"Fresnadillo's film is a stylish, well-tuned horror flick with plenty of jumps and scares to keep you in check, as well as outstanding flesh-gnawing gore that will leave you squirming in your seat."
In 2002, Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) exposed audiences to "28 Days Later," a post-apocalyptic tale about the incurable "rage virus" that wipes out mankind. Those infected turn into blood-lusting zombies who, in turn, bite and devour others and thus spread the disease.
This time Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Psicotaxi) takes the reigns with Boyle riding shotgun in the executive producer's chair. "28 Weeks Later" picks up six months after the rage virus decimated the population of the United Kingdom. The United States Army has stepped in (zombies = terrorists) and began securing a district of London for survivors to repopulate and start their lives again.
As you can imagine, not everything goes as planned. During the film's opening scenes (which take us back to the original outbreak of the virus) we're introduced to Don (Robert Carlyle) who, along with his wife and a few other survivors, are barricaded inside a cottage.
The infected finally smash their way in and Don makes a break for it, abandoning his wife, believing there was no hope in saving her. It's now 28 weeks later, andall the victims of the virus are now dead from starvation. Don (now in London) is reunited with his two children, who are back in the UK after being evacuated to Spain.
Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) sneak out of their district's secure area in order to visit their old home to retrieve some belongings. Whilst there, they meet their mother Alice (Catherine McCormack), who has developed a natural immunity to the virus, surviving multiple bites from the infected.
Alice has the virus, and can spread it through her blood or saliva, yet she doesn't display the typical symptoms of having it. This of course leads to a reunion with husband Don in which they share a warm and tender kiss... that results in the classic, "my father is a zombie!" scenario.
From here on in, "28 Weeks Later" is nothing but pure suspense and adrenaline. With a new outbreak of zombies causing mayhem, the military have orders to exterminate everyone in the area, including our non-infected main characters.
Together with Doyle (Jeremy Renner), a sniper who has abandoned his post, Scarlet (who realizes that Andy may also have the immune gene), Andy and Tammy attempt to escape both the army and the infected in order to rendezvous with Doyle's pal Flynn (Lost's Harold Perrineau), a helicopter pilot.
This is one of those rare sequels that not only stands toe-to-toe with its predecessor, but also outdoes it on every level. Fresnadillo's film is a stylish, well-tuned horror flick with plenty of jumps and scares to keep you in check, as well as outstanding flesh-gnawing gore that will leave you squirming in your seat.
After being so thoroughly disappointed by "Spider-Man 3," I found my hopes and anticipations of a cinematic 2007 summer reinstated with "28 Weeks Later." There's no reason you should miss this in theaters.
"28 Weeks Later" is rated R for strong violence and gore, language and some sexuality/nudity.
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