Filmgoers may debate its allegory and sexual politics, but 28 Days Later is the real deal: a scary flick for uncertain times.
28 Days Later (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:196
Fresh:173
Rotten:23
Average Rating:7.3/10
Consensus: 28 Days Later is both a terrifying zombie movie and a sharp political allegory.
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Synopsis: After breaking into a primate research facility, a group of animal rights activists discover caged chimps chained up before banks of screens displaying horrifically violent images. Ignoring the... After breaking into a primate research facility, a group of animal rights activists discover caged chimps chained up before banks of screens displaying horrifically violent images. Ignoring the warnings of the terrified researcher who maintains the chimps are 'infected', they begin to free the animals and are immediately subjected to a bloody attack from the enraged creatures. 28 days later… Cycle courier Jim (Cillian Murphy) awakes from a coma in the deserted intensive care unit of a London hospital. Mystified, he wanders the wards and corridors in search of others and eventually heads into the city streets, calling out for help. As the shadows lengthen Jim seeks shelter in a church only to find dead bodies piled in heaps on the chapel floor. A sudden noise alerts him to the presence of a priest but his lightening speed, blood stained eyes and murderous screams send Jim reeling into the street. More "infected" are attracted by the noise and Jim runs in panic and confusion as a growing flock sprint after him through the dark streets. A sudden explosion from a makeshift bomb heralds the arrival of fellow "survivors" Selena (NAOMIE HARRIS) and Mark (NOAH HUNTLEY). Following a daring rescue they take Jim to safety and start to explain to him the nature of the infection, that it is transmitted in the blood, is overwhelming within seconds, that Britain has been overrun and that they have no way of knowing if it has spread worldwide. Selena and Mark reluctantly agree to help the shell-shocked Jim return home to Deptford to find his parents, with terrifying consequences. Later, as they sneak through the darkened streets, Selena and Jim spot a lone light in a tower block and investigate to see if there are other survivors. The unlikely pair they find are father and daughter Frank (BRENDAN GLEESON) and Hannah (MEGAN BURNS) whose water supplies are running dangerously low and are desperate to find alternative shelter. As the group takes shelter in the tower block, an automated radio broadcast is picked up. A Manchester-based group of soldiers, led by Major Henry West (CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON), claim to have the 'answer' to infection and invite any survivors to join them at their blockade. Faced with no practical alternative, the group sets out northwards in Frank's black cab unaware that the worst is yet to come. Directed by Danny Boyle, 28 DAYS LATER is from an original screenplay by Alex Garland, the author of The Beach, and produced by Andrew Macdonald. The film stars Cillian Murphy (DISCO PIGS), Naomie Harris (WHITE TEETH), Christopher Eccleston (24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, THE OTHERS, SHALLOW GRAVE), Megan Burns (LIAM) and Brendan Gleeson (THE GANGS OF NEW YORK, THE GENERAL, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A.I). [More]
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Megan Burns
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Megan Burns, Brendan Gleeson, Luke Mably
Director: Danny Boyle
Director: Danny Boyle
Screenwriter: Alex Garland
Producer: Andrew MacDonald
Composer: John Murphy
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Reviews for 28 Days Later
Despite this unusual setting (contemporary Britain in anarchy) and some good scenes, Boyle's new movie is mostly a zombie fiasco, closer to the vacuities of The Beach than the scintillating social satire of Trainspotting.
These B-movie thrills in post-apocalyptic England would make George Romero proud.
Boyle transcends the geek show because he treats his characters with compassion and thoughtfulness.
28 Days Later is one of those textbook movies proving you can shock and scare an audience without resorting to lopping off heads or limbs, and that the camera can be as lethal a weapon as any automatic firearm, sword or machete.
...suggests civilization is a thin facade. Underneath, it's survival of the most furious.
It's a gorgeous piece of writing. It also happens to be about flesh-eating zombies...
'Shooting on a limited budget and with small digital-video cameras, Boyle manages to create a film that looks pretty enormous in scope.'
Em um mundo ameaçado por guerras, epidemias e bandidos cada vez mais cruéis, Extermínio funciona năo só como terror, mas também como triste alegoria de nossa realidade.
Relentlessly grim and gruesome, it does what it sets out to do; the problem is that apparently what it wants isn't so much to give us a pleasant scare as to disgust us.
It’s worth treasuring a genre piece that generates interest and excitement without worrying about getting blood on its teeth.
Manifests and maintains a drug-induced nightmare state of apocalyptic proportions.
These aren't your daddy's zombies, who ordinarily stagger around like old people at the mall.
Scary, satisfying, ironic, uncanny and exponentially smarter than 99 percent of over-produced Hollywood horror.
“28 Days Later,” to the contrary, achieves a terrifying emotional high that slasher films will never realize.
Because it's cut-rate, star-free ... outlandishly edge-conscious, and 100 percent British, the movie has a frontier charge built in.
Garland's script is taut and gritty, but it's not airtight; if Boyle gave us time to think, he'd lose us. Instead, he scares us (metaphorically) out of our wits.
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