28 Weeks Later (2007)

Almost immediately after Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later made a splash at the box office, rumblings of a sequel surfaced. And just as quickly, I was skeptical about it. That first picture was so incredible and appeared to have the same impact on pop culture that a George Romero movie may have had in the 70s. It was just perfect and it looked as if having a bigger budget might tarnish that vibe and the impact of the original...

Then I saw the teaser poster, which I've included here, in an issue of Entertainment Weekly. My jaw dropped and pretty much stayed there as I kept thinking of this poster. I wasn't sure whether I thought it was a rad nod or a blatant ripoff. But still, my attention had been grabbed.

If 28 Days Later is the original Night of the Living Dead, then 28 Weeks Later is the original Dawn of the Dead.

The best way to describe this sequel is that it's everything its predecessor was, but on a much bigger scale. Where Days, much like NOTLD, made its low budget work for it, but still suggested a bigger world outside of what was going on, Weeks brings everything to grander scale.

Taking place six months after (or 28 weeks later) the first movie, director/co-writer Juan Carlos Fresnadillo opens things with a few survivors in a darkened house. Among them is Robert Carlyle as "Don" and his wife. On the surface, it looks like a nice family dinner scene from a British movie playing somewhere in Princeton, NJ. No sooner do we get to know some of the characters, the Infected attack and Don's false sense of normality is torn to shreds before his eyes. Fleeing across the countryside with with hordes of Infected on his heels, Don escapes in a boat; leaving everyone -- including his wife -- behind to die.

Back in London, things are returning to normal as people are being let back into the city. Aside from a few not-so-clever barbs, the US military realistically has moved in to assist the Brits as they rebuild their lives. Of course, there are still areas that have been deemed off limits because of infection, but other than that, people are moving on. Don is reunited with his chidren, Tammy and Andy, as he struggles to break the news about their mum's whereabouts.

Of course, The Infected return as another outbreak rips through London. 28 Days Later really never lets up from the point where hundreds of Infected spill into an underground parking garage, as Don's children flee with a scientist and a soldier who's had second thoughts about his orders.

I've always said both 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later owe more to George Romero's The Crazies than they do to any zombie movie (because, let's face it people: The Infected are NOT zombies). One scene in particular that confirms this idea involves the Army pumping nerve gas into the streets. There's one shot where several soldiers walk out of a thick fog of gas and they're dressed in contamination suits (like the poster art...and like the military in The Crazies) and carrying flame-throwers. This is seriously such a creepy image . . . I can't quite explain it.

In the end, 28 Weeks Later is definitely a bigger movie compared to its predecessor. Does that make it a better one though? That's up to the viewer I suppose. I know I loved it. See it!