Review – 28 Years Later
We had been waiting a long time for this third chapter in the saga launched by Danny Boyle in 2002. 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later redefined the zombie film. Gone were the slow, clumsy undead: instead, we got enraged, violent, fast-moving infected, in a suffocating atmosphere that kept haunting viewers long after the credits rolled. Two landmark films that opened the way for an entire branch of modern horror cinema.
And then came 28 Years Later. Eighteen years later, expectations were sky-high for a spectacular comeback. What we got instead was disappointment. Crushing disappointment.
The story? Flat, predictable, uninspired. It feels like a watered-down version of things we’ve seen countless times before. The characters? Mostly laughable. It’s hard to care about them, and some feel ripped straight from a bad TV show. And let’s not even talk about the so-called “alpha zombies”: grotesque giant creatures that look more like failed video game bosses than the terrifying threat we were promised.
Visually, it barely passes. The special effects lack bite, and the grimy, oppressive atmosphere of the first two installments evaporates into dull, formulaic sequences. But the final blow—the nail in the coffin—is the ending. A sloppy, ridiculous conclusion that makes it seem as though the production simply ran out of time or money. You leave the theater thinking: “All that for this?”
The truth is unavoidable: Danny Boyle completely missed the mark. Instead of reinforcing the legacy of his own saga, he weakens it. Honestly, this sequel would have been better left unmade.
My rating: 3.5/10