28 Days Later (2002)★★★★★

Originally I wanted to watch The Fog tonight since I watched The Mist yesterday, but then I remembered that the 2005 version of the film is a remake of a 1980 movie and decided to save both for Throwback Thursday/Follow Up Friday this week. Then I realized that I hadn’t yet written about this movie, and that its sequel isn’t too bad and would fit in well tomorrow, and, well, here we are!

I really like this movie. It’s got a lot going for it. The music is well done, the cast is great, the story compelling. And the infected absolutely terrifying. I feel like this was the film that really brought zombies back into the mainstream (although technically they’re not zombies in this film, but still), and it did that surprisingly well.

I think this was the first thing I’d ever seen Cillian Murphy in and I immediately knew I liked him. Seeing him later in Red Eye and the Christopher Nolan Batman films only solidified that. The rest of the main supporting cast was relatively unknown to me as well, but they all did fantastic jobs. The girl who played Hannah, especially. Oh, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Christopher Eccleston cameo! His scenes are some of the most tension-filled moments of the movie.

I like that this is only really a “run screaming from zombies” type of film for the first half, and then it becomes something a bit darker and somehow more disturbing and more relatable at the same time. People are doing some terrible things and yet somehow they’re still sympathetic, like you realize you’d probably make similar decisions given the circumstances.

Anyway, this movie is well paced, well acted, and just extremely well done. It can get a bit violent and graphic at times, but the story is so compelling I’d almost recommend this even to those who don’t normally like horror.