28 Years Later review: Zombie franchise pushes boldly into new terrain
28 Years Later
★★★★
MA 15+, 115 mins
It is 23 years since writer Alex Garland, director Danny Boyle and producer Andrew Macdonald unleashed the Rage virus upon the world and redefined the zombie genre in 28 Days Later (despite insisting their film wasn't a zombie flick at all). And in the first of a projected new trilogy, they prove there's plenty of life in them old bones yet.
The filmmakers claim no prior knowledge of the franchise is necessary (Garland and Boyle were only executive producers on the 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later) in order to enter the latest incarnation of the hellscape of England after the outbreak. And while it undoubtedly adds a little something to have seen the earlier films, they are largely right in that. As The Walking Dead made perfectly clear, you don't need an origin story when the world you've created is as fully fleshed out as this. Even if the flesh is in a horrible state of decay.
We start here on the island of Lindisfarne, off the coast of north-east England. That gives our leads – Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Jamie, Jodie Comer as Isla, and Alfie Williams as their son, Spike – the chance to do some cracking Geordie accents, something we just do not hear enough of on screen, if you ask me.
Isla is bed-bound, racked by a mystery illness that at first glance could be mistaken for early-onset Rage. Jamie is a hunter, a leader of the gated and so-far secure island community that seems to have clung to a version of civilisation fashioned some time between 1830 and 1940.
He's taking Spike across the causeway – accessible only at low tide – that connects the island to the mainland, to hunt for slow-moving infected, and to dodge the fast-moving variety. It's a coming-of-age ritual, with a rather higher degree of risk than a bar mitzvah or a blue-light disco. Of course, things unravel pretty quickly, as they encounter a horde led by an oversized, more intelligent leader, known as an Alpha.
Boyle is masterful at creating an almost unbearable sense of tension in these scenes. His use of jump-cuts, of varied focal lengths and exposures, above all his use of music and sound design (think Trainspotting, times 10) all combine to create and sustain a state of high anxiety in the audience.
The mission is a turning point for Spike, but not quite in the way his old man had anticipated. His experiences, and the aftermath of them, open his eyes to the way myth is used to reinforce a particular version of the world. It causes a rift between father and son, and sets in train the second part of the film, in which Spike leads his mother back to the mainland in search of a doctor who is rumoured to be there, and who might provide a diagnosis and a cure.
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Perth Now
9 hours ago
- Perth Now
Danny Boyle had a 'nightmare' filming naked zombies for 28 Years Later
Danny Boyle has admitted it was a "nightmare" filming naked zombies for new horror movie 28 Years Later. The moviemaker has stepped back into the director's chair to helm the new horror - written by Alex Garland - 23 years after the pair's first film 28 Days Later hit cinemas and Danny has revealed they needed to take extra care not to have "naked" actors on the set because they had strict rules in place to protect the film's child star Alfie Williams. Speaking to PEOPLE, Danny explained: "I mean, if you're recently infected [with the zombie virus], you'd have some clothes, but if you've been infected for a long time, the clothes would just disintegrate with the way that you behave. "We never knew that [about rules governing nudity on set when there's a child present] going in, it was a nightmare." Danny went on to explain the work-around they came up with, adding: "Interestingly, because there was a 12-year-old boy on set, you're not allowed for anybody to be naked, not really naked, so they look naked, but it's all prosthetics ... "So it's like: 'Oh my God,' so we had to make everybody prosthetic genitals'." Danny revealed he was keen to push boundaries with the elements of nudity and gore in the film and he's glad studio bosses were supportive of his plans. He told Variety: "I think one of the wonderful things about horror is that you're expected to maximize the impact of your story. Everybody wants to do that with a drama, with the romance, whatever. "But with horror, it's obviously gonna be brutal, some of it. What we loved was setting it against an innocence that's represented by the various children in it, and also the landscape, the beauty of the landscape, the nature. "Having those two forces stretches your story as far as you can go, if you maximize them. That was our principle and the studio was supportive of that, of course they were." 28 Years Later is out this month and a fourth film in the series 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple - directed by Nia DaCosta with Danny as a producer - has already been shot ahead of a planned January 2026 launch date. However, the 'Trainspotting' moviemaker hopes to be back in the directing chair if the final movie is given the green light. The series was created by Alex Garland - who wrote the screenplays for all the films except for second instalment 28 Weeks Later - and started with Cillian Murphy's character Jim, who awakes from a coma to discover Britain has been plagued by a terrible pandemic known as the Rage Virus, which turns those affected turn into murderous zombies. Cillian makes a brief appearance in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and is due to be given a bigger role in the untitled follow-up, but Alex Garland has revealed there's still no script for the next month. He told Variety: "The script isn't written. It's strange: There's a story, there's a plan, there's a structure ... So short answer: I've got the idea, I've got the plan, but there's not a script. I'm waiting to see what happens, I suppose."
