Review of 28 Days Later (2002) by Ben T — 21 Feb 2017

28 Days Later is really the little movie that could. Released in 2002 and directed by Danny Boyle, 28 Days Later changed the game for zombie movie. This is the movie that really ditched the slow walking, brain eating zombies and replaced them with the fast running, brutally violent and terrifying 'infected'.

28 Days Later is a great and very affecting horror movie. This is an intense, scary and violent film that has a lot of merits that has made it such a over the 15 or so years since it's release. This film has a suprising you really good cast of actors who at the time were new comers.

Cillian Murphy stars in the lead role as Jim and he's very good. He's our eyes into the apocalypse and is a very likeable character. Naomie Harris also stars as Selena and she's very good.

At first I thought her character was going to be the boring tough as nails stereotype and while she at times she can be she's still a good protagonist. Brendan Gleason also stars in a supporting role as a very likeable character.

Christopher Eccleston also plays a very complex character who I don't really want to spoil. The other acting is very good for the most part, especially from the infected characters. The directing here from Danny Boyle is excellent.

This is a very white knuckle approach to a zombie apocalypse. This is a very intense movie that never really lets up and had me on the edge of my seat from start to beginning. If there's one thing this film does excellently it's create a gritty atmosphere.

The scenes with Jim walking around deserted London do a fantastic job in creating this very eerie feel. Danny Boyle also does a great job at making this environment feel very gritty and lived in. This feels like a very realistic approach to what would happen with a zombie apocalypse.

I also think a lot of the effectiveness of the film comes down to Alex Garland's very good script. As I mentioned this feels like a very realistic take on a zombie apocalypse but one thing I really liked was how the actual outbreak doesn't feel stupid or contrived it's very grounded and scary.

As I've mentioned this film is really intense, whenever the characters are attacked by the infected it will have your heart racing and is quite terrifying. A lot of that I feel comes down to the editing and cinematography.

I know some people have complained about the mix of shaky cam and quick editing and while I usually hate that with other films I think here it works fantastically. The zombies in this film are fast and brutal so the editing and cinematography works really well to capture that as every attack scene is filmed so frantically and violently.

While 28 Days Later is a very good movie for me the last 20 or so minutes are what makes this film great. The finale is tense, graphically violent and very heart pumpingly horrifying. While I really do like 28 Days Later it's not fantastic and does have problems.

Firstly the child actor I think is unfortunately very weak and sticks out like a soar thumb. Also the middle of the film is in my opinion quite slow and isn't as intense as the rest of the film. Problems aside 28 Days Later is a great horror movie and one of if not the most intense zombie movies.

Overall 28 Days Later is a great horror film and a must watch for any fans of zombies or horror movies. A-.