"28 Years Later" is coming.

[Rich Watson]

I was about to make a joke about it being far too soon and then I realised "28 Days Later" is 22 years old this year. (God, I'm old.)

Alex Garland and Danny Boyle are back to write and direct.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/28-years-later-in-the-works-1235783306/

 

[The Nth Doctor]

They've been talking about doing a third film for years so I'm glad it's finally happening. Although I'm surprised they're skipping over Months...and doing a trilogy!

I loved everything about Days, from the cast and the low-budget production and the music and everything in between. I'm shocked to this day that one of my favorite bands, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, who are notoriously anti-corporation, agreed to have some of their music included in the film (but specifically not on the score release).

I would love to see Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, and Megan Burns return in some form, although Burns is retired from acting from what I recall.

One of these days I should give Weeks another try. I've only seen it the one time, and while I appreciate that it didn't try to repeat what Days did, it still didn't work for me.

 

[Starkers]

I really liked Weeks, in fact in some respects I liked it better than Days. It isn't clear whether Weeks will still exist in the continuity or whether they'll skip that and Years will be a straightforward sequel to Days. The opening scenes of Weeks are genuinely terrifying.

I'm intrigued as to how they will propel the story. For all that it plays like a zombie film, and reinvigorated the zombie genre, it isn't a zombie movie. The Rage Virus doesn't resurrect the dead, it just drives you nuts so, as evidenced by the end of Days and the beginning of Weeks, eventually the infected starve to death and the virus burns itself out. I thought the way Weeks got around this was very clever, presumably 28 Years Later will either feature the virus surviving somewhere, perhaps having evolved to not kill its host, or else some nutso scientists will try and create the virus again for...reasons.

Garland and Boyle's involvement is positive (if I'm honest I'd kinda like Garland to write and direct)

 

[Starbreaker]

28 Days Later is one of my favorite movies. I used to watch it every year or so. I’m very excited about this. If Harris is back, they would have to give her some age makeup because she looks the same.

 

[Saul]

I couldn't find a review thread (although I thought I saw one).

Watched this today.

I liked the first half of this film a lot. The second part was a bit too out there for me and I felt the film strayed a bit from the Zombie genre in favor of trying to be profoundly spiritual.

Wonder if they will try to tie in events from the previous two movies in the next one.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I plan to see Years tomorrow, but I wanted to post about my experience of rewatching the first two films, including watching Weeks for only the second time.

Days remains an all time-classic. Riveting directing, phenomenal cast, strong storytelling, and gorgeous music (John Murphy's score, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Brian Eno, Ave Maria, and Blue States). While there are moments of stupidity, as all zombie movies must have, they were ones that make sense in the moments, from the dumb radical activists who ignored the scientist's dire warning to Frank's act of frustration that opened the tiniest of windows for infection to the soldiers' infighting that allowed Jim to escape execution. I mention them because they pale in comparison...

Because Weeks, however, has not improved on rewatch. When I first saw it, I didn't know anyone in the cast except Harold Perrineau (courtesy of LOST) so it was definitely fun see now-big names Idris Elba, Jeremy Renner, and Rose Byrne lead the cast (I would say Imogen Poots, too, but the only film of hers I've also seen is still V for Vendetta...which predates this film).

Unfortunately, despite the excellent cast and great action pieces, the whole film is predicated on a series of absolutely horrible acts of stupidity. If they were limited to just Don's moments of sheer cowardice and selfishness, first abandoning his wife and then breaking quarantine to visit her, I could also let them slide. But everything the Army and NATO do really stands out, particularly seeing this film again after my own experiences in the Navy and especially in this post-COVID world.

How on Earth could they let any civilians return to London before a complete and utter clensing of everything and everywhere, not just in London, but in all infected areas? How could they allow children return to such a set-up (Yes Scarlet calls it out, but it's still beyond stupid)? How could such children give the highly trained Army guards the slip in order to break quarantine? But most baffling of all, how the hell was Don able to break quarantine and visit Alice at all? Yeah, he has the card access but where were the fucking guards and medical personnel who absolutely would have stopped him from ever coming close to stepping into that room?

Yeah, yeah, acts of stupidity were needed to unleash the virus again but there could have been better ways for that to happen than that ridiculous string of stupidity.

Anyways, I really, really hope Years is much closer to Days than Weeks, especially considering both Danny Boyle and Alex Garland are back in creative control.

