One to raise your adrenaline!

Rating: 9/10 (1 February 2008)

28 Weeks Later starts, as you'd expect, 28 weeks after the initial outbreak, when all the Infected have died due to starvation and Britain is now disease-free. The US Military is moving in to reconstruct the island and have started to bring civilians in as well.
Within minutes of the film opening, we are treated/subjected to one of the most gripping, heartwrenching sequences to have graced a horror film, including the wicked opening of the Dawn of the Dead remake. Robert Carlyle plays an incredible role as a survivor who manages to outlast the Infection, but at the cost of his wife and safety. Comparisons to the original film are inevitable... while 28 Weeks Later captures much of the same rampant energy, the vicious, snarling packs of rabid Infected, the bloody room, the overall sense of dread, there's something missing that the first film did well. In a tip to Romero, the first film explored the behaviour of people in an apocalyptic world, showing that we are the biggest threat to ourselves.
28 Weeks Later touches on these themes, but butchers it with predictability and cliché. The kind-hearted soldier, the naughty children. The obvious cruelty of the military.
Nevertheless, it's a wild, gripping film, and it spins out of control so fast that you'll be tense. Really tense. So tense that you'll have to eat a big chocolate sundae to settle your nerves.
28 Weeks Later is a sweet-ass throw back into the zombie genre, but without the religious sentiments. It's blood-splattered, machine-gun ridden and gives you absolutely no sense of hope for the human race in the face of disaster. Through the film, we are faced with our own cowardice and the desire to flee. A terrible movie to watch before bed, unless you relish the idea of nightmares