28 Weeks Later Review

Bottom-Line: For the horror buff there should be nothing better.  

Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo 28 Weeks Later picks up, well 28 weeks after a deadly Rage virus (transmitted by saliva) hits and virtually wipes out the human population Great Britain.  This story opens as couple Alice (Catherine McCormack - The Tailor of Panama) and Don (Robert Carlyle - Trainspotting, The Full Monty, Eragon) hold up in a English countryside house hiding from zombies.  Suddenly there is load knocking at the front door, someone, or something is trying to get in... 

My Viewpoint

For a modern day horror film 28 Weeks Later is entertaining, more of a curiosity for me than a true horror film.  Yes there was blood and a few guts but not nearly as graphic and personal much as in zombie movies of old.  But, the movie is (mostly) intelligently written, with well-sketched characters, political allegory, great special effects, a healthy dose of tension and plenty of fast moving high-energy zombie flesh. 

But there are implausible(s) as well, such as why Alice was left guarded; how Don was able to get to her; and how the military allowed Don, once infected to escape so easily.  Yes I know it was necessary for the story, but...

...And here is another biggie: zombies are supposed to be brain-dead but Don shows a remarkable level of intelligence, and he uses it not only to escape fire bombings and poisonous gas, but manages to track his son across London!  Unlike the other zombies, he is a loner, a one man infection machine...huh?  

Above all else, the message that 28 Weeks Later conveys, wrapped as it is in blood and gore, is that despite own supposed intelligent and dominion over the Earth, humanity often regresses in the face of complete and utter devastation wrought by their fellow humans.

The malady that infests London, this Rage virus is a beast of ungodly proportions, it is the End-of-Days, one of the Four Houseman of the Apocalypse, if one believes in that fable. 

Next up, zombies eat Paris...I smell another sequel in the making.