28 Days Later was released on 1 November 2002 to critical acclaim and financial success. Grossing more than $82.7 million worldwide on its modest budget of $8 million, it became one of the most profitable horror films of 2002. Reviewers praised Boyle's direction, the cast's performances, Garland's screenplay, the atmosphere and soundtrack. Despite Boyle not considering it a zombie film, 28 Days Later is credited with reinvigorating the zombie genre of horror film and influencing a revival in the decade after its release, with its fast-running infected and character-driven drama.[3][4] Since its release, it has been featured in several "best-of" film lists and maintained a following, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2020s.
A highly contagious, aggression-inducing virus called the "rage virus" is unleashed in Great Britain after an infected chimpanzee is freed from its cage in a laboratory in Cambridge by a group of animal rights activists. Within seconds of exposure after freeing the enraged chimp, one of the activists succumbs to the virus and immediately infects another. Over the following hours and days, it spreads rapidly and becomes an epidemic, resulting in total societal collapse.
Twenty-eight days after the initial outbreak, bicycle courier Jim, who had an accident and fell into a coma prior to the outbreak, awakens in St Thomas' Hospital in London, which has been completely deserted with visible signs of catastrophe. After wandering the streets of London and entering a church, Jim is chased by infected humans before being rescued by survivors Selena and Mark, who take Jim to their place of refuge in a streetside store. At Jim's request, the group travels by foot to his parents' house in Deptford, where he learns that they died by suicide, leaving him a note. Shortly thereafter, Mark gets a cut on his arm which is exposed to infected blood during an attack, prompting Selena to immediately kill him before he can turn.
Jim and Selena encounter cab driver Frank and his daughter Hannah at Balfron Tower, from whom they learn of a military broadcast offering protection at a blockade in Manchester. With supplies dwindling, Frank asks Jim and Selena to accompany him and Hannah to the blockade, which they accept. The group travels to Manchester in Frank's cab, but upon arriving, they find the blockade deserted. As the group struggles to plot their next move, Frank is infected when a drop of blood falls into his eye. The soldiers arrive shortly afterwards and shoot Frank dead.
The remaining survivors are brought to a fortified mansion under the command of Major Henry West. However, the safety promised by the soldiers turns out to be a ruse when West reveals to Jim that the broadcast was intended to lure female survivors into sexual slavery to repopulate the world, as West is convinced the Rage virus has overrun the entire planet. Major West has Jim and Sergeant Farrell taken out to be shot after they refuse to go along with his plan, but Jim escapes after Farrell creates a distraction. While hiding in a pile of bodies, Jim sees a jet contrail in the sky, showing proof of outside survivors for the first time. After luring West away from the mansion, Jim releases Private Mailer, an infected soldier kept chained for observations, resulting in the death or infection of all of West's men. Jim, Selena, and Hannah attempt to leave in Frank's cab, but West, who had sneaked into the back seat, shoots Jim. Hannah retaliates by putting the cab in reverse, allowing Mailer to pull West through the rear window and kill him, while the three survivors drive off.
Another 28 days later, Jim recovers at a remote cottage in Cumbria, where the infected are shown lying openly in the roads, emaciated and dying of starvation. As a Finnish fighter jet flies overhead, Jim, Selena, and Hannah unfurl a huge cloth banner spelling the word "HELLO". The three survivors optimistically watch the jet as the pilot spots them.
Alternative endings
The DVD extras include three alternative endings, all of which conclude with Jim dying. One of these was filmed, which involved Jim dying of his gunshot wounds.[5] In another, the outbreak is revealed to be a dream.[6] The third, a more radical departure, was presented only in storyboards; instead of Frank being killed by soldiers after being infected, the other survivors tie him up and discover a research laboratory at the blockade, where Jim undergoes a blood transfusion in order to save Frank.[5] The U.S. cinematic release included one of the alternative endings after the film's credits in response to intense online debates over whether or not it was a more appropriate conclusion than the official ending.[7]
Junior Laniyan as Private Bell, a renegade soldier
Ray Panthaki as Private Bedford, a renegade soldier
Sanjay Rambaruth as Private Davis, a renegade soldier
Marvin Campbell as Private Mailer, a soldier who had been infected before Jim's arrival
Additionally, Alex Palmer, Bindu De Stoppani, and Jukka Hiltunen portray the animal liberation activists, while David Schneider portrays a scientist at the laboratory. Christopher Dunne and Emma Hitching appear as Jim's parents. Toby Sedgwick plays an infected priest encountered by Jim.
