Stories about zombie apocalypses are a horror staple because of their ability to do something many other subgenres can’t – expose every shade of the human condition. 28 Years Later, the latest entry in the iconic postapocalyptic film franchise (and the first of a new trilogy), aims for this kind of profundity and, in some of the movie’s best moments, brushes the surface of it.
Nearly three decades after the outbreak of the Rage Virus in Great Britain (as seen in 2002’s series starter 28 Days Later), we meet a new group of survivors. Twelve-year-old Spike (Williams) and his parents (Taylor-Johnson & Comer) are part of a larger community in the Scottish Highlands that has regained some semblance of normalcy in the world after the outbreak, away from the infected. One day, Spike and his father have to leave the island to explore the mainland in a rite of passage. Soon, disillusioned and emboldened by his initial trip off his island, Spike will leave again with his mother, Isla, to get help for the memory loss that has been torturing her.
While there are narrative stripes that will be familiar to anyone who has seen the franchise, this film takes a different approach, tonally. The tricky thing about 28 Years Later – which reunites the original’s director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland – is that it wants to play both sides of the same coin when it comes to the genre it’s operating in. It revels in (very fun) gore and then slams the brakes on the movie to deliver comedic asides or poignant ruminations on humanity, resulting in tonal whiplash.
Take, for instance, one scene where Spike and Erik (Ryding), an asshole-ish Swedish officer who has been stranded on the mainland, share a moment on a picnic blanket. Erik pulls up a photo of his fiancée on his smartphone (a new sight for Spike and Isla). She’s a stunning woman in the “Instagram baddie” vein, and Spike makes a quip about something being wrong with her face. He’s seen someone like that before, he says, “but she had a shellfish allergy.” It’s a comment on the frailty of beauty standards that would crumble in a place with no capitalistic machine to back them up, but it comes off as misogynistic at worst and lazy at best. This is immediately followed by a moment of intense moral quandary.
However oddly paced, some digressions away from somber moments work here, especially when the movie decides to have fun with and ramp up its conceit. 28 Years Later introduces advanced zombies, so-called Alphas like “Samson” (Chi Lewis-Parry) – so nicknamed by the strange, but kind Dr. Kelson (Fiennes) – who are killing machines with more brain power than the average infected person. We see the true might of their power as Samson rips heads, spinal cords and all, off of his victims with his bare hands, in a gross delight for bloodthirsty viewers. Interstitials of Samson and his flock tearing apart wildlife and people are tinged with a deep crimson, underscoring the aesthetic the film is aiming for.
There is a sense of poignancy here that juts out in between the bloody veneer of gruesome shenanigans. Indeed, moments in which Spike is discovering that the real complexities of the mainland go beyond an us-versus-them mentality reach for transcendence, but the tonal dissonance and distrust of the audience prevent full liftoff. As the start of a new trilogy for the franchise, it’s a promising entry that signals a different approach to a well-worn subgenre. If only it could figure out its footing.
This article appears in June 20 • 2025.