28 Years Later
(2025)
Zombie stories are inherently stale. We have grown accustom of what to expect knowing zombies are merely avatars for societal ills and the problems we as people need to fix. Zombies can be scary for sure, but they rarely have personality or identity that antagonists require. Because of this, the life of a zombie movie must be found elsewhere… if the filmmakers care to look for it at all.
What Danny Boyle and Alex Garland have done with 28 Years Later is constructed a zombie movie that feels familiar at the outset, dealing with ideas of survival, isolationism, national identity, family and, of course, the infected. But then, halfway through the film, they zag and say: Hold my beer. I won’t spoil anything beyond that but to say this movie revels in its deception and subversion of audience expectation and I found it glorious.
The performances are effective and dynamic, the horror is ever present, the set pieces and cinematography are jaw dropping, the soundtrack a confusing banger, the emotions a shocking surprise and the prosthetic dongs… damn!
Whatever you may end up thinking, if you love horror, you cannot miss this film. Yes, the ending will be problematic for some and the midway zag the film makes may not sit well with others… but what you cannot deny is that this movie is fun, it alters the zombie landscape, it has style to spare, messages to ponder and contains the most rarest of commodities in horror: true heart and empathy. This is my favorite film of the year next to Black Bag: 4 out of 4
wicked words 
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