Review: 28 Days Later (2002)

Directed by Danny Boyle
Starring Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson and Christopher Eccleston

I'm not quite sure why it took me so long to getting around to this film. Might have something to do with the fact that it's a creepy zombie horror movie and I'm not real big on creepy zombie horror movies. But this one I liked. A lot actually.

After a deadly rage-inducing plague has swept the land, a bicycle messenger named Jim wakes up from a coma to find London one big ghost town. Except for the rampaging zombies that lurk about. Jim falls in with a small group of uninfected and together they must find a way to a military outpost in Manchester, which they hope will provide them protection and perhaps even a cure.

The film is shot on digital video and it looks great. Director Danny Boyle (Transpotting and the recent Millions) uses a jarring, jittery sped up visual technique combined with quick cutting whenever the zombies are on screen, which is extremely effective. The film moves along at a brisk pace, is tense without being excruciating, and is graphic without being excessive. The characters are scared and crafty, and they don't commit the horror movie faux pas of doing incredibly stupid things just to serve the plot. (****)