28 Days Later [Blu-ray]
Hailed as the most frightening film since The Exorcist, acclaimed Director Danny Boyle’s visionary take on zombie horror “isn’t just scaryâ?¦it’s absolutely terrifying” (Access Hollywood).
An infirmary patient awakens from a coma to an empty roomâ?¦in a vacant hospitalâ?¦in a deserted city. A powerful virus, which locks victims into a permanent state of murderous rage, has transformed the world around him into a seemingly desolate wasteland. Now a handful of survivors must fight to stay alive, unaware that the worst is yet to comeâ?¦The director/producer team that created Trainspotting turn their dynamic cinematic imaginations to the classic science fiction scenario of the last people on Earth. Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up from a coma to find London deserted–until he runs into a mob of crazed plague victims. He gradually finds other still-human survivors (including Naomie Harris), with whom he heads off across the abandoned countryside to find the source of a radio broadcast that promises salvation. 28 Days Later is basically an updated version of The Omega Man and other post-apocalyptic visions; but while the movie may lack originality, it makes up for it in vivid details and creepy paranoid atmosphere. 28 Days Later’s portrait of how people behave in extreme circumstances–written by novelist Alex Garland (The Beach)–will haunt you afterward. Also featuring Brendan Gleeson (The General, Gangs of New York) and Christopher Eccleston (Shallow Grave, The Others). –Bret Fetzer
User Ratings and Reviews
1 Stars Great film HORRIBLE BLU-RAY
The film is 5 stars, my complaint is the transfer. Despite the higher resolution it only looks marginally better than on DVD. I even played it on my 1080p computer monitor thinking the problem might have been my 720p television but it had the same problems. The picture is too soft, almost as if it wasn’t filmed in HD (but of course it was) and there were specs on the screen as if I was watching it in an old movie house. Hopefully they will release a better transfer of the DVD and give those of us who bought this a discount on it 
1 Stars Horrible Blu-Ray Transfer
I don’t know what happened, but arguably the transfer to Blu-Ray is worse than the DVD. Do not purchase the blu-ray version!
4 Stars 28 Days Later…
Recently Danny Boyle won the best directing Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire, a worthy award winner in my opinion. Boyle is a director that never rests on his laurels, recreating genres every time he steps up to the plate. One of his most familiar is the polarizing dramedy Trainspotting, but he’s also recreated the sci-fi movie with Sunshine, the kids movie with Millions and so on. Danny Boyle is a filmmaker worthy to be listed among the great auteurs like Scorsese, Hitchcock, and so on. With 28 Days Later… (unfortunately, often referred to as a “zombie” movie, though it’s not) he tackles horror with excellent precision.
28 Days Later opens with scenes of violence being watched by a monkey on a TV screen as he lays strapped down in a lab. Extremist animal activists break into the lab in an effort to save the animals from being tested on only to find they’ve been infected with a highly contagious virus known as Rage. Disaster leads to death and devastation throughout all of London. Cut to Jim (Cillian Murphy) 28 days later, a bike courier waking up from a coma in an empty hospital. After wandering across London, bewildered by the lack of people, he’s saved by Selena (Naomie Harris) and Mark (Noah Huntley) as he’s being chased by the infected denizens of the city. After finding other survivors, Frank and Hannah (Brendan Gleeson and Megan Burns), they hear a radio broadcast from a military installment which houses other horrors for our survivors.
While often considered a zombie movie, and it borrows liberally from many past zombie movies, 28 Days Later is not a zombie movie. The infected in this movie are living beings, infected by a virus that similar to Ebola is communicable by blood, and has more affect on the brain than the physicality of a human being. This is important to the message of the movie as the virus represents something that is inherent in all of us and leads to social unrest and the breakdown of modern society, as the virus did in the movie. In this Boyle has done something that he does very well in every one of his movies: creates a great social commentary. Throughout the course of the movie we see that there are those who would fight against a society gone wrong, and those that would exploit it. Yet, while exploring the themes of moral ambiguity, Boyle never handles them with a heavy handed approach.
Having a moral/ social message is important to good horror in this reviewers opinion, but how the movie looks and feels is easily just as important to hold the viewers attention. Boyle chose to shoot the majority of the movie with DV cameras, giving the movie a gritty post apocalyptic type feel while also giving the movie a kind of documentary feel as well. On top of that, the DV camera also allowed for tricks that gives the infected an otherworldly look, making them seem scarier when they’re bum rushing their “prey”. The visuals selected to fill the frame also give you a glimpse at an alien world, a city, or a grocery store that should be buzzing with people, but because of the look of film, it seems even more eerie when you see it emptied of all presence.
The acting of course is top notch, as anyone whose seen Brendan Gleeson act would expect, but the movie really belongs to Cillian Murphy who had his break out performance in this movie. As Jim, a man who went down one day in a bustling city, and woke up the next in an empty city, Murphy shows the pain of a man whose lost everything before he even knew what had happened to him. Cillian gives us a man in the middle of a crisis that we truly believe his arc from a pained and scared man just waking up at the end of the world to a man who will fight through all hell to protect those he cares about. Naomie Harris, who also received great acclaim for this movie, portrays a strong woman struggling with her fear and sorrow, but always holding it in, trying to steel herself from pain to come. Also keep your eyes open for Christopher Eccleston, who will become the future Dr. Who a few years after this movie.
For as great as the movie is though, I do have my nitpicks. Calling the virus Rage seems a little too on the nose for my tastes, but luckily this isn’t mentioned too often throughout. At the beginning there are also glaring plotholes in the scheme of today’s society. Why is Jim the only patient to not be evacuated from the hospital? And why did they leave a comatose patient naked in the ICU? Why are there no cars left on the streets of London, or along the highways? A lot of this is due to the budget of the film, and can be explained away, but as there are no answers to be found within the actual narrative of the movie they must be left as plotholes. Luckily, as the only plotholes are mainly to be found at the beginning of the movie they do not detract from the movie as a whole, and will be forgotten by most by the end of the movie.
For fans of horror, and movies with a deeper socio-political meaning this is definitely a must watch, but think before you decide to show this to your kids. There is full male nudity, as well as a lot of cursing. But if you’re looking for a captivating horror this movie is definitely for you.
4/5
5 Stars Unforgettable!
I am a pretty tough kind of guy, I seriously had nightmares after watching this movie. These zombies are fast! After watching it, I rushed to watch 28 weeks later, scary as hell!
Unforgettable! I love this movie!
4 Stars Blu-ray review on the video resolution (know this before you buy)
First off, my four stars are for the movie itself - an excellent re-imaging of the “Zombie” genre.
Now, onto the video resolution issue that many reviewers are complaining about. I was also shocked when I rented this Blu-ray and saw the awful video resolution. Basically, it’s no better than a standard DVD except for the closing scene.
The reason: The film was filmed mostly in standard DV resolution, using a Canon XL1s camcorder (the closing scene being the exception - it was filmed in 35mm). DV is very low resolution in comparison to HD or 35mm film, so the problem (if you consider this a problem) is with the source material, NOT the transfer to Blu-ray. It was the director’s decision to film in standard DV, so this is the best resolution that you will ever see of this film.
So, if you don’t have this movie and the Blu-ray and the DVD version are the same price, I’d probably stick with the Blu-ray version just for future compatibility. But, if you already have the DVD version, I would recommend just sticking with that copy for now because the Blu-ray version isn’t going to offer any enhancements, other than the closing scene.
Filed under: Blu Ray Movie Reviews