28 Days Later (2002)

1h 53mins

7/10

First time watch

Unsettling – Suspenseful – Post-Apocalyptic

A man wakes from a coma 28 days after a deadly virus has broken out in the UK and must adapt quickly in order to survive.

As the film started I began to share my fear with my partner of “If a zombie outbreak were to happen, what would you do?” in that I would not want to “try and survive it” as I would be too fearful of the “undead” and the living. This film then went on to perfectly illustrate this fear.

The atmosphere in this film had me instantly on edge, fearing anyone that Jim (Cillian Murphy) came into contact with and wondering whether they were trustworthy. Although this is a “zombie” film, I do not feel that is the main factor that is focused on. It was able to build the suspense and horror of living under constant threat without it having to scare us with constant violence and gory blood baths.

I felt that we were allowed to connect with these characters and follow their stories, as well as being fearful of the post-apocalyptic world.

I’ve seen that this film was one of the first to make the “undead” able to run which brought zombie films to a new level of scary as they become even more difficult to get away from.

I found the concept of how easy it was to contract the virus was really clever in adding another level of fear, where in other films it has to come from a bite.

Would watch again