28 Days Later

A well-written reproduction of the subject of Romero’s mediocre Day of the Dead, spoiled by unsuitable visuals and music. I want a big-budget, celluloid remake by Guillermo del Toro with music by Marco Beltrami! (26/05/2003)

First of all, I was surprised that Boyle would venture into something like zombie (or rather, contagion) horror. But as such, I understood it at the beginning and therefore wondered about the inappropriately placed scenes, unsuitable for this genre. Even the unusual musical score suggested that something was amiss. And in the second half, it became clear. Against the backdrop of the struggle for survival, Boyle attempts to portray the behaviour of people in a liminal situation, when they have a choice between retaining a shred of their humanity or being overwhelmed by an instinctive desire to survive at any cost, even at the cost of harming others, and he really doesn't give people the best report card. One of the soldiers in the film says that people killed each other before and will kill each other in the future, in that sense, they are not really that different from the infected. The "infected" themselves are very reminiscent of the aggressive running zombies from Snyder's remake and can occasionally cause a few hear attack situations. (09/12/2003)

I liked it very much, but I can't help feeling that a good chunk of the film ended up in the editing room because the transition between the two parts (the road movie part and the military part) felt a bit rushed. Otherwise, I have nothing to complain about. It was clear to me that this horror film directed by Danny Boyle was not going to be an ordinary horror film... And it's not. Luckily. Many times I was amazed at the carefree atmosphere it exudes, which was certainly due to the soundtrack. The jump scares worked, the infected flesh-eating sprinters were suitably scary... And the over-the-top, nerve-wracking, breathless finale was great too. (25/08/2012)

Raw British horror that replaces slow zombies with fast infected people, influencing this horror subgenre for many years to come. The casting of Cillian Murphy in the main role was an interesting move, his face has both boyish and girlish features and his transformation from “someone who’s being dragged on” into “the one that saves everybody” was also interesting. Great. (18/11/2007)

Strong as a whole, but unconvincing in the development of the plot, or solid filmmaking that is hard to keep up with. Either way, Danny Boyle is a very good and smart director who, in the broader narrative context, elevates his film above the level of B-movie (whether in the naturalistic intro or in the end, where is bluntly suggested that the aggressive infection is actually part of the human DNA), but the explicit meanings at times feel so loose and dumbed-down and the character development so hasty that they hurt the film’s added value. The intentionally cheap look is fitting, what is more arguable is the adequacy of the music, and personally I was bothered by some editing montages and the dumb behaviour of the characters. An interesting take on the material that actually deserved a more thoughtful and psychological layering. 65% (27/03/2020)