28 Days Later
2002 · Directed by Danny Boyle
Original language: English
- horror
- thriller
- science fiction
The story
Twenty-eight days after a killer virus was accidentally unleashed from a British research facility, a small group of London survivors are caught in a desperate struggle to protect themselves from the infected. Carried by animals and humans, the virus turns those it infects into homicidal maniacs -- and it's absolutely impossible to contain.
What it’s like
Desolate, sun-washed London, shot on rough digital video with a jittery, handheld immediacy: empty streets and deserted landmarks under a washed-out overcast sky, long stretches of eerie silence broken by sudden, ragged bursts of violence. The palette is bleached and grainy, with jolts of red blood and a few warm interiors that feel like the last safe rooms left on earth. Sound design does much of the work, with a pulsing, mournful electronic score and sudden silences that leave the hush of abandoned streets ringing. The mood is bleak dread shading into quiet grief, moving at a fast, lurching clip in its middle act and slowing to a fragile, uneasy calm later. Intensity is high: frequent graphic gore, brutal and sudden violence, and an overwhelming sense of threat, though its sexual content is minimal. Its people are ordinary and bruised, a dazed man and a small band of strangers slowly learning to trust one another. Made for viewers who want apocalyptic horror with a human core, and not for anyone seeking something gentle.
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