Review of "28 Days Later..."
28 DAYS LATER... (2002)
Directed by Danny Boyle
Written by Alex Garland
Starring Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston and Brendan Gleeson
This British horror film opens with an attack by animal rights activists on a laboratory which is doing experiments on chimpanzees. The experiments are infecting the chimps with a "Rage" virus, which causes insane aggression and murderous violence in it's victims and is spread by blood and saliva. Twenty eight days later, Jim (Murphy) wakes up in a London hospital to find the place completely deserted and devastated. Making his way outside he finds the entire city seemingly deserted. Although it is not long before he realises the city is teeming with people infected by the "Rage" virus, however he does encounter some fellow survivors, such as Selena (Harris), Frank (Gleeson) and Frank's daughter Hannah (Megan Burns), who are faced with a brutal fight for survival.
This film is a cut above many other action/horror films, and is certainly one of the best of the ones that seem to have infested cinemas in the past few years. It's shot mainly on digital video, which gives an almost docudrama feel to the proceedings, and an added gritty feel to the film. It also allows for some impressive camera work, especially in the film's many point-of-view sequences. The characters are well drawn and mostly engaging and the script, from Garland who is best known as a novelist, is intelligent and witty. Although it is hard if not impossible to make a genuinely scary horror film, this certainly has it's fair share of shocking moments and plenty of satisfyingly gruesome special effects. However, one of the film's strengths is it's emphasis more on the effects of the situation on the survivors rather than the situation itself, and the characters often find themselves in danger more from fellow survivors than from the rampaging infected.
Eight out of ten.
Directed by Danny Boyle
Written by Alex Garland
Starring Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston and Brendan Gleeson
This British horror film opens with an attack by animal rights activists on a laboratory which is doing experiments on chimpanzees. The experiments are infecting the chimps with a "Rage" virus, which causes insane aggression and murderous violence in it's victims and is spread by blood and saliva. Twenty eight days later, Jim (Murphy) wakes up in a London hospital to find the place completely deserted and devastated. Making his way outside he finds the entire city seemingly deserted. Although it is not long before he realises the city is teeming with people infected by the "Rage" virus, however he does encounter some fellow survivors, such as Selena (Harris), Frank (Gleeson) and Frank's daughter Hannah (Megan Burns), who are faced with a brutal fight for survival.
This film is a cut above many other action/horror films, and is certainly one of the best of the ones that seem to have infested cinemas in the past few years. It's shot mainly on digital video, which gives an almost docudrama feel to the proceedings, and an added gritty feel to the film. It also allows for some impressive camera work, especially in the film's many point-of-view sequences. The characters are well drawn and mostly engaging and the script, from Garland who is best known as a novelist, is intelligent and witty. Although it is hard if not impossible to make a genuinely scary horror film, this certainly has it's fair share of shocking moments and plenty of satisfyingly gruesome special effects. However, one of the film's strengths is it's emphasis more on the effects of the situation on the survivors rather than the situation itself, and the characters often find themselves in danger more from fellow survivors than from the rampaging infected.
Eight out of ten.