 

[Saul]

Also had a rewatch in the run up to years...

But most baffling of all, how the hell was Don able to break quarantine and visit Alice at all?

What baffles me even more is how Zombie Don is able to show up everywhere they go. How is he following/tracking them in his current state when regular humans can't? How does he survive all the bombings and just show up at every turn?

Rewatching weeks I actually thought the set up was interesting, Don ditches his wife and then she is found again and all the truth is about to spill out leading to some intense drama. But before any of that happens, he gets infected and kills her. It feels like a reshoot or dropped plot point suddenly. They just brought the wife back so she could infect the husband? The whole thing went nowhere.

 

[Starkers]

But that's the whole point, he exists to feel so guilty he has to break quarantine to see her, and she exists as a quick way to reignite the infection given everyone else should be dead by this point (Still intrigued to see how they approach that in 28 Years)

There was a time when I actually preferred Weeks to Days (not now). In fact it would have made more sense if it'd been 28 months later, but that would involve Alice having to survive for over two years on her own! Not impossible but unlikely.

I think the setup for Weeks is very good, and there's a whole Green Zone/Iraq vibe to it, but @The Nth Doctor is right, things have settled down way too quickly.

The opening sequence in Weeks is still the scariest bit of the first two films for me though.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Just got back and I mostly loved it. Years is definitely a different film from its predecessors and it's better for it, although I am grateful the film returned to the original's isolated setting. That set-up works far better because that's what both Boyle and Garland best excel at creating.

Spoilers ahead...
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As someone who is always curious about weird sociological and psychological developments resulting from post-apocalyptic worlds (most notably in isolated situations like Snowpiercer), I was thrilled to see Years giving us fascinating insights of not just how uninfected survivors would live, but also how the infected themselves would develop in the intervening years.

I loved seeing how the infected species mutated into different variants, from the original mindless runners to slug-like crawlers to the giant, intelligent Alphas. I was particularly delighted that the film answered my own question of whether the infected could reproduce, but I didn't expect their children would initially be uninfected (which leads to a disturbing notion that I do not want to think about). I'm curious to see if The Bone Temple will continue to expand on the infected hierarchy or maintain the course with has now been established.

While we didn't get to see quite as much of the culture of the human survivors, I loved seeing what glimpses we did get. During Spike's victory party, I briefly wondered if their new society had developed cultish leanings (as seemingly suggested by the classroom setting) much like The Wicker Man, Midsommar, or The Third Day, but instead they seemed like a relatively healthy community. I especially thought of The Third Day since it is also set on an island with a tidal causeway. Instead, it looks like the Jimmys are the real cult but more on them later.

Instead, we got a better look of how a single individual would survive on his own, for better or for worse. I figured Dr. Kelson wasn't as insane as Jamie made him out to be, but he's definitely not quite sane either. I have a certain degree of respect for the work he created and I can even admire the beauty of his bone temple. There are real life examples of bone-decorated holy sites around the world and I've been to couple of them (in Rome, outside of Prague), so I can appreciate what he was striving for.

Nonetheless, it was still disturbing to see his nonchalant and quick work of Erik's decapitated head into a skull for the temple...and then proceeded to give it to Spike. At least that sequence prepared us for the even more disturbing moment of doing the same for Isla after Kelson euthanized her...and then Spike taking her skull to the top of the temple. I'm thrilled Kelson wasn't killed during the Alpha attack and he'll be returning in the sequel, which presumably focuses is on his temple but it's entirely possible the Jimmys have their own, even more disturbing bone temple.

As for the Jimmys, that was definitely a wild turn at the very end. I was mildly annoyed at how io9 was trying to spoil the ending in their headlines alone, to the point that of calling the ending controversial which caused my mind to go in all sorts of directions. This especially happened when I noticed all of the Jimmy markings during Jamie and Spike's hunt and I suddenly feared that they referred to Cillian Murphy's Jim, even though I knew he wasn't going to appear in this film. In that sense, I was deeply relieved by the unexpected and ridiculous twist that we got instead.

Lastly, I was blissfully shocked to hear the familiar chords of Godspeed You! Black Emperor's "East Hastings" during Spike's message to Jamie. I didn't even consider the possibility that Boyle would convince them to reuse their music again and I kept help but wonder if they requested the same stipulation as they did with Days about seeing the film before granting the rights. Regardless, hearing their music played at exactly the right moment made me tear up, but even more so with Spike's heartbreaking farewell message.
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Back to Days and Weeks discussion (only mild Years spoilers):

I couldn't find a review thread (although I thought I saw one).

