later is a solid film that could have been a great film if it took a different path. The first hour of the movie was innovative, compelling, and scary, unfortunately the pay-off isn’t really memorable. It is a shame that the film changes, but the first half makes 28 Days Later worth a trip to your local theater.

Jonathan Shapiro is a freelance writer and securities trader living in New York City.

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