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| Images courtesy of Fox |
When the worldwide pandemic lockdowns were implemented in March of 2020, and the busy city streets became ghost towns, one of the first things that came to mind was the haunting opening sequence from Danny Boyle's 2002 film 28 Days Later. From the first infection, courtesy of a diseased test chimpanzee, society in Great Britain only took twenty-eight days to collapse. The swiftness of the apocalypse calls to mind No Blade of Grass (1970), another film where shit hits the fan rather quickly in London. When the film was released, it seemed implausible that the population would disintegrate into complete chaos that fast, but in practice, the threads that hold together civilization are gossamer thin and prone to breakage at any point.
The film begins in a hospital where Jim (Cillian Murphy) has been in a coma since before the outbreak. He wakes up groggy and disoriented in an empty room and, upon further inspection, an empty hospital. His solo trek through the barren streets of London is unsettling; his only company is various pieces of garbage swirling in the breeze. Eventually, he comes upon a bulletin board completely plastered with signs of missing persons and desperate pleas from families looking for lost loved ones. Unfortunately for Jim, there are people left, and they are consumed with a burning, deadly rage.
Over the years, there have been many arguments over using the term "zombies" to describe the infected people in 28 Days Later. These people are not undead; they have a disease known as The Rage Virus and can be killed via conventional means. That being said, narrative-wise, they function the same way as zombies do, and the story uses many of the tropes familiar in previous takes on the concept. One of the lasting effects this film had on pop culture was the popularization of "fast zombies," which changed how they were used to instill fear. In Romero movies, zombies were slow and easy to dodge, and their danger came from being overwhelmed by their numbers. In 28 Days Later, the infected are agile and vicious, completely changing the dynamic and style. Boyle uses a lot of undercranking while depicting the infected, which gives them a superhuman jerky movement style that is terrifying.
Jim is saved from a group of infected by two survivors, Selena (Naomie Harris) and Mark (Noah Huntly), who fill him in on everything that has happened in the past month. Almost everyone is dead, the government has collapsed, and Britain has been cut off from the rest of the world, quarantined, if you will. Things are looking bleak, and there isn't much to do except try to survive one more day. Since Jim missed the breakdown of society, he still carries his morality and optimism. Conversely, Selene has become hardened and cold and has accepted the mantra of "kill or be killed."
Selena is an intriguing character because women are usually portrayed as helpless and objects for the strong to own and dominate in post-apocalyptic films. Jim takes on the role of the weaker character, and he relies on Selena's headstrong attitude and quick thinking to survive. In real life, during wartime situations and other disasters, the first thing that happens is that women are taken advantage of and sexually assaulted. Many women have expressed the idea that if the world were to end, they would opt to take their own lives rather than go through the indignities that would be visited upon them. In the latter half of the film, Selena runs into this exact situation with a group of soldiers who want to use her (and a female child) sexually to "repopulate" the country.
Eventually, Selena and Jim come upon more survivors, a young girl named Hannah (Megan Burns) and her father Frank (Brendan Gleeson). Frank and Hannah are running out of resources at their apartment, and the four of them decide to investigate a recording they heard on the radio promising protection and possibly a cure. The film breaks from the horror during the road trip, showing the crew enjoying a few quiet moments together, free from the infected.
Upon reaching the blockade, they discover it has been taken over by a group of soldiers, who initially seem helpful. In a turn of events that won't surprise anyone who has seen Day of the Dead (1985), the soldiers are a bunch of degenerates led by a man who has a sick plan to repopulate the country with any female survivors who are lured to the compound by the idea of safety and security. Only the worst aspects of humanity seemed to have remained, and those with power would subjugate the weak.
In the pivotal third act, Jim goes on a murderous rampage, killing all of the men in the compound to save Selena and Hannah from their fates. At the same time, a few infected soldiers are running free as well, indiscriminately ravaging anyone who comes into their line of vision. Jim is shirtless and covered in blood, and as he comes upon the final man, the leader, he takes him down, viciously jamming his thumbs into his eyeball as the man screams like a lost child. At that moment, he is indistinguishable from the infected, full of rage and hate. It is frightening to think that the default for humanity is rage, but at the end of the day, we are all animals, after all.
The look of the film emulates old BBC direct-to-TV movies like Threads (1984) because of the low resolution and desaturated color grading. In a way, it works as an homage to classic horror films while employing more modern styles of editing and cinematography. The dour overcast aesthetic makes Britain seems like a different planet and emphasizes how screwed everyone is.
Many films since have used ideas from 28 Days Later, and it has entered the collective consciousness as one of the great horror classics of the early '00s.
--Michelle Kisner