It’s hard to believe zombies were all but dead before Danny Boyle shocked them back to life.
The director’s “28 Days Later” may have used a “rage virus” to do the trick in 2002, but it was enough to remind us why these ghouls matter.
And boy were those flesh-eating creeps fast.
Now, nearly two decades after that film’s sequel, Boyle is back with “28 Years Later.” The math may be fuzzy, but there’s nothing bland about this gut-wrenching update.
“28 Years Later” is a coming-of-age film about life, death and survival. Oh, and you’ll spend an inordinate amount of time on the edge of your seat.
The film’s prologue pushes the boundaries of horror, even in our “Terrifier” age. You’ve been warned.
From there, we flash forward you-know-how-many-years later. We meet a family living on an island that appears safe from the zombie hordes that decimated England in the first film.
It’s where young Spike (Alfie Williams), his father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his sickly ma Isla (Jodie Comer) call home.
Island dwellers still depend on the mainland for supplies, and it’s become a rite of passage for teen boys to visit in order to make their first “kill” (and, hopefully, stay alive). “28 Years Later” is aggressively unwoke in that area. The men do the hunting while the women folk stay back and prepare the meals.
Triggering!
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Spike may be 12, but his Pappy thinks he’s ready to prove his bow hunting prowess. Is anyone prepared to face a horde of rage-filled ghouls, particularly the Alphas who could fend off a small army? That nightmarish tweak to the zombie genre works beautifully under Boyle’s inspired direction.
The dysfunctional family dynamic powers the movie, in between crisply edited battles with the undead. Williams delivers a stellar performance, capturing the fear of youth and a growing sense of responsibility.
The lad is desperate to find a doctor for his sickly Ma, and when he learns about a mysterious medic on the mainland he becomes obsessed with finding him.
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“28 Years Later” is sublime and, later, rock solid. The film’s first half captures the culture of post-pandemic living, from the precautions of everyday life to the shift back to a pre-digital age.
Locals live as if it were medieval times, eschewing modernity in the process. Is there another choice? It’s still fascinating to watch, granting the sequel a power we didn’t see coming.
That’s where Spike’s family fits into the narrative. Jamie is a dutiful Dad, but his biological needs confuse and horrify young Spike. Isla appears to have a form of the rage virus, but her bouts of clarity suggest she could be saved before the end credits roll.
Boyle and “28 Days Later” writer Alex Garland find a near-perfect balance between horror and humanity in the first half. Later, the story shifts its focus and loses some of what was expertly established earlier on. It’s still engrossing and, occasionally, terrifying.
The arrival of Ralph Fiennes later in the story lets Spike learn even more hard lessons about adolescence in his nightmarish reality.
Director George A. Romero kickstarted the modern zombie genre, but his films viewed humans as more monstrous than the undead. Boyle and Garland offer something more hopeful without skimping on scares.
That matters.
“28 Years Later” isn’t a cash-grab sequel but an exhilarating extension of a genre-defining original.
Note: The final sequence is jarring, but hardly in a good way. It’s an obvious nod to the next film in the saga, a move as cynical as peak MCU theatrics.
HiT or Miss: “28 Years Later” shows director Danny Boyle still knows how to make us squirm without leaving humanity on the cutting room floor.