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Topic: Review: '28 Days' a great horror film (Read 1265 times)

Rhune
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Review: '28 Days' a great horror film
« on: Jun 26^th, 2003, 11:47pm »

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Review: '28 Days' a great horror film
Zombies alarming, humans more so
By Christy Lemire
Associated Press
Thursday, June 26, 2003 Posted: 4:14 PM EDT (2014 GMT)

(AP) -- "28 Days Later" is not the sequel to 2000's "28 Days" -- it's far scarier than the idea of a second movie starring Sandra Bullock as a recovering alcoholic.

It's far scarier than a lot of recent thrillers -- and far more inventive than most films this year -- even though it's based on a simple, classic genre: the zombie flick.

British director Danny Boyle's latest film proves he still has the eye for vivid imagery and the feel for heart-pounding pacing that established him in 1996 with "Trainspotting." This time, he turns his skills toward the story of a post-apocalyptic London after a virus outbreak.

Bike courier Jim (Cillian Murphy) awakens in a hospital bed after 28 days in a coma. As he walks the silent corridors, then wanders into the streets, he finds nothing, no one. Familiar tourist traps that ordinarily would be packed with people are still and empty. (Boyle and his crew got these shots at dawn, quickly and precisely, using digital video.)

It's absolutely striking -- the silence and sparseness are far more effective than the typically overbearing horror effects. Shot beautifully by Anthony Dod Mantle and edited deliberately by Chris Gill, the sequence builds slowly, sucks you in and leaves a haunting impression for the rest of the film.

Twitching and hissing
Jim eventually finds two other survivors, Selena (Naomie Harris) and Mark (Noah Huntley). They tell Jim that while he was unconscious, a virus wiped out much of the population. It's transmitted by blood and takes over within seconds, rendering the infected possessed, zombielike. Selena and Mark have learned to stay alive by killing whomever they must -- even their own family members -- and they agree to help protect Jim from these creatures.

Marvin Campbell and Luke Mabry, just separated from one another, in "28 Days Later."
Unlike the monsters in classic zombie films like 1968's "Night of the Living Dead" and the throwaway copycats that followed, these aren't lumbering, mumbling zombies -- these are twitching, hissing zombies. And they aren't preying on others to eat them -- they run, shrieking and flailing, seemingly out of fear, which makes them far more sympathetic figures.

(And technically, they're not really zombies because they're not the undead. They're alive but infected.)

Which brings us to the social relevance section of our review: The fast-moving infection may be reminiscent of the recent SARS outbreak, or the foot-and-mouth and mad cow diseases before that, or the spread of AIDS before that.

Something's happening
It may seem too conveniently ripped from the headlines, but Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland (who wrote the book "The Beach," which Boyle turned into a 2000 film) have said the disease is a metaphor for rage, for the anger that permeates society. No matter how you choose to interpret the message, though, it will surely strike a chord.

What also makes "28 Days Later" effective, and sets it apart from other thrillers, is that it makes you care about the characters. Jim and his companions hook up with taxi driver Frank (the always solid Brendan Gleeson) and his teenage daughter, Hannah (Megan Burns), who are also struggling to survive. And you grow so fond of them all, the idea of anything happening to any of them is devastating.

Of course, something will happen to them -- or at least some of them -- by the time they find shelter at an Army post led by Major West (Christopher Eccleston). And while the film takes a couple of implausible twists there, it's forgivable, because everything else that came before is so overwhelming.

"28 Days Later," a Fox Searchlight release, is rated R for strong violence and gore, language and nudity.

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triggerr20
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Re: Review: '28 Days' a great horror film
« Reply #1 on: Jul 10^th, 2003, 6:08am »

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It's interesting how these zombies had perfect coordination and motor skill. Does this mean that the virus infects all the other organ system except the nervous system? But the zombies had a complete change in personality so their brain must have been infected. A virus that infects the entire body in less than a minute? Very unbelievable but not improbable. I can't help notice these things because I'm in the medical profession.

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Rhune
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Re: Review: '28 Days' a great horror film
« Reply #2 on: Jul 18^th, 2003, 9:25am »

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'28 Days Later' Gets Grimmer Ending
Thu, Jul 17, 2003, 12:07 PM PT

28 days after exposing audiences to director Danny Boyle's apocalyptic horror film "28 Days Later," Fox Searchlight will infect movie theaters nationwide with a grimmer alternate ending.

Beginning July 25, audiences who view the entire film through the end credits will see a title card that reads "...what if" before the more downbeat alternative conclusion, which runs approximately four-and-a-half minutes, plays.

ker ending's poor testing with preview audiences prompted a switch to the current ending, which was the original scripted version, according to the Los Angeles Times. "We can't do this to people, because it was such a tough journey anyway," Boyle tells the newspaper he had decided.

But now, the gloomier ending, already available on British DVDs, is back for audiences to decide which conclusion they prefer.

"28 Days Later" is the post-apocalyptic tale about an powerful virus that spreads to epidemic proportions in Britain, killing all but a handful of survivors. The unusual virus has psychological effects, turning the infected into zombie-like beings locked into a permanent state of murderous rage. Directed by Boyle, the film is a critical and commercial success, grossing $30 million in the U.S.

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