This "Dawn of the Dead" inspired chiller is strong on concept, style and brutally violent action, but suffers from poor musical scoring, and a digital video format that helped keep its budget at 10 million dollars.
28 Days Later (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:196
Fresh:173
Rotten:23
Average Rating:7.3/10
Consensus: 28 Days Later is both a terrifying zombie movie and a sharp political allegory.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong violence and gore, language and nudity
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Theatrical Release:Jun 27, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $44,900,469
Synopsis: After breaking into a primate research facility, a group of animal rights activists discover caged chimps chained up before banks of screens displaying horrifically violent images. Ignoring the... After breaking into a primate research facility, a group of animal rights activists discover caged chimps chained up before banks of screens displaying horrifically violent images. Ignoring the warnings of the terrified researcher who maintains the chimps are 'infected', they begin to free the animals and are immediately subjected to a bloody attack from the enraged creatures. 28 days later… Cycle courier Jim (Cillian Murphy) awakes from a coma in the deserted intensive care unit of a London hospital. Mystified, he wanders the wards and corridors in search of others and eventually heads into the city streets, calling out for help. As the shadows lengthen Jim seeks shelter in a church only to find dead bodies piled in heaps on the chapel floor. A sudden noise alerts him to the presence of a priest but his lightening speed, blood stained eyes and murderous screams send Jim reeling into the street. More "infected" are attracted by the noise and Jim runs in panic and confusion as a growing flock sprint after him through the dark streets. A sudden explosion from a makeshift bomb heralds the arrival of fellow "survivors" Selena (NAOMIE HARRIS) and Mark (NOAH HUNTLEY). Following a daring rescue they take Jim to safety and start to explain to him the nature of the infection, that it is transmitted in the blood, is overwhelming within seconds, that Britain has been overrun and that they have no way of knowing if it has spread worldwide. Selena and Mark reluctantly agree to help the shell-shocked Jim return home to Deptford to find his parents, with terrifying consequences. Later, as they sneak through the darkened streets, Selena and Jim spot a lone light in a tower block and investigate to see if there are other survivors. The unlikely pair they find are father and daughter Frank (BRENDAN GLEESON) and Hannah (MEGAN BURNS) whose water supplies are running dangerously low and are desperate to find alternative shelter. As the group takes shelter in the tower block, an automated radio broadcast is picked up. A Manchester-based group of soldiers, led by Major Henry West (CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON), claim to have the 'answer' to infection and invite any survivors to join them at their blockade. Faced with no practical alternative, the group sets out northwards in Frank's black cab unaware that the worst is yet to come. Directed by Danny Boyle, 28 DAYS LATER is from an original screenplay by Alex Garland, the author of The Beach, and produced by Andrew Macdonald. The film stars Cillian Murphy (DISCO PIGS), Naomie Harris (WHITE TEETH), Christopher Eccleston (24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, THE OTHERS, SHALLOW GRAVE), Megan Burns (LIAM) and Brendan Gleeson (THE GANGS OF NEW YORK, THE GENERAL, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A.I). [More]
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Megan Burns
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Megan Burns, Brendan Gleeson, Luke Mably
Director: Danny Boyle
Director: Danny Boyle
Screenwriter: Alex Garland
Producer: Andrew MacDonald
Composer: John Murphy
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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Release:
Mar 31, 2009
Blu-ray Disc Features:
- Region [unknown]
- NTSC
- Keep Case
- Full Frame - 1.33
- Widescreen - 2.35
Audio:
- 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio - English
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - French, Spanish
- Subtitles - English, French, Spanish, Cantonese, Korean - Optional
Additional Release Material:
- Behind the Scenes: "Pure Rage: The Making of 28 DAYS LATER"
- Audio Commentary: Danny Boyle - Director; Alex Garland - Screenwriter
- Trailers: High Definition Theatrical Trailers
- Music Video: Jacknife Lee
Alternate Scenes:
- 1. Deleted Scenes (6; w/Optional Commentary)
- 2. Alternate Endings (4; 3 w/Optional Commentary)
Text/Photo Galleries:
Slideshows:
- 1. Running Production Stills (w/ Commentary)
- 2. Running Polaroids (w/ Introduction)
- Storyboards (w/ Animation)
Reviews for 28 Days Later
The film itself seems to exist in a state of perpetual imbalance... between life and death, the real and the surreal, civilization and chaos.
It's a gory, depressing affair that bears an ultra-Darwinian message in its blood-stained hands.
Every bit as much a reactionary, establishmentarian work as the horror movies of fifty years ago.
It’s Boyle’s fleer at the Information Age, where physical survival’s place in the pyramid is smallest -- a snicker at those to whom a gagging error-message online is tragedy.
It's much more thoughtful than your ordinary run-of-the-mill zombie movie, which is why the generic ending is kind of unfortunate. For the most part though, it's an involving and genuinly scary epic.
It's scary because, while we may never be stalked by slimy zombies, we are coming to know more and more what it is like to live in the midst of an angry, violent, explosive populace.
It makes for a more intimate brand of horror, one we can’t explain away by pretending we’re watching the same old well-oiled Hollywood malarkey.
28 Days Later is a zombie movie and a rather good one. For one thing, it has enough cinematic style to keep it from being laughably cheesy.
What even the trendspotting Boyle couldn't have imagined when he started shooting in the summer of 2001 is that his derivative horror film would be the bloody perfect allegory of our reactionary, paranoid, afflicted, murderous moment in history.
It's the pursuits that cause palpitations and the expressiveness of Boyle's imagination that make 28 Days Later an instant classic.
Mixing a little social warning in with true guts-for-garters gore, he's put together a truly frightening film - not a scary movie.
... it’s just so unpretentious and terrifying – with cheeky moments of humor ... you relish the fun as you jump out of your skin.
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| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| 19% 19% | Transformers: Revenge … |
| 55% 55% | Orphan |
| 43% 43% | The Proposal |
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| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
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| 98% 98% | Up |
| 88% 88% | Ballast |
| 67% 67% | The Merry Gentleman |
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