28 Days Later (2003)

"...a tough, smart, ingenious movie...  Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland plumb the violence of the mind with slashing wit and shocking gravity.  Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"...wonderfully, horribly scary movie...  Manohla Dargis, L.A. Times

Editor's Note Danny Boyle (SHALLOW GRAVE, TRANSPOTTING) directs this post-apocalyptic thriller set in London after a deadly, Ebola-like virus has swept through the city. Jim (Cillian Murphy), a bicycle messenger who was in an accident just days before the outbreak, is one of very few survivors who awakes 28 days later to a city that has been evacuated and is now utterly lifeless. He wanders the vacant streets of London feeling as if he's trapped in a never-ending hallucination. However, upon entering a church that is littered with dead bodies, he discovers that he is not alone--"the infected" are still living. They are violently sick, fast-moving, bloodthirsty zombies who travel at night in ravenous packs. Jim manages to escape "the infected" and locate a band of survivors--Selena (Naomie Harris), Hannah (Megan Burns), and Frank (Brendan Gleeson)--and they join forces searching for solutions, clinging to hope that somewhere healthy humanity thrives. A gripping and suspenseful horror film with indie production values, shot on digital video, 28 DAYS LATER has a pleasing immediacy. Its actors are primarily young unknowns, its special effects consist of beautiful photography overlays and flashes of light with lots of shadow play, and its settings are rich and dramatic. The soundtrack is one of the film's truest strengths, with excellent music from Brian Eno, Blue States, Grandaddy, and Godspeed You Black Emperor guiding the action from the first minutes through to the last.

	Jukka Hiltunen
	Alex Palmer
	Bindu De Stoppani
	Cillian Murphy
	David Schneider
	Anthony Dod Mantle - Cinematographer
	Danny Boyle - Director
	Chris Gill - Editor
	Greg Caplan - Executive Producer
	John Murphy - Musical Score
	Andrew Macdonald - Producer
	Mark Tildesley - Production Designer
	Alex Garland - Writer

Premiere
"...28 DAYS LATER is the genuine article, a hard-core horror picture from start to finish....This is a punk rock zombie movie..." 07/01/2003 p.22-3

New York Times
"When 28 DAYS LATER is not scaring you silly, it invites you to reflect seriously on the fragility of modern civilization....Mr. Boyle has hardly lost his sly, provocative perversity or his ear for the rhythms of unchecked violence..." 06/27/2003 p.E1

Los Angeles Times
"...Wonderfully, horribly scary....Boyle knows that the world is an unbelievably terrifying place....He never takes us fully out of our reality -- he just throws open the door and watches us scramble..." 06/27/2003 p.C1

Entertainment Weekly
"...28 DAYS LATER is a swankily austere piece of jeepers creepers sci-fi....[A] stark and stylish apocalyptic horror film..." 06/27/2003 p.116

Rolling Stone
"...Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland plumb the violence of the mind with slashing wit and shocking gravity. Happy nightmares..." 07/24/2003 p.95

Movieline's Hollywood Life
"...28 DAYS LATER is a provocative, scary thriller with timely overtones..." 07/01/2003 p.115

Chicago Sun-Times
"...Superior science fiction..." 10/17/2003 p.13

Wall Street Journal
"It simply scares us out of our wits, then gets us to apply those wits to an uncommonly intelligent and suspenseful zombie flick." 10/02/2009

Toronto Sun 7 of 10
28 Days Later is brisk, smart and often truly frightening. The film was shot in digital video -- which gives an appropriate edge and seamy look -- and a certain urgency colours everything in the movie. An unusual and intelligent story is the real draw here, but the performances are likewise better than the norm. - Liz Braun

BBCi Films 7 of 10
The script, from The Beach novelist Alex Garland, is far from special, throwing a ragtag bunch of survivors on a road trip to reach safety at Christopher Eccleston's military base. The dialogue's clunky, the scenario's derivative. But, despite Boyle's decision to shoot on digital video (an ugly medium), the zippy, brutal action sequences are gripping, the violence sometimes shocking. - Nev Pierce