By Scott Martin
28 Days Later, UK, 2002
Directed by Danny Boyle
First things first: this isn’t a zombie movie. It’s a movie about people who become infected with a virus, and they look and act like zombies. Why isn’t it a zombie movie? Because, for the most part, that’s too silly for such a deadly serious story. Danny Boyle’s take on the zombie/post-apocalyptic genre proves to be the best of its kind, and it doesn’t have time for such fruitless entertainment. It’s here to thrill and make our hearts race, and break from time to time, and it does, probably because it’s not a zombie movie. Those have a tendency to not be that scary, but being infected and essentially made into an animalistic killing machine? That’s something to worry about for two hours, and, while this isn’t a zombie movie, it certainly provided a template for far too many to follow. With its fast-as-lightening “undead” and rapid camera movements, this film inspired the kick-ass fast zombies of Zack Snyder’s underrated masterpiece Dawn of the Dead (2004). Read More