Good but Boyle still rules

Rating: Null/10 (10 August 2004)

I have to first admit that i have a bias, since i feel that 28 days later is one of the best FILMS i have ever seen (of all genres). I know a lot of horror and zombie movie maniacs didn't enjoy 28dl and some have called it the worst in history. However i felt they were given a wrong impression by the adverts. Dawn of the dead fits the advertisements of 28dl better than 28dl did. 28 days later scared the hell, better put it didn't scare as much as it haunted me, out of me because i am more affected by psychological fears than knee jerking suspense. Thus the use of "deja vu" like editing and shots which were claustrophobic as well as shots off level and through bars gave me a depth of feeling with the plot i had never before experienced (along with all the visual allusions that hit your subconscious).
To my knowledge Zack Snyder has admitted to looking to 28dl(when a hit in UK) and using some of the qualities he liked; faster zombies etc (that haunting shadow shot in the parkade of the infected dead running a mirror image of the hordes in the tunnel in 28dl). I think he made some good decisions of what improvements were made in 28dl to the zombie genre.
I have seen all of the dead series numerous times and have to tell you that, for me, they were never, EVER, scary... being surprised is not being scared. But the zombies were always dumb and slow... so why would i be scared? Some idiot always trips. Am i supposed to be scared for him or her? No. My first reaction for dumb characters is "please eat him already". In the Moron vs. Zombie title fight i always cheer for the zombie; after all its the moron who is wasting my time and aggravating me ... not the zombie. That was the BIG thing i loved about the new zombies... because now characters don't have to be morons to get eaten. The zombies can run after you and chase you down. When You take out the stupid people crutch that the genres of zombie and slasher films lean on the film all of a sudden transcends its genre(since it is now my theory that that moron character is what defines it). Since i had not witnessed moronic choices; other than Polley getting too close to peoples faces when they were infected (must admit i said "eat her" a couple of times and not in the x.x.x kind of way), and that dumb girl going for her dog which the zombies already proved was not going to be hurt anyways; i feel this is no longer a zombie film but should be classified as horror.
I liked the reproduction of one of the eeriest shots in the original... which of course is when (in the original) a man is covered with a blanket when he dies.. and after a couple seconds the blanket gets up. I'm happy they kept that, as it is one of the trade marks from the film... along with cops raiding an apartment complex at the beginning and shooting a guys head clean off as if it were a ripe watermelon(which it may have been).
To put it short... i give the movie/flick (not film) an 8, still some moron moves that make you say "eat her please" but they kept it to one or two. The movie did well to provide better characters and a basic message--obviously same as the first, But nothing touches 28DL for those two areas. I still love the upside down "Hell" shot in 28dl. Oh yeah 28dl is becoming a franchise... lets see if they turn it in to an alien clone that had james cameron and David fincher take the torch or if it becomes like almost every other franchise and falls on its face. Are they re-making all the Remero films? If anyone knows id sure like to hear about it.