Watched this today.

I liked the first half of this film a lot. The second part was a bit too out there for me and I felt the film strayed a bit from the Zombie genre in favor of trying to be profoundly spiritual.

Wonder if they will try to tie in events from the previous two movies in the next one.

I suspect The Bone Temple will continue on with the themes and societal developments of this film before moving onto the bigger picture in the third film. Boyle has already said that Jim won't appear until the end of that film, which suggests his appearance is a set-up for a different story in the final part.

I will say I was a bit disappointed that Years didn't do anything with Weeks' idea of the virus mutating within asymptotic people, but perhaps the third film will pick up that thread.

What baffles me even more is how Zombie Don is able to show up everywhere they go. How is he following/tracking them in his current state when regular humans can't? How does he survive all the bombings and just show up at every turn?

That was definitely a case of too many coincidences which took me out of the film a bit, but it's zombie action film, so I wasn't too bothered by it. I will say that it did fit into the idea of the infected already mutating with Alice's blood and perhaps that correlated with Don's heightened perception.

Rewatching weeks I actually thought the set up was interesting, Don ditches his wife and then she is found again and all the truth is about to spill out leading to some intense drama. But before any of that happens, he gets infected and kills her. It feels like a reshoot or dropped plot point suddenly. They just brought the wife back so she could infect the husband? The whole thing went nowhere.

Actually, I think that was one of my favorite parts of the film. I got the sense that Alice deliberately infected Don with the kiss (she does bite his lip, I think), delivering delicious poetic justice onto him and then in turn, his infected state put her out of her misery. I don't think it was a dropped plot point but a deliberate thematic choice, one of the few good ones the film had (along with the recurring theme of the military fucking things up).

 

[The Nth Doctor]

But that's the whole point, he exists to feel so guilty he has to break quarantine to see her, and she exists as a quick way to reignite the infection given everyone else should be dead by this point (Still intrigued to see how they approach that in 28 Years)

Yup, that fits in with what I just said above (but I understand if you don't want to read it now since my post is filled with spoilers, although I've tried to isolate my review).

There was a time when I actually preferred Weeks to Days (not now). In fact it would have made more sense if it'd been 28 months later, but that would involve Alice having to survive for over two years on her own! Not impossible but unlikely.

I'm still bummed they didn't ever do a Months but that ship has sailed. It makes more sense for this trilogy to be called Years. Alas.

I think the setup for Weeks is very good, and there's a whole Green Zone/Iraq vibe to it, but @The Nth Doctor is right, things have settled down way too quickly.

I agree that it works on its own as a zombie action film but it's so jarring in style and themes from Days that it's hard for me to separate Weeks as its own work.

The opening sequence in Weeks is still the scariest bit of the first two films for me though.

I will agree that sequence was excellent and Years has a couple of moments like it, too.

 

[Starkers]

Yup, that fits in with what I just said above (but I understand if you don't want to read it now since my post is filled with spoilers, although I've tried to isolate my review).


I'm still bummed they didn't ever do a Months but that ship has sailed. It makes more sense for this trilogy to be called Years. Alas.


I agree that it works on its own as a zombie action film but it's so jarring in style and themes from Days that it's hard for me to separate Weeks as its own work.


I will agree that sequence was excellent and Years has a couple of moments like it, too.

Hopefully I'll be seeing it Thursday or Friday

 

[Saul]

Actually, I think that was one of my favorite parts of the film. I got the sense that Alice deliberately infected Don with the kiss (she does bite his lip, I think), delivering delicious poetic justice onto him and then in turn, his infected state put her out of her misery.

Interesting. I hadn't read it that way. My impression was she was too out of it and didn't know what she was doing and him getting infected was totally unexpected for her.

There's definitely a lot raised in that film that could do with being fleshed out in the sequels. Here's hoping.

 

[Starkers]

Well I've seen Years and I thought it was very good. Objectively might be the best of the three.

Alfie Williams is a real find, initially I was wary that our POV character would be a child but dang if he doesn't pull it off.

@The Nth Doctor I got some definite folk horror vibes at time.

I love that Fiennes turned up and played it as straight as if he were doing Shakespeare.

