28 Days Later

By Mal -

6 out of 10 (revised)

A zombie flick with a difference: they’re not dead and they don’t shamble. In fact, they’re bloody quick on their feet and a real terror instead of the comedy threat of your traditional zombies.

The story follows one man’s fight for survival from the moment when he wakes up in hospital, unaware he’s alone in the middle of an apocalypse. Along the way, there’s the usual crop of allies and enemies as well as the compulsory love interest, but the film really stands up on two points:

  1. The scenes of an abandoned London near the start brilliantly set the scene for the entire film
  2. The menacing, rolling crescendoes of the final battle scene’s music, since featured in some car advert* or other

Both of these contribute a vast amount towards setting the film’s almost paranoid atmosphere. The ending, sadly, felt a little weak to me, but overall it was a pretty decent horror flick.

* Actually, the music was an ad for the Peugeot 206 GTI 180. While the car itself may have been a bit pants, I remember the advert clearly, as it’s one of my favourites ever. It was perfectly pitched towards me. The music captured the mania I feel from thrashing a car and combined it with in-the-know shots of creased clothing on drivers’ backs. If I chose my cars on ads alone, I’d be driving a 206 GTi right now. It was a superb advert.

Comments

Mal said…
Last night, I saw an alternate ending for this film and it felt much more in-keeping with the overall progression. I'd even be happy to bump it up a mark, had that been the ending of the cinematic release. As it is, I guess some ridiculous focus group opinion won out in the end.
12:13 pm
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