On the DVD commentary, Boyle explains that with the aim of preserving the suspension of disbelief, relatively unknown actors were cast in the film. Cillian Murphy had starred primarily in small independent films, while Naomie Harris had acted on British television as a child, and Megan Burns had only one previous film credit. However, Christopher Eccleston and Brendan Gleeson were well-known character actors.
Production
Development
Early influences on Garland included the George Romero films Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1978), which he loved as a child but said that he had largely forgotten about the zombie genre until he played the video game Resident Evil (1996), which reminded him how much he loved zombies after "having not really encountered zombies for quite a while".[8][9] Boyle liked Garland's screenplay for a proposed zombie film, having directed the 2000 film adaptation of Garland's novel The Beach.[9]
Five months after the film was released in Europe, video game publisher NovaLogic hosted a graffiti competition in a cross-promotion with the game Devastation. The connection was mainly due to the similar theme of a devastated world. The prizes consisted of signed screenplays and posters along with DVDs.[11] for the Zombies, Boyle took inspiration from real-life diseases like Ebola along with aspects of rabies.[12]James McAvoy auditioned for a role as a Zombie.[13]
Filming
Busy areas of Central London, including Westminster Bridge, had to be filmed early in the morning or while the crew briefly closed streets for the film's opening sequence.
The film features scenes set in normally bustling parts of London, such as Westminster Bridge, Piccadilly Circus, Horse Guards Parade and Oxford Street. To depict these locations as desolate, the film crew closed off sections of street for minutes at a time, usually in early morning before sunrise on Sundays. They typically had around 45 minutes after dawn to shoot the locations devoid of traffic and members of the public. Portions of the film were shot on a Canon XL1digital video (DV) camera.[14][9] DV cameras are much smaller and more manoeuvrable than traditional film cameras, which would have been impractical on such brief shoots. The scenes of the M1 motorway devoid of traffic were also filmed within limited periods. A mobile police roadblock slowed traffic sufficiently to leave a long section of carriageway empty while the scene was filmed. The section of the motorway depicted in the film is near Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, around 150 miles southeast of Manchester.[15]
For the London scene in which Jim walks by the overturned double-decker bus, the film crew placed the bus on its side and removed it when the shot was finished, all within 20 minutes.[16] The crew had asked permission to place the bus outside Downing Street, but Westminster City Council ordered them to place it elsewhere. When they arrived at 4am and nobody from the council was present, they placed it outside Downing Street anyway.[9]
The September 11th attacks took place during filming.[9] Boyle notes the parallel between the "missing persons" flyers seen at the beginning of the film and similar flyers posted in New York City in the wake of the attacks. Boyle said his crew probably would not have been granted permission to close off Whitehall for filming after the terrorist attacks.[17] The production team hired an optometrist to supervise with the red contact lenses needed for cast members playing the infected.[9]
The mansion used in the film was Trafalgar Park near Salisbury.[18][19] Many rooms, including the Cipriani-painted music room and the main hall, were filmed with minimal set decoration. The scenes set upstairs were filmed downstairs, as the mansion's owner resided upstairs.[citation needed] The old ruins used as the setting for an idyllic interlude in their journey to Manchester were those of Waverley Abbey, Surrey. The end scenes of the film with Jim, Selena and Hannah living in a rural cottage were filmed around Ennerdale in Cumbria.[20]
At a certain point, Macdonald announced to the crew that the production had run out of money. Filming ceased without a closing sequence being shot. After pitching several different ideas for an ending and the original ending which featured Jim's death tested badly with audiences, the studio granted more funding to film the ending scene that was eventually used. The crew organised for a real jet to fly overhead for them to film, as this was cheaper than approximately £70,000 for a computer-generated one.[9]
Reception
Box office
