Directed by Danny Boyle

While I obviously love horror, zombie movies have never been my favorite subgenre. There are only a couple I’ve genuinely loved enough to watch multiple times, and one of those is 2004’s 28 Days Later. In addition to having a simple but terrifying design for the zombies, it strikes the perfect balance of horror and humanity, mixing heartbreaking drama with bloody terror.

While I still haven’t seen 28 Weeks Later, I know it was also largely well-received, so expectations were high for the newest film in the series. And before we get further into this review: yes, I know the infected in these movies aren’t technically zombies in the “reanimated corpse” sense, but they’re still mindless, infected, flesh-hungry beings, so I’m not going to be pedantic. It’s fair to consider this a zombie franchise.

In 28 Years Later, a community of survivors of the Rage Virus lives on a remote British island, safe from the infected hordes. When 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) learns that a doctor (Ralph Fiennes) might live on the mainland, he ventures out with his sick mother, Isla (Jodie Comer), risking the danger to find her a cure.

I apologize for how pretentious this next statement might sound, but my favorite thing about this movie is how cohesive the tonal dissonance is. The score is largely upbeat and bright, but always at least a little unsettling; the beautiful, lush English countryside and forests are juxtaposed against slimy, dirty zombies and rotting corpses so disgusting that you can practically smell them through the screen; breathtaking, sweeping wide shots are quickly edited togther with shaky, uncomfortable close-ups. All of this makes the storytelling so much more effective, supporting the script’s contrast between grounded humanity and nightmarish horror.

This beautifully made movie is rounded out by a spectacular cast. Jodie Comer gives a sweet and heartbreaking performance as Spike’s mother Isla; Ralph Fiennes brings warmth, quirkiness, and a little mystery to his role as Dr. Kelson; even Edvin Ryding, whose role as stranded Swedish naval officer Erik is brief, makes the most of his short time, balancing humor and obnoxiousness. The standout, though, is easily Alfie Williams as Spike. I’m blown away that an actor so young could carry a movie this heavy with such subtlety and heart. He doesn’t have many TV or film credits outside of this, but after watching him here, I expect to see him in more projects soon.

I only have a couple of complaints about this movie, the first having to do with pacing. Human drama has always been a great part of this series, and it’s well done here, but the third installment of this iconic zombie movie franchise is surprisingly light on zombies. The horror scenes are few and far between, which makes things drag a bit in parts. The film is just under two hours, so maybe if it had been a little shorter, they could have balanced the horror and drama a little more evenly.

My second gripe is the inclusion of a sequel-bait scene in the last few minutes. While the other movies in the series have been open-ended, they weren’t obviously set up for sequels, whereas the last scene of this movie felt more like a TV show cliffhanger. It’s cheesy, cheap, and doesn’t fit the tone of the rest of the movie. I’m still interested in the sequel, but it’s an annoying way of leading into it.

Overall, though, 28 Years Later is a wonderful addition to the series. It’s beautiful, thoughtful, scary, and well-acted. Despite its corny ending, I’m already looking forward to 2026’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and seeing where Alex Garland takes his story next.

Have you seen 28 Years Later? What did you think?

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