28 Weeks Later

posted under by Philip Howlett
Just thought I'd take a moment to write about something, mainly because I'm bored, but also because I feel like I should do something productive. If I play Halo anymore, my eyes will bleed, I'll loose all my friends and I'll become a sad, sad boy.

28 Weeks Later is the sequel to 28 Days Later for anyone who doesn't know. 28 Days is one of my favourite zombie/horror films. The zombies are fast and vicious rather than slow and retarded. People get killed constantly in a bloody and gorey fashion, even the people you suspect might be lead characters get battered. I love the grittiness of it. In a way it's almost believable. I'm probably a bit biased with 28 Days just because I think Danny Boyle (Director) is the man. His latest film Sunshine was brilliant, and Trainspotting is a classic. Unfortunately he has nothing to do with 28 Weeks Later so I expected it to get massacred by some director I've never heard of.

Fortunately for Juan Carlos Fresnadillo the films alright, so he can sleep feeling safe. It delivers on all levels in my opinion. It continues from where the last one ended, so fans don't feel as though they missed anything. The opening 10 minutes had me completely enthralled. The darkness, the mood and the realism of the situation was spot on. The grainy effect on the film in the early stages worked as well. It made me think about what I filters I could apply to the pixilation work we've been doing. *SPOILERS AHEAD*. The best thing about the opening 10 minutes is that everyone gets killed really quickly, which is rewarding. I didn't like the old people so I'm glad they got killed, the little boy had an annoying voice, so hopefully he got ripped to shreds hiding in the cupboard. You also get to see a zombie get bludgeoned to death with a crowbar. Now that's how all films should open, with some raged psycho's head caving in. One man escapes (Robert Carlyle) which I was happy about because I like him.

After the mayhem of the first 10 minutes you get the gap between 28 days and 28 weeks filled in. They begin to repopulate England. At this point you think, WHY? I'd nuke the place and leave it for a few hundred years. The reason they did it is so they could make a film about two children who deserve to die. I won't completely kill the film for you, but let me say that in the fictional world of this film, if these children were killed by firing squad at birth, then England would still exist. On the plus side, you get some really good scenes later in the film.

Everyone is locked in a room to keep them away from the infected. Luckily for us viewers we don't have to watch everyone sit down safely in bunker. Instead, the infected get in and it turns in to a blood bath. People are throwing up blood all over each other, people are running and screaming and eating each others neck. Out of 10, this gets a 6.

The second scene, which scores 9 out of 10, involves a helicopter and a horde of zombies. I think this image speaks for itself. Let me tell you, bodies hit the floor. Then there's a scene which is reminiscent of the Blair Witch Project. Using the night vision scope on a rifle, these idiots decide to run in the to complete darkness of the London underground. This part of the film is really tense. If you're a fan of horror then give this film a go. If you've already seen it, leave a comment, let me know what you thought.

8 comments

Make A Comment
top