I was a big fan of 28 Days Later, and was disappointed I didn’t get a chance to see the follow up 28 Week Later in theaters. So despite the bad reviews it received, I still wanted to see it and was a happy when the screener of the film unexpectedly hit my door step today. So I sat down with my daughter and popped this film into the DVD player. My daughter got a kick out of the infected people yelling out loud though my surround sound system (For a young kid, she welcome’s competition when it comes to screaming louder than her). I for one didn’t really care much for where 28 Weeks Later was going.
The film starts off right where the first film left off, except we are forced to adapt to new human characters that are all locked up in a farm house. The house comes under attack from the infected after a young boy runs up the house and our newly found characters let him in. Big Mistake! Everyone in the house is slaughtered except for one man; Donald Harris. whom watched his wife fall under attack, and managed to escape on a boat. we are then told what happens over the next 28 weeks. All those infected with the rage virus have died from starvation. The United States government takes over the country and begins to bring back British refugees from the U.S. to help get the country back in order, while the U.S. army begin cleaning up the country. All citizens are sent to live in a small isolated area in London. We soon learn that Donald Harris has access to all of the area, even some of the armies buildings. His kids who were living in the U.S. are on their way back, and Donald has to tell them about what happened to their mother. He does so, and missing their old home, they sneak out of the quarantine area and make a trip back to their own home. However the army catches on and follows them to their old house. While in side they find out their mother is still alive, but may have some of the infection within her. But she is able to control it. Along with the kids, she returns back to the quarantine zone, where she is to be examined by doctors, this is where the films mayhem begins, and a whole new terror is unleashed.
I have a lot of problems with this script. While the story is not half bad, all the characters in the film are one dimensional. There is no definitive lead role in the film, and each character pretty much share about the same amount of screen time as one another. For the most part it’s very hard to relate to any of the characters in this film, and as a viewer your forced to just follow the story and hope that the characters will get though the ordeal at hand.
The acting is not half bad in the film. Even with the lack of character development that the script offers the actors in the film were not half bad. The film includes actors such as Robert Carlyle (Eragon, Ravenous), Rose Byrne (Star Wars: Episode 2), Jeremy Renner (S.W.A.T) and Harold Perrineau (Matrix Trilogy). The cast is pretty well rounded but I can’t sit here and write that one performance stood out over another. The script didn’t allow that to happen, so the cast is more or less a unit of one in this film.
The production value is really good in this film. While we don’t get the over top feel to the production value we got in the first films, the films sets gave us a look at what damage the city of London went though during the infection process. there is one scene that involves a subway station littered with the dead corpses of the infected that starved to death. The use of lighting in the film is very effective as well and helps bring the overall feel of the film together. From the lighting you get this feel that not everything is OK. There is some really good make-up effects as well as some cool visuals. The film has a lot of action packed scenes that involve the obvious blood, guts and gore. But we are also treated to a really cool scene involving gas and fire throughout the city.
Overall, the storyline of the film is good, but that’s about it. It was a fun film to watch, but I really got nothing from the movie that would make me think it’s great. The character development was poor and the film did not live up to the expectations of the first film. It’s not a bad film, but it just didn’t deliver the way I expected it too.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