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
28 Years Later review: Zombie franchise pushes boldly into new terrain
28 Years Later ★★★★ MA 15+, 115 mins It is 23 years since writer Alex Garland, director Danny Boyle and producer Andrew Macdonald unleashed the Rage virus upon the world and redefined the zombie genre in 28 Days Later (despite insisting their film wasn't a zombie flick at all). And in the first of a projected new trilogy, they prove there's plenty of life in them old bones yet. The filmmakers claim no prior knowledge of the franchise is necessary (Garland and Boyle were only executive producers on the 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later) in order to enter the latest incarnation of the hellscape of England after the outbreak. And while it undoubtedly adds a little something to have seen the earlier films, they are largely right in that. As The Walking Dead made perfectly clear, you don't need an origin story when the world you've created is as fully fleshed out as this. Even if the flesh is in a horrible state of decay. We start here on the island of Lindisfarne, off the coast of north-east England. That gives our leads – Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Jamie, Jodie Comer as Isla, and Alfie Williams as their son, Spike – the chance to do some cracking Geordie accents, something we just do not hear enough of on screen, if you ask me. Isla is bed-bound, racked by a mystery illness that at first glance could be mistaken for early-onset Rage. Jamie is a hunter, a leader of the gated and so-far secure island community that seems to have clung to a version of civilisation fashioned some time between 1830 and 1940. He's taking Spike across the causeway – accessible only at low tide – that connects the island to the mainland, to hunt for slow-moving infected, and to dodge the fast-moving variety. It's a coming-of-age ritual, with a rather higher degree of risk than a bar mitzvah or a blue-light disco. Of course, things unravel pretty quickly, as they encounter a horde led by an oversized, more intelligent leader, known as an Alpha. Boyle is masterful at creating an almost unbearable sense of tension in these scenes. His use of jump-cuts, of varied focal lengths and exposures, above all his use of music and sound design (think Trainspotting, times 10) all combine to create and sustain a state of high anxiety in the audience. The mission is a turning point for Spike, but not quite in the way his old man had anticipated. His experiences, and the aftermath of them, open his eyes to the way myth is used to reinforce a particular version of the world. It causes a rift between father and son, and sets in train the second part of the film, in which Spike leads his mother back to the mainland in search of a doctor who is rumoured to be there, and who might provide a diagnosis and a cure.
The Age
a day ago
- The Age
28 Years Later review: Zombie franchise pushes boldly into new terrain
28 Years Later ★★★★ MA 15+, 115 mins It is 23 years since writer Alex Garland, director Danny Boyle and producer Andrew Macdonald unleashed the Rage virus upon the world and redefined the zombie genre in 28 Days Later (despite insisting their film wasn't a zombie flick at all). And in the first of a projected new trilogy, they prove there's plenty of life in them old bones yet. The filmmakers claim no prior knowledge of the franchise is necessary (Garland and Boyle were only executive producers on the 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later) in order to enter the latest incarnation of the hellscape of England after the outbreak. And while it undoubtedly adds a little something to have seen the earlier films, they are largely right in that. As The Walking Dead made perfectly clear, you don't need an origin story when the world you've created is as fully fleshed out as this. Even if the flesh is in a horrible state of decay. We start here on the island of Lindisfarne, off the coast of north-east England. That gives our leads – Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Jamie, Jodie Comer as Isla, and Alfie Williams as their son, Spike – the chance to do some cracking Geordie accents, something we just do not hear enough of on screen, if you ask me. Isla is bed-bound, racked by a mystery illness that at first glance could be mistaken for early-onset Rage. Jamie is a hunter, a leader of the gated and so-far secure island community that seems to have clung to a version of civilisation fashioned some time between 1830 and 1940. He's taking Spike across the causeway – accessible only at low tide – that connects the island to the mainland, to hunt for slow-moving infected, and to dodge the fast-moving variety. It's a coming-of-age ritual, with a rather higher degree of risk than a bar mitzvah or a blue-light disco. Of course, things unravel pretty quickly, as they encounter a horde led by an oversized, more intelligent leader, known as an Alpha. Boyle is masterful at creating an almost unbearable sense of tension in these scenes. His use of jump-cuts, of varied focal lengths and exposures, above all his use of music and sound design (think Trainspotting, times 10) all combine to create and sustain a state of high anxiety in the audience. The mission is a turning point for Spike, but not quite in the way his old man had anticipated. His experiences, and the aftermath of them, open his eyes to the way myth is used to reinforce a particular version of the world. It causes a rift between father and son, and sets in train the second part of the film, in which Spike leads his mother back to the mainland in search of a doctor who is rumoured to be there, and who might provide a diagnosis and a cure.
