28 Weeks Later. Not the most original name for a sequel to a film, but at least it’s not 28 Days Later 2. That would have just been weird. Aside the name’s lack of originality, the rest of the film fares up pretty well. No matter how many special effects a film has (I’m looking at you Lord of the Rings), there’s something genuinely creepy about an empty London.
I usually find horror films pretty samey. They follow the same tired formula that the genre followed from about 50 years ago, with no attempt to bring something fresh to each new film. If there’s one genre that’s saturated with shit out there, it’s this one. I thought the same about 28 Days Later. It’s just another horror film. Sure, it attempted to be a little original, but it just didn’t wash with me. So what’s changed with the sequel?
To be honest, everything. Apart from the location, everything is just better. Unusual for a horror film, 28 Weeks Later starts with a bang – a house getting ransacked by lots of people who has the zombie, sorry, Rage disease. One of the best parts of the opening is the camera angles, mainly because they’re all over the place and do a good job of giving a genuine feel of tension to the film. When a character in the film is filling their pants with brown stuff, you’ll know because it will be conveyed through the shaky camera angles. It’s a nice touch that adds a little bit extra atmosphere to the film.
Undoubtedly though, the one thing that creates the biggest atmosphere in this film is the location. Seeing London completely empty is all the atmosphere this film needs. It’s not just one street either: it’s sweeping, city-wide camera work showing the whole place empty. Luckily 28 Weeks Later doesn’t play on this camera angle too much, and because of that each time it happens you’ll feel shocked at the sheer emptiness of it all. To top it all off, it just looks 100% real. There hasn’t been a film that I could suspend my belief from for a long time, but this is definitely it now.
Creepy, atmospheric, and probably the best horror film I’ve ever seen, 28 Weeks Later deserves your attention right NOW. Don’t let the first one put you off, because this is one of those rare cases where the second is better than the first.
Like the first one? Then you’ll be blown away by this.