28 Days Later
Got up, barely made it in time for a day of DV camera training. Which was pretty dull since we spent half the day just learning how to focus, and the other half on exposure. So learnt nothing new so far - but might stick around for tomorrow just in case. Quite surprised by how much I knew when I thought it was just blind basic obvious information. H didn’t turn up - apparently she was “ill”.
Worked for a bit on XR afterwards, and Lucy left a msg saying they were seeing 28 Days Later. So finished my work, gulped down some dinner and went to see 28 Days Later, with some major trepidation. After all, I haven’t seen a horror film for ages.
Anyway, IMDB review I wrote reads:
“Well, after reading all the hype, I was expecting a jump-fright-fest. And given that I couldn’t sleep after Blair Witch Project and Alien, I’m a person that’s very easily jumped. But it was nowhere near as “bad” on that front. Which may be a bad thing for some people.
The major innovative twist was the oft-quoted seeing London empty - although if I was Danny Boyle, and managed to shut down a street in London for 4 minutes at a time, I’d be equipping some camera people with proper *film* cameras as well as DV ones. Imagine how much more powerful those scenes would have been if he’d brought along a 35mm camera as well as a cheapo DV one.
Speaking of which, the general decision to go with DV was - I think - a mistake. You’re never really that frightened (in the conventional sense) of anything since you can barely make anything out! Or maybe that was our low-quality print.
On the plus side, the characters were reasonably fleshed out, and you just had enough time to like most of them.
A couple of new twists on the apocalyptic genre world certainly makes this well worth watching. But make sure you leave time to go for a coffee or a drink afterwards!”
Certainly could have done with a drink afterwards - a quietly affecting film. I think H had tears in her eyes again, but swiftly recovered with a “at least you kept quiet this time!” comment. Kinda quietly shaking on the drive home - and wanted to talk to someone, anyone. But then Rob had female company. Still, 3 hrs on the Net is enough to numb one’s mind…
Originally published at almost witty. You can comment here or there.