🧟‍♂️ 28 Days Later (2002) – Review

Trailer📽️:

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🧠 Non-Spoiler Thoughts:

Before he was Oppenheimer, before Peaky Blinders made trench coats sexy, Cillian Murphy was just a skinny guy waking up naked in a hospital in the middle of the apocalypse. And somehow, it still works. This movie is grimey, claustrophobic, and raw—and that’s what makes it terrifying. It feels like the world fell apart overnight.

The entire concept? Horrifying. A virus that spreads by blood or saliva, and all it does is crank your rage to 100. No decay. No shambling zombies. Just screaming, red-eyed maniacs who sprint like they’ve got permanent road rage. And the scariest part? This all happened because scientists tried to create a calming drug. A calming drug. Talk about the most ironic backfire of all time.

I give this film huge props for being an indie production. You can feel the grit and desperation in every scene. The cinematography isn’t polished—and that’s the point. It’s raw. Danny Boyle even filmed the iconic opening shots of empty London before dawn on Sunday mornings. That’s commitment.

There’s just enough warmth to balance the despair—especially the supermarket scene, which is weirdly wholesome for a movie filled with rage monsters. The real kicker though? The humans, as always, are worse than the monsters. Because once the military shows up, you realize fast: the infected aren’t the only thing to fear.

How 28 Days Later Redefined Zombies (and Revived the Genre):
By the early 2000s, the zombie genre was on life support — slow, shambling corpses were no longer scaring anyone. Then came 28 Days Later in 2002, and everything changed. Danny Boyle didn’t just resurrect the genre — he supercharged it. Gone were the sluggish undead; in their place were the Rage-infected — feral, foaming, fast-as-hell maniacs that ran like their life (or your death) depended on it. It wasn’t just terrifying, it was revolutionary. This one film set the blueprint for fast zombies that would echo through Dawn of the Dead (2004), World War Z, Train to Busan, and more. The genre wasn’t just alive again — it was sprinting at full speed.


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⭐ Cast:

Jim – Cillian Murphy: The walking embodiment of “confused and suddenly traumatized.”

Frank – Brendan Gleeson: The world’s most wholesome dad. Deserved better.

Major West – Christopher Eccleston: The Ninth Doctor as a military creep? Yeah, it’s horrifying.

Selena – Naomie Harris: Badass survivor with a machete and zero time for feelings.

Hannah – Megan Burns: Kid with nerves of steel. Low-key one of the best characters.



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✅ Pros:

Cillian Murphy before he broke Hollywood

Red-eyed infected are creepy as hell

Virus origin = deeply unsettling and ironic

Shot guerrilla-style at dawn in London

Brendan Gleeson’s performance (and his character) = perfection

Wholesome supermarket scene amid all the chaos

Military subplot is genuinely disturbing

Indie horror with bite

Strong emotional payoff

That ending? Yeah. It hits.



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❌ Cons:

Honestly? None. Fight me.



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🎯 Final Rating:

10/10 – Would rage-blob again
A perfect blend of horror, despair, and weirdly hopeful catharsis. Indie horror at its grimiest and best.


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⚠️ Spoiler Zone:

Brendan Gleeson’s death broke me. Watching him slowly turn after getting infected through a single blood drop? Even worse—the blood lands right in his eye. He doesn’t even have time to react. One second he’s looking up, and the next, fate just chooses him. No dramatic bite. No horde attack. Just one awful, unlucky second—and it’s over. That scene lingers—the way he screams “get away from me” as he fights to stay human for just a few more seconds? Yeah. That one sticks.

Also… Major West’s men? Straight-up terrifying. That third act is deeply uncomfortable and drives home the point: when society collapses, some people choose to become monsters. The infected are tragic. The soldiers? Unforgivable.

And yet, after everything, that ending gives you hope. You actually see the infected starting to starve and die off. Humanity might get a second chance. A rare thing in horror.

Anyways hope y’all enjoyed this review, The reason I’m reviewing this now is because we’re officially getting a 3rd film titled 28 Years Later, which releases on the 20th, Here’s the trailer.