28 Days Later

A stellar collection of talent gives us one of the best zombie movies ever made

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Directed By: Danny Boyle 
Other Notable Films From Boyle: Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, the bad guy from Gone in 60 Seconds
Screenplay By: Alex Garland
Movie Synopsis: An infection that turns people into rage zombies spreads across the United Kingdom.
Signature Line: “Hello? … Hello? … Hellooooooooooo?!”

THE INTRODUCTION
An accounting of time, and people, and context

This GOOD MOVIE essay is gonna be slightly different than the ones that have come before it; you can think on it as an experiment of sorts. That being the case, let’s hit the 28 Days Later talking points first so we get those out of the way, and then we can do the experiment details after.

The 28 Days Later talking points: (1) The movie is a masterpiece, its brilliance owed to a creative team that includes an Oscar-winning director, an Oscar-nominated writer, an Oscar-recognized cast, an Oscar-winning cinematographer, and an Oscar-caliber composer.¹ (2) The movie is often credited with revitalizing the zombie genre, as well as credited with popularizing the idea of fast zombies. (3) The movie toggles between footage captured on film and footage captured digitally, opting for film for the kinder and sweeter moments and digital for the gnarlier, grimier moments. And (4) The movie treats the idea of a zombie virus outbreak more practically and more realistically than arguably any zombie movie ever has.

The experiment details: I have seen 28 Days Later exactly one time. I watched it at the theater when it first came out 23 years ago, and then I never watched it again after that. Mind you, I loved it when I saw it—I found it to be a thoroughly captivating experience; it was instantly one of the three best zombie movies I’d ever seen,² and remains in that personal canon today. But also I found it to be far too scary for me to revisit the way I do, say, rom-coms or action movies. That’s typically how it goes with me whenever I watch anything in the horror genre. I see a film the one time, and then that's it. I’m a big ol’ chicken when it comes to scary movies. 

And why that's significant right now is: Typically, whenever I’m putting together a GOOD MOVIE essay, I rewatch the movie in question twice before I even sit down to write anything (and that's nothing to say of however many times I’ve watched it in my life prior to that). But I’m not doing that with 28 Days Later because, as stated, I’m a big ol’ chicken. That means this time-stamped rewatch is the first one ever where I’m going into it a little bit blind. 

Like, there's some stuff I remember from the movie, of course. Stuff like:

• Cillian Murphy shows his dick in the beginning. (Who could forget that?)

• The zombies run real fucking fast. (An absolute nightmare.) 

• There's a dad in it who turns into a zombie in front of his kid because he gets some infected blood in his eye because he looked up at a bird. 

• And a group of survivors find sanctuary at a military compound later in the movie, but the soldiers there end up being worse than the zombies.

But that's pretty much it.

I can’t remember anything else at this particular moment. I don’t know any of the characters’ names, or any of the other significant plot points, or even how it ends (I have a vague recollection of a final scene in a car, but there's a chance I’m mixing it up with The Descent). 

So that's what’s going on. 

Let’s get started…