Reel Horror

28 Days Later (Widescreen Edition) asin: B00005JMA8

This movie is set for a June 13 release date in North America. It has already been released in Europe and has enjoyed considerable success already. That fact does not surprise me at all. The movie starts with some animal rights activists (or whatever they are) trying to free some monkeys. The monkeys are being kept in cages and shown a bombardment of violent images on T.V. Screens. When the people break in the free the monkeys a doctor spots them and tries to get away. They catch the doc and he warns them not to release the monkeys as they have been infected with a "rage" virus. The group does not take heed and sweet irony ensues as the freed monkeys attack their liberators. The rage virus is transferred through bites or bodily fluids mixing with the victims.

We are now taken to 28 days after those events. A man (Jim) wakes up in a hospital, hooked up to tubes and machines. He calls out and nobody is around. He gets up and leaves the hospital only to find out there is no one anywhere. He roams the streets for some time seeing no sign of any other people.Finally he comes upon a building with some people laying on the floor inside. When he calls to them, they get up and start chasing him and they don't look normal so Jim runs. Eventually he meets up with a couple of uninfected people and learns that the incident with the monkeys spread the infection like wildfire and the city had to be evacuated. Now Jim and his new friends must work together and use their brains to stay alive. Their treacherous path sees one of Jim's new friends get infected himself. Leaving Selena and Jim to find salvation. They soon see electrical lights atop a tower and climb up to find a man, Frank, and his daughter, Hanna. While at Frank's they hear a recording on the radio telling survivors to head to specified location. The group of 4 sets out to the location. When they arrive the military is there and they want the women only. Now Jim must fight the small army of the living as well as the infected in order to save his friends from the barbaric intentions of the soldiers.

There are some parts of this movie that totally remind me of the Romero zombie movies. But 28 Days Later is different enough to stand on it's own. The scene where Jim is walking in a deserted London is chillingly empty. Some humour is present with the shopping spree scene among others. Also you get to know Jim's frame of mind easily and see things from his view. This movie is awesome. I can't say enough good about it. Check it out whenever you can. As mentioned these aren't traditional zombies in the movie. They are infected with rage and can run really fast and kill visciously. This movie can easily appeal to non-zombie fans.