28 Weeks Later [HD]

A worthy successor to the original.
28 Weeks Later... (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007)

So Alex Garland didn't write the 28 Days Later... sequel, nor did Danny Boyle direct it. I felt a bit better about this after hearing that the reason for both was time issues/contractual obligations (both were involved in the much-anticipated Sunshine when this got off the ground). So they brought in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto) to both co-write and direct. I was still a touch leery walking into the theater, but the end result is that the movie was not as good as I'd hoped-- but a great deal better than I expected.

We start off with a group of survivors holed up in a cottage at the beginning of the outbreak (if you saw the original, the opening scene happens, presumably, while Cillian Murphy's character is still in a coma). Two of the people stuck there are Alice (Catherine McCormack) and Don (Robert Carlyle). During dinner one night, there's a pounding on the door, and they admit a young boy (Gary Robert...

The perfect horror sequel
When I heard that this was coming out, I was not expecting much. The original is arguably THE zombie classic (discounting the hysterical "Shaun of the Dead") of the last decade, but the sequel involved almost none of the original minds that brought us the stark terror of "28 Days Later", which combined the threats of cataclysmic disease and it's deadly effects on the mind which caused those infected by what became known as the "Rage Virus" to viciously and relentlessly attack the uninfected, either killing the victim or spreading the disease. A sequel had potential of course, but it seemed like it would be a by-the-books popcorn affair. Boy, was I wrong.

People complained that the first film started too slowly and was boring for the first twenty minutes; I disagree, but that issue has been addressed nonetheless. The opening sequence flashes back to another group of survivors during the original outbreak. Their fate is one you won't forget; it is startling, chaotic,...

The virus returns!
I'm always weary of horror sequels...they usually just don't cut the mustard (Loved "The Ring" but its sequel was miserably bad!). This sequel lives up to its entertaining predecessor and may actually be better than the first!

The story picks up six months after the virus ravaged London, with a couple (played by Catherine McCormack and the talented Robert Carlyle) who are living with a group of survivors in a boarded up home. Soon, however, their quiet hideaway is attacked by a group of blood thirsty "ragers" and Carlyle's character shows his true cowardly nature, leaving behind his wife to be killed and saving himself, above all others.

When we next see (Carlyle) he is being reunited with his children in an area sanctioned off by the US government and Nato. With snipers set up to watch the safe zone and giving complete medical exams to clear the returning citizens, the project looks to be a successful attempt to eradicate the virus infected zombies and the...

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