28 Days Later (DVD 2003)

28 days later refers to the time after a group of monkeys infected with the "Rage" virus in a distrubed laboratory are released by protesters. This proves to be a big mistake as the monkeys move quickly to attack any living thing that they see, passing on the virus quickly and easily through contact either by blood or by saliva.

Within a small amount of time the infection has spread throughout the country and only a handful of people have managed to escape and survive temporarily in the chaos. Cue Jim, who waks in an abandoned hospital and quickly discovers he is one of just a handful that still exist.

The 10min scene of him walking through a completely deserted London is visually stunning. All of London is wrecked and empty as he feeds on snacks from vending machines through some very crude product placement throughout this British zombie epic. Jim soon meets up with a couple of other survivors who quickly teach him how dangerous this new world is with The Infected roaming the streets. They show him the ruthlessness required to survive, even if that means killing a close friend or relative if they get infected with the virus as it strikes within 20 seconds. The group of 3 quickly becomes 2 as they have to kill the infected member of their group, but they soon find a couple of other survivors in the form of a father and daughter who aid them in reaching Manchester via an abandoned cab where "safety" and "protection" exist according to a radio recording broadcast by a group of healthy soldiers from the British Army who inform them that reaching them will aid their survival.

But all is not as it seems in this new world as the Army have become corrupt in this new and dangerous way of life, and they try to hold hostage the two girls from the group to aid "The future" which can only exist through the existence of women. Jim escapes and helps free them from the madness inside the army base, releasing the imprisoned zombie to kill off the corrupt soldiers. They eventually escape 28 days later after making a huge "Hello" sign on the fields in view of an aeroplane that takes them to safety as the ending credits loom.

This is an excellent zombie movie, in actual fact there isn't as much violence as i expected although some scenes are pretty graphic. However, "28 days later" is much better at portraying life after such an event than the new Will Smith movie "I Am Legend" which seemingly rips the whole idea off completely. This movie is very good indeed, excellently made and with some truely breathtaking scenery of London without life. At times it is slow-moving but you are quickly brought to the edge of your seat again (or behind a cushion) as the next attack awaits. Very British, very gory, but very good.

If you like zombie movies, this is well worth viewing.