‘28 Years Later’ Is the Most Gloriously Unhinged Movie You’ll See All Year

Journey back with me now, won’t you, to the year 2002. When post-9/11 paranoia was in full swing, the world already felt like a terrifying place, and Danny Boyle threw up 28 Days Later, a gritty little British horror that told us in no uncertain terms that “the end” was “fucking nigh.”

In Boyle’s genuinely stunning take on the classic zombie flick, the British were transformed by a rage virus into a nation of bloodthirsty anger goblins. (A bit like what Margaret Thatcher did in the 1980s, only much gorier.) The movie was a surprising hit in both the U.K. and the U.S. Which is why it was followed in 2007 by 28 Weeks Later, a much shinier sequel directed by someone who wasn’t Boyle, who made a film that was significantly less grim, and consequently, less good.

Eighteen years on and Boyle is back with 28 Years Later, which, rather than completing the first trilogy, is supposed to be the start of a brand new one altogether. (The sequel to 28 Years Later has already been filmed, apparently.) This new take on the old virus poses many immediate questions.

Like: Does anyone know if Danny Boyle is in therapy? And: Do British people not know that arrows can be retrieved from dead things after you’ve killed them? And possibly most important of all: Did anyone consider that some American audiences might struggle with a cast made up entirely of actors with Scottish and Geordie accents?

(For those not in the know, you can watch a brief introduction to the Geordie accent here.)

Our story is rooted in a community of North-East Englanders living on an island that connects to the mainland via a narrow path that only appears in low tide. Vibes on the island are like a way cooler version of The Kingdom in The Walking Dead, which always just felt like an enclave of nerds cosplaying at a Ren Faire and kind of ruined Season 8. But that’s neither here nor there.

On the island lives a 12-year-old boy named Spike (the quite brilliant Alfie Williams), who shares a small cottage with his dad Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), his very unwell mother Isla (Jodie Comer from Killing Eve), and some carpet on the stairs that has seen better days. One day, Jamie walks Spike to the mainland to practice killing the infected, despite the fact that Spike is widely considered a few years too young for such an outing, Once on the mainland, Spike gets a taste of what the rage virus has done to the population of England.

The former humans he encounters fall into three categories. The first are manic and speedy arm-wavers like the ones from 28 Days Later. They are also, for some reason, all in the age range of 25 to 35. (Don’t ask questions…) Some of the rage monsters are slimy, grotesque floor dwellers who subsist on worms and are, for some reason, incredibly fat despite their meager diets. (Don’t ask questions!) The scariest threat of all though, comes from the Alphas, a super-strong, intelligent breed of human who have a fetish for ripping spines out of both animals and humans. They all kind of, sort of, look like Jason Momoa though, so … silver lining? For some reason, across the board, all of these rage monsters are completely naked. (Don’t ask questions!)

Naturally, this being a horror movie, things go awry fairly quickly for Spike and Jamie, and 28 Years Later quickly delivers on suspense, horror and, oh yes, lots and lots of close-ups of disgusting things happening. This portion of the film also drives home the fact that Spike’s dad is quantifiably, as the English might say, a bit of a knob.

Things take a turn in the second half of the movie and a series of wild tonal shifts follow that, while awkward, are a lot of fun to submerge yourself in. (Lord of the Flies and Apocalypse Now both spring to mind as reference points.) In the interests of not spoiling this very strange movie, I’ll not say anything more about the plot’s twists and turns. I will, however, share with you notes that I made in the course of watching it.

1. Adding pregnancy to literally any situation immediately makes it 100 times more horrifying.
2. Not even the end of civilization is enough to rid the United Kingdom of positive ideas about the monarchy.
3. Getting socked in the face with someone else’s spine would probably be really, really unpleasant.
4. Nice to see that the legal drinking age is roundly ignored by British people, even after the apocalypse.
5. I hope this movie doesn’t give the French any ideas about quarantining the British Isles. (Seems like something they might be interested in.)

In conclusion, 28 Years Later is an extremely entertaining, if at times totally baffling film. The last five minutes, in particular, will be thoroughly confusing for anyone who doesn’t subscribe to in-jokes about the links between working class Scottish people and Kappa tracksuits. All of which is to say: please go and see this movie. Just don’t ask too many questions.

‘28 Years Later’ is released nationwide on June 20, 2025.