This smart, genuinely creepy movie also feels real, which is why its horrors hit so hard.
28 Days Later (2003)
Tomatometer
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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
Reviews for 28 Days Later
What 28 Days Later lacks in budget it more than makes up in grainy style and unrelenting tension.
The rare horror film that splatters and pauses to consider the splatter, that follows a traditional storyline and then improves upon it, and that avoids cliches while playing one out.
If 28 Days Later falls short of classic horror movie status, Boyle pokes the genre with a sharp enough stick to prove it has some nasty life in it yet.
Few movies have managed to tap into our fears of bioterrorism, the unknown and sociopathic rage as effectively as this one does.
This starkly beautiful, harrowing journey into the worst that can happen opens with video feed images of our unnatural disasters.
Exhilarating, exciting and, thanks to its cool, mostly unknown leads and touches of black humor, is destined to be a hipster cult classic, much as Trainspotting was before it.
A tough, smart, ingenious movie that leads its characters into situations where everything depends on their (and our) understanding of human nature.
I think Garland and Boyle just want to make our flesh creep by showing someone else's flesh decaying. If that's their aim, they achieved it.
Terrifying on the basic heebie-jeebie level, respectful toward its B-movie forebears, and all the more unnerving for coming out in this fretful era of SARS and germ warfare.
The deep thematic concerns are never fully developed, but the characters are, and the story compels. Also, the movie's pretty scary.
It is Dod Mantle's visuals and Boyle's direction that are "28 Days Later's" greatest asset.
[Boyle's] choice of mostly unknown actors is so disturbingly effective that when we eventually come across Brendan Gleeson..., it's a relief just to see a familiar face.
The movie is derivative as hell, but it's also blazingly well-made, and it moves at a ferocious clip.
A movie that's creepy and truly suspenseful in some places, unintentionally comic or plain awful in others.
A movie that, in the best horror tradition, leaves much to the imagination while scaring the bejesus out of you.
Latest News for 28 Days Later
October 06, 2008:
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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? ![]()
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...
May 06, 2008:
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The Doomsday director runs RT through the movies that inspired his cyber-punk vision of a dodgy future. More...
October 10, 2007:
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