28 Days Later was a considerable success at the box office and became highly profitable on a budget of about £5 million. In the UK, it took in £6.1 million, while in the US, it became a surprise hit, taking over $45 million despite a limited release at fewer than 1,500 screens across the country.[1] The film garnered over $85.7 million worldwide.[2]
Critical reception
Critical views of the film were positive. On the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 87% of 235 critics' reviews gave 28 Days Later a positive review, with an average rating of 7.40/10. The site's consensus reads: "Kinetically directed by Danny Boyle, 28 Days Later is both a terrifying zombie movie and a sharp political allegory."[21] On Metacritic, the film received a rating of 73 out of 100 based on 39 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews".[22]
Bravo awarded it the 100th spot on their list of 'The 100 Scariest Movie Moments' in a four-episode 2004 television series. The commentators explained that making the zombies move fast for the first time was a bright and effective idea.[23][24] In 2007, Stylus Magazine named it the second-best zombie movie of all time.[25] The film also ranked at number 456 in Empire's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.[26]Bloody Disgusting ranked the film seventh in their list of the Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade, with the article saying "Zombie movie? Political allegory? Humanist drama? 28 Days Later is all of those things and more—a genuine work of art by a director at the top of his game. What's so amazing about the film is the way it so expertly balances scenes of white-knuckled, hell-for-leather horror with moments of intimate beauty."[4] In 2017, a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine ranked it the 97th-best British film ever.[27]
Cultural impact
During the COVID-19 pandemic, some media commentary compared images of deserted city streets (such as London, pictured) to scenes in 28 Days Later.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, images of a national lockdown in the United Kingdom and stay-at-home orders elsewhere were compared to the opening sequence of 28 Days Later.[30][31][32][33] In 2021, Megan Burns said of the film, "When I joined the cast of 28 Days Later I had no idea of how big a cultural impact it would have and what a game-changer it would be to the 'zombie' genre. Even now after all these years, (or perhaps especially now with the current situation) people want to talk about the film and that's incredible."[34]
Accolades
Best Horror Film (2003 U.S. Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films – Saturn Award)[35]
A heavily edited version of the track "East Hastings" by the post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor appears in the film, but the track is excluded from the soundtrack, because Boyle could only obtain the rights to use it in the film.[40]
28 Days Later: The Soundtrack Album was released on 17 June 2003. A modified version of the soundtrack "In The House – In A Heartbeat" was used as the character Big Daddy's theme in the 2010 film Kick-Ass. The same song was played in the 2012 advertisement campaign of Louis Vuitton, L'Invitation au Voyage.[41] In 2019, the song was remixed to include the theme of The Terminator by Brad Fiedel for the second trailer of Terminator: Dark Fate.[citation needed]
In March 2007, Danny Boyle said that he would be interested in making a third film in the series, 28 Months Later.[43] In 2019, he said "Alex Garland and I have a wonderful idea for the third part".[44]
In January 2024, it was announced that a third film in the series, 28 Years Later, was in development. It is considered the first installment in a potential trilogy, with Boyle directing the first film and Garland writing all three. With a planned $75 million budget per installment, the duo will also produce the trilogy alongside the original producer Andrew Macdonald and former Fox Searchlight Pictures head Peter Rice.[45]
28 Days Later, a comic sequel also linking Days and Weeks and produced by Fox Atomic (until its demise) and Boom! Studios, began production in 2009. The series focuses on Selena and answers questions about her in the film and her sequel whereabouts.[46][47]
Digital availability
A potential rights issues appears to have affected the films' availability; only its sequel, 28 Weeks Later, is available on streaming sites.[48][49]
^Trimble, Sarah (2010). "(White) Rage: Affect, Neoliberalism, and the Family in 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later". Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies. 32 (3): 295–322. doi:10.1080/10714413.2010.495255. S2CID146485661.
^"The History". Trafalgar Park. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
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