My best "horror" so far.

Rating: 9/10 (14 May 2007)

I didn't go to see '28 Days Later' just because I don't like zombie-flicks, and I thought it was one of them. Now, I may reconsider after seeing this one. Well, to tell the truth, I don't think about it as a zombie-movie, rather than an 'extinction-thriller' if such genre exists...
There are infected people whose brains click to the same trigger as the brain of a zombie would do so. But these people die more efficiently (and plainly, yet way much spectacularly) than the usual living dead. Thus, we're saved from the only-disgusting-but-embarrassingly-boring scenes of rotten corpses crawling towards the heroes with their bowels on a leash. That's a major improvement!
And what's also important: they don't take up more running time than it's really asked for!
So, it's England put back into nature's control for a really good kick-off.
Anyone who ever travelled by any means of public transport in a big city (bodies squeezed together, you can smell armpits, you actually feel the general annoyance of the creature-formed-by-the-mass) or stuck in a traffic jam, (so basically EVERYONE) had the fantasy about being one of the few survivors of a world wide pandemic, strolling the streets and hijacking abandoned vehicles to ride around king-of-the-city-style...
Two kids do so in the streets of London. Loved that!
The pacing is just perfect! A bit of nervous survivor's feast at the beginning, like we were on board of Morpheus' Ship. The tension is in the air, and soon enough we get to see the raging hordes of the infected. Than the vehicle is put back into second gear again, just to gather up the strength for a major boost. When it's Code-Red-Time, our muscles can't relax any more. I think I actually lived with the movie for a while, which is very rare. The SCORE, I'd say that's the main reason. Usually I don't pay much attention to the music, though I know how important it can be. Now, I guessed, it's gonna be like in the case of 'Sunshine'. Both trailers are awesome, with their developing music themes. And we couldn't even get the chance to hear it again in 'Sunshine', so I thought it was going to be another fishy trailer trick. (I had some really bad experiences with trailers lately, biggest was Spiderman 3.) But it wasn't! The score kept together the whole movie, made it tense as ever, made me pinned down to my seat with my fists clinched whenever they started to play it. And one more thing; we simply can't get enough of them Spanish and Mexican directors! Juan Carlos Fresnadillo just joined the league of extraordinary gentlemen formed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Guillermo del Toro, and Alfonso Cuarón. Though you have the feeling watching this movie as it was a Vietnam Vet's recreation of a nightmare after reading Robert Merle's Malevil, so nothing particularly "Latino", but never mind, it is working like a well greased Spanish torture-machine..
Now, fingers crossed for this movie to be able to push Spiderman 3 off its undeserved throne. GO AND SEE IT FOLKS!