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Movies / Upcoming / 28 Days Later
28 Days Later

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28 Days Later (2003)

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Reviews Counted:196

Fresh:173

Rotten:23

Average Rating:7.3/10

Consensus: 28 Days Later is both a terrifying zombie movie and a sharp political allegory.

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

US Box Office: $44,900,469

Synopsis: After breaking into a primate research facility, a group of animal rights activists discover caged chimps chained up before banks of screens displaying horrifically violent images. Ignoring the... After breaking into a primate research facility, a group of animal rights activists discover caged chimps chained up before banks of screens displaying horrifically violent images. Ignoring the warnings of the terrified researcher who maintains the chimps are 'infected', they begin to free the animals and are immediately subjected to a bloody attack from the enraged creatures. 28 days later… Cycle courier Jim (Cillian Murphy) awakes from a coma in the deserted intensive care unit of a London hospital. Mystified, he wanders the wards and corridors in search of others and eventually heads into the city streets, calling out for help. As the shadows lengthen Jim seeks shelter in a church only to find dead bodies piled in heaps on the chapel floor. A sudden noise alerts him to the presence of a priest but his lightening speed, blood stained eyes and murderous screams send Jim reeling into the street. More "infected" are attracted by the noise and Jim runs in panic and confusion as a growing flock sprint after him through the dark streets. A sudden explosion from a makeshift bomb heralds the arrival of fellow "survivors" Selena (NAOMIE HARRIS) and Mark (NOAH HUNTLEY). Following a daring rescue they take Jim to safety and start to explain to him the nature of the infection, that it is transmitted in the blood, is overwhelming within seconds, that Britain has been overrun and that they have no way of knowing if it has spread worldwide. Selena and Mark reluctantly agree to help the shell-shocked Jim return home to Deptford to find his parents, with terrifying consequences. Later, as they sneak through the darkened streets, Selena and Jim spot a lone light in a tower block and investigate to see if there are other survivors. The unlikely pair they find are father and daughter Frank (BRENDAN GLEESON) and Hannah (MEGAN BURNS) whose water supplies are running dangerously low and are desperate to find alternative shelter. As the group takes shelter in the tower block, an automated radio broadcast is picked up. A Manchester-based group of soldiers, led by Major Henry West (CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON), claim to have the 'answer' to infection and invite any survivors to join them at their blockade. Faced with no practical alternative, the group sets out northwards in Frank's black cab unaware that the worst is yet to come. Directed by Danny Boyle, 28 DAYS LATER is from an original screenplay by Alex Garland, the author of The Beach, and produced by Andrew Macdonald. The film stars Cillian Murphy (DISCO PIGS), Naomie Harris (WHITE TEETH), Christopher Eccleston (24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, THE OTHERS, SHALLOW GRAVE), Megan Burns (LIAM) and Brendan Gleeson (THE GANGS OF NEW YORK, THE GENERAL, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A.I). [More]

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Megan Burns

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Megan Burns, Brendan Gleeson, Luke Mably

Director: Danny Boyle

Director: Danny Boyle
Screenwriter: Alex Garland
Producer: Andrew MacDonald
Composer: John Murphy
Studio: 20th Century Fox

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Reviews for 28 Days Later

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Reviews
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N/R

Urban Cinefile Critics

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Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 18 2008 03:29 AM

Urban Cinefile

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Sandra Hall

Boyle can't quite come up with anything to match the eerie brilliance of his opening. Never mind. It's all you need to see that his career is finally back on track.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Sep., 05 2003 08:05 AM

Sydney Morning Herald

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3/5

Garth Franklin

For a good majority of this film's runtime it is really great stuff and definitely worth seeing whether your a genre fan or not.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 22 2003 08:08 AM

Dark Horizons

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B

Cole Smithey

This "Dawn of the Dead" inspired chiller is strong on concept, style and brutally violent action, but suffers from poor musical scoring, and a digital video format that helped keep its budget at 10 million dollars.

Full Review Source: | comment 2 Comments | May., 26 2009 06:09 PM

ColeSmithey.com

N/R

Felix Vasquez Jr.

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 29 2009 03:15 AM

Cinema Crazed

splat
2/4

Joe Lozito

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 27 2007 03:15 AM

Big Picture Big Sound

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Rob Humanick

The film itself seems to exist in a state of perpetual imbalance... between life and death, the real and the surreal, civilization and chaos.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 01 2007 09:33 PM

Projection Booth

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Philip French

It's a gory, depressing affair that bears an ultra-Darwinian message in its blood-stained hands.

Full Review Source: | comment 3 Comments | Sep., 26 2007 11:55 AM

Observer [UK]

splat
2/5

Rob Gonsalves

Every bit as much a reactionary, establishmentarian work as the horror movies of fifty years ago.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jul., 23 2007 06:25 AM

eFilmCritic.com

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7/10

Jean-François Vandeuren

Un film fort intéressant, mais malheureusement incomplet.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Nov., 04 2006 12:09 PM

Panorama

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3/4

Jay Antani

a wild cocktail of campy, gory fun

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 02 2006 05:45 PM

Perihelion Journal

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Geoff Andrew

Danny Boyle has got his edge back.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 24 2006 03:24 AM

Time Out

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75/100

James Lap

It’s Boyle’s fleer at the Information Age, where physical survival’s place in the pyramid is smallest -- a snicker at those to whom a gagging error-message online is tragedy.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 13 2005 03:16 AM

Apollo Guide

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3.5/5

Ethan Alter

It's much more thoughtful than your ordinary run-of-the-mill zombie movie, which is why the generic ending is kind of unfortunate. For the most part though, it's an involving and genuinly scary epic.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 05 2005 10:23 PM

NYC Film Critic

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B+

Jeffrey Overstreet

It's scary because, while we may never be stalked by slimy zombies, we are coming to know more and more what it is like to live in the midst of an angry, violent, explosive populace.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 06 2004 05:10 PM

Looking Closer

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Peter Rainer

It makes for a more intimate brand of horror, one we can’t explain away by pretending we’re watching the same old well-oiled Hollywood malarkey.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 07 2004 09:03 AM

New York Magazine

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3/4

Judith Egerton

28 Days Later is a zombie movie and a rather good one. For one thing, it has enough cinematic style to keep it from being laughably cheesy.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 23 2004 10:06 AM

Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

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Rob Nelson

What even the trendspotting Boyle couldn't have imagined when he started shooting in the summer of 2001 is that his derivative horror film would be the bloody perfect allegory of our reactionary, paranoid, afflicted, murderous moment in history.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 19 2004 08:15 AM

City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

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Martin Scribbs

Boyle gives apocalypse the gravity of a death in the family.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 16 2004 04:16 PM

Low IQ Canadian

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Matt Kelemen

It's the pursuits that cause palpitations and the expressiveness of Boyle's imagination that make 28 Days Later an instant classic.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 30 2004 03:22 PM

Las Vegas CityLife

 
 
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Latest News for 28 Days Later

October 06, 2008: A Director for 28 Months Later? Opens in new window
Who is Paul Andrew Williams, and why is his name being bandied about in connection with "28 Months Later"? Follow the link to find out! More...

September 12, 2008: Another 28 for Danny Boyle? Opens in new window
Could there possibly be a second sequel to "28 Days Later"? Danny Boyle thinks so, although he seems worried that his idea might be silly. More...

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The Doomsday director runs RT through the movies that inspired his cyber-punk vision of a dodgy future. More...

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