“Okay, Jim, I’ve got some bad news.”
The eyes of Cillian Murphy open, he is naked and bound to a hospital bed. The building is presumably empty. He walks outside to cold and empty London streets, screaming out for anyone who would listen.
In a way, Murphy’s character, Jim, waking up to a new world filled with monsters is symbolic. But more on that in a bit. These monsters that Jim bumps into are no longer human, but rage-filled beasts, hard-wired to destroy all un-spoiled people still remaining. They feel no compunction about infecting their targets, guided by instinct to maim and kill.
Jim soon saddles up with various survivors – of which include the brilliant Naomie Harris and incomparable Brendan Gleeson. They leave London, chasing hope and humanity. They invariably wind up at the mercy of the worst kind of people in these types of situations: other survivors. Only these survivors are military men, led by the charming Christopher Eccleston in a terrifying pre-Doctor Who role. Eccleston’s men are trained and armed. And motivated.
In short, 28 Days Later reawakened a sleeping genre. The arguments over whether or not it is indeed a “zombie” film are still echoed through various YouTube channels, podcasts, and campfires to this day. I’m not here to posit one side over another, but I will take a stand on the issue later. Regardless of what people decide are the ingredients to a zombie movie, it cannot be denied that this little-British-horror-film-that-could made a bigger splash than anyone intended.
It has been noted that Jim’s model for a character genesis is shared with Rick Grimes’ own awakening in the opening pages of the popular The Walking Dead comic and later television show. Rick also wakes up to a changed world from a hospital bed in Robert Kirkman’s series, but 28 Days Later struck the screens first. As such, their similarities have been chalked up to brilliance in coincidences. Danny Boyle’s 2002 post-apocalyptic film capitalized on an idea that zombies could indeed be scary again. Especially if they were fast. Shot on Mini-DV, giving off a documentary aesthetic, 28 Days Later was harder to turn away from than it was to initially look at once it sunk its teeth into you. It didn’t need high production values or two-coats of studio polish. It was grainy, desaturated and coarse. It looked… real.
A nice bow on top is the incredible score by John Murphy. The main musical theme for this film, “In the House, In a Heartbeat,” was tailor-made for those morning jogs when you feel like you’re being chased.
“Of course there’s a government! There’s always a government. They’re in a bunker or a plane.”
“No, there’s no government. No police. No Army. No TV. No radio. No electricity. You’re the first uninfected person we’ve seen in six days.”
Then there was the tiny bit about the physiology of zombies. This certainly looked like a zombie film. Brainless figures shambling at high speeds to turn you and your party into dinner fits the zombie mold. The difference in this film is that these weren’t reanimated corpses, but infected people. The “rage virus” introduced in the film’s opening, while not exactly a MacGuffin in the traditional sense, definitely sparked the apocalypse. Like the reanimated corpses of zombie films past that were resurrected via voodoo, satellite radiation, and disease, the rage virus acts very similarly. Outside conditions enter the body, targeting the limbic system. After that fails, the amygdala in the brain takes over without a filter. Of course, this is embellished neurology within the laws of science fiction and horror. It’s this connection that I find the label of “zombie film” acceptable for 28 Days Later. The rage virus leaps more aggressively from person to person as well. Where many zombie stories rely on a character to be bitten to transform, the virus spreads with as much as a drop of blood. Gone are the days of sauntering evil. Now our monsters are sprinting bullets of death without care or conscience. And here, they don’t call them zombies. They’re infected.
Danny Boyle and company dropped this film at the right time, too. In 2002, we collectively woke back up, allowing a new wave of stories featuring monsters hungry for flesh and blood to surface once again.
In a way, we were all Jim.
The zombie genre had all but stalled during the 1990s. There were a few permissible entries, but nothing groundbreaking or memorable since the Romero high-brow violence of the mid 1980s, as well as Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator and Wes Craven’s The Serpent and the Rainbow. I was still growing up in the 1990s, and therefore I still hold Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island high on my shelf. When 28 Days Later came and went through its theater run, Resident Evil (2002) had already warmed up the audience. Resident Evil had a summer 2002 release in the United States, while 28 Days Later was delayed an American release until the following summer, opening up in the UK in the fall of 2002. While both films landed well, each making back considerable money for the relatively small budgets, 28 Days Later was respected more. Resident Evil did well in theaters due to its massive groundswell provided by the video game crowd and pseudo star Milla Jovovich. It would be a tad presumptuous to not give some credit to Resident Evil breathing life into the undead genre. But it was panned heavily by critics and audiences alike. 28 Days Later punched at a higher weight class because its characters were relatable and its urgency vital. It clicked firmly with audiences and critics. The one-two punch of commercial and critical success was the shot in the arm this genre was waiting for.
“They’re dead. And you’re going to be next.”
Since 2002, zombies serving as central plot devices and backdrop props have bloomed. Within a few years of 28 Days Later coming out, we were also treated to horror staples just as Dawn of the Dead (2004), Shaun of the Dead, REC, Land of the Dead, I am Legend, Slither, Zombieland, and so much more. Even its own sequel, 28 Weeks Later, was surprisingly impressive.
A running argument I’ve heard is that the genre is due for another hiatus. There has been some indication of zombie movie fatigue, and maybe that’s okay. I wouldn’t be terribly distraught if we walked away from zombies for a few years and let new ideas and stories come together before jumping back in with both feet. Hopefully whatever film shakes the tree after the break can give us something new to fear.
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