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When Chauncey told me she wanted me to write about the Danny Boyle/Alex Garland revisionist zombie epic 28 Days Later, I was a little stoked. As you may have read or heard elsewhere, I am not a fan of the zombie subgenre....but I love this film.
The reason is that Boyle and Garland obviously love the genre--especially the original George Romero trilogy, to the point where they break down the story so that each act references each of those films--but they put some thought into their love letter to it so it stays true to the Romero Credo of ‘Humans Fuck It Up For Themselves’ while also putting their own, kinda hopeful, spin on things.
Jack (Cillian Murphy) wakes up in a London hospital to find the city deserted, the streets littered with garbage and posts for missing people all over the place. When he is chased by a priest and his congregation who seem to be transformed into raging, red-eyed, twitchy creatures, he is saved by Selena (Naomi Harris, who will go on to be Miss Moneypenny in the Daniel Craig No Fun Bonds*). Selena explains what we’ve learned in a pre-credit sequence: a fast-acting sort of ‘emotional virus’ has overtaken England and the country is now a ghost town. After checking in on Jim’s parents, the duo (they were a trio, but somebody got infected and all...) come across Frank (Brendan Gleeson) and his daughter Hanna (Megan Burns). Frank has been receiving a recorded message from an army outpost. Salvation from the infection is here, it claims...prompting the quartet to go on a road trip.
One of the reason this film works so well is in its casting. Back in 2002, most of these actors were unfamiliar to the mainstream public and--just as with Night of The Living Dead--that creates a verisimilitude that makes the film work to a degree it maybe shouldn’t. Granted, it helps that all of these actors are all fucking amazing; I haven’t even mentioned Christopher Eccelston as the human villain three years before the world discovered him in Doctor Who. Garland does a lot of homages to their inspiration without drawing too much attention, and does a lot of credible world building without stopping the film Dead With Exposition. Aside from some really ropey ‘enhanced’ rain in the third act, Boyle uses CGI credibly. It was one of the first theatrical films shot digitally, and it helps in giving it an otherworldly feel.
...and then there are the zombies, called The Infected in the story. Boyle took advantage of the properties of digital film to give the creatures a spasmy, speeded up nature that is just unreal. And the fact that these are people so overwhelmed by aggression they’re now something else gives it a unique touch.
Of course, the strength is in the human interactions and how Boyle and Garland modifies the Romero credo. The duo argues that it is possible to have hope in a hopeless world, but that hope is a double edged sword. It is hope that spurs the quartet to travel toward the army base, which results in Frank ultimately being infected. It is hope that Major West uses to defuse his soldiers’ despair, and prompts him into being the monster he has become. That’s why I think the film needed the ending it got and not any of the three alternatives--even though Jim finds himself regressing into a bestial state to save his friends/get revenge of West, it is his hope (and the hope he ultimately engenders in Selena) that pays off with salvation.
I love this film very much, which must say something given how much I dislike zombie movies as a whole. It shows that even the most well-worn of subgenres can produce greatness with the right approach. I would have liked 28 Days Later to usher in a whole slew of revisionist and alternative takes on zombie apocalypse, but sadly that wasn’t to be; outside of the odd film like the recent Cargo, the only thing others learned from this is that they should make zombies, like, fast and twitchy and stuff.
I don’t think I have to say that I recommend this film, do I?
Tomorrow our sponsor is author Nicholas Kaufman. Nicholas has chosen 1981‘s The Intruder Within, a TV movie about a creature lurking about a deep sea drilling platform that maybe owes a little too much to Alien.
If you want to join Chauncey, the Soska Sisters, Kelli Maroney, and other great Horror Luminaries in getting me to watch a movie of your own choice during the Halloween Horrorfest, please consider joining the Domicile of Dread Patreon at the $3 Tier or greater. Each new patron gets a free slot in this Gauntlet of Ghoulishness! There are still three open slots, so act fast!
*--You wanna win me back to the franchise, Broccoli spawn? After Craig finally leaves (please? We know you’re bored and just want to go back to canoodling with Rachel Weisz, Danny), promote Harris to 007....
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