28 Years Later review: Danny Boyle’s zombie sequel offers disgusting thrills and quiet contemplation

Technically, it’s been 23 years since Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s apocalyptic zombie horror 28 Weeks Later, but it feels both longer and not long enough.

In the generation since the original film, the zombie horde really has taken over pop culture, to the point that it’s easy to forget that until 28 Weeks Later, it had been a neglected genre.

Even though his film was more about the monstrous acts committed by humans as civilisation broke down, Boyle’s movie set the genre alight.

There have been comedic entries such as Zombieland, Santa Clarita Diet, Shaun of the Dead, and The Dead Don’t Die, love stories including Warm Bodies, horror ones ranging from Train to Busan to Mutant, Australian films such as Cargo and TV shows that never end, ahem, The Walking Dead.

We are still, well and truly, living in the zombie age.

So, it’s only fitting that Boyle and Garland get to revisit the movie that kickstarted this current era. It’s also their first step back into the space, neither having been involved in the 2007 sequel, 28 Weeks Later.

28 Years Later is the first in a planned trilogy (Nia DaCosta will helm the second and Boyle will return for the third), and is centred on a new group of characters.

Cillian Murphy is not in this film, but producer Andrew Macdonald has teased he might be down the line, and there were paparazzi photos of the Irish actor on set for what looks to be the second instalment.

As a quick catch-up, the “rage” virus escaped from a medical research facility in the UK, and it took less than a month to decimate the population.

At the end of the second film, it looked like the zombies had made it to Paris, but a crawl at the start of 28 Years Later tells us Europe fought it back and it’s now contained to the UK, which is completely under quarantine with regular European patrol boats ensuring that no one tries to leave.

There’s something here about isolation in a post-Brexit UK that we’ll try to be not too smug about, as well as some triggers around the COVID pandemic and infection. What used to be an “as if” is now chillingly possible.

Hopefully, what won’t come to pass are the zombies themselves, which have evolved since we last saw them. There are still the fast and erratic runners of the original films, but now there are also bulbous crawlers who seem to subsist on worms, and terrifying alphas, that can’t be taken down with a single arrow through the head, neck or heart.

What they all are is disgusting, all rotting flesh, pustules and discordant screams. Boyle and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (who also worked on 28 Days Later) absolutely revel in grotesque close-ups, confronting audiences with every squelchy detail.

These are the creatures 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) must battle when his father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) takes him a on rite-of-passage hunt on the mainland.

The family, which also includes mum Isla (Jodie Comer), live in a community called Holy Island, which is connected to the mainland by a tiny, guarded causeway accessible only during low tide. On the island, everyone lives by the land, farming and growing, and there’s a collective spirit.

Spike’s venture onto the mainland brings horrors, and he sees a fire off in the distance, which he’s told belongs to Dr Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), a former GP before the fall, someone he’ll meet before long.

28 Years Later is not the raucous zombie action thriller you think it’s going to be – at least, it’s not only that. It’s a film that’s cleaved in two, and the latter half is a much more emotionally driven character piece that’s interested in exploring ideas about death and life.

There are far more quiet and contemplative moments than you’d expect, and relative newcomer Williams effectively carries the weight. He’s a great discovery, and more than holds his own against powerhouses such as Comer and Fiennes.

As for the action, don’t worry, there are still plenty of ye gods, hide behind your palms beats that offer plenty of stress. Your zombie extravaganza cravings will be met, and this time in a rural landscape in contrast to the abandoned London of 28 Days Later.

Because it’s only part one of three (the second film is due to land in January), it does feel a little unsatisfying with all the dangling threads. But time will tell if it all comes together.

Rating: 3.5/5

28 Years Later is in cinemas