Jodie Comer broke my heart (Dr Kelson strips skulls quicker than a flipping Predator though!) as someone who lost his own mum (crikey almost 8 years ago) that hit me in the feels.

Re Jock O'Connell that was one hell of a freaky ending! Not at all what I was expecting and a tad jarring if I'm honest. I can't figure out if the Jimmy Saville similarities are intentional, feels like that would be hard to do accidentally, and it also feels a trifle Negan like (with everyone saying "I'm Jimmy" rather than "I'm Negan")

I thought there were a few iffy editing choices (but also some very good editing choices) and the ending was, as I said,a trifle jarring, but other than this I didn't have any major issues with the film.

Oh, hang on I had one more slight issue, how the baby stayed uninfected I don't know if I buy that given how easy if is for things like Hepatitis/HIV etc to pass from mother to child. I hope it's followed up on, maybe the placenta could form part of a Rage cure?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Interesting. I hadn't read it that way. My impression was she was too out of it and didn't know what she was doing and him getting infected was totally unexpected for her.

It's possible I'm reading too much into the moment, but even if I'm wrong about Alice's agency, the scene is still a delicious moment of poetic justice and I maintain there was never any intention of doing more with that thread.

There's definitely a lot raised in that film that could do with being fleshed out in the sequels. Here's hoping.

Like I said below to Starkers, there's a possibility of tying Tammy's and Andy's potential immunity with baby Isla's definite immunity that could lead to a cure.

Alfie Williams is a real find, initially I was wary that our POV character would be a child but dang if he doesn't pull it off.

Yeah, I was impressed by his performance and how he stood toe-to-toe with the likes of Jodie Comer and Ralph Fiennes (yeah, yeah, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, too). Reportedly (and unsurprisingly) he's the primary focus of The Bone Temple.

@The Nth Doctor I got some definite folk horror vibes at time.

I'm glad it wasn't just me. Folk horror is the one kind of horror that I actively enjoy, whereas films like 28 Days Later and The Ring are the outsiders from their respective genres. The fact that Years leaned a little towards folk horror made me happy.

I love that Fiennes turned up and played it as straight as if he were doing Shakespeare.

That was a brilliant acting choice on his part. The character is insane and perhaps he even knows he's insane...and that has a certain Shakespearean quality to it, so I'm glad Fiennes played the role in such a manner.

Jodie Comer broke my heart (Dr Kelson strips skulls quicker than a flipping Predator though!) as someone who lost his own mum (crikey almost 8 years ago) that hit me in the feels.

Yeah, that whole sequence broke my heart but especially because Isla accepted her fate in a moment of pure clarity. She knew she was doomed and she knew why she was doomed, but she couldn't express it to Spike. She needed someone else to actually say it and Jamie was too much of a coward to do it.

Re Jock O'Connell that was one hell of a freaky ending! Not at all what I was expecting and a tad jarring if I'm honest. I can't figure out if the Jimmy Saville similarities are intentional, feels like that would be hard to do accidentally, and it also feels a trifle Negan like (with everyone saying "I'm Jimmy" rather than "I'm Negan")

Spoiler

It was definitely deliberate. Even though I've always known who Jimmy Savile was, even before his death and the truth came out about his disgusting existence, I never actually watched his show and I'm quite unfamiliar with his style and presentation. All of this is to say I completely missed this obvious reference until I read the linked io9 article. Either way, I'm curious for how The Bone Temple will utilize that pastiche and if it's one that last for the whole film or just a portion of it.

Oh, hang on I had one more slight issue, how the baby stayed uninfected I don't know if I buy that given how easy if is for things like Hepatitis/HIV etc to pass from mother to child. I hope it's followed up on, maybe the placenta could form part of a Rage cure?

I wondered about that, too, but like I said about zombie Don tracking his children, this is a zombie horror film, so I'm not too overly worried how that science could work. That said, I do like the implication that the placenta could lead to a cure. Perhaps the third film will deal with both baby Isla's definite immunity and Tammy's and Andy's possible immunities as stepping stones to creating such a cure.

 

[Starkers]

I don't think Alice had any idea that she was infected, or that she'd infect Don with the kiss. Even if you wanted revenge, infecting your husband who'll then no doubt murder you while you're strapped to a bed seemed pretty stupid thing to do. Better revenge is to tell your children how dad abandoned you.

I would add as well, that whilst we all like to imagine we're heroes, I have no idea what I would do in the situation Don was faced with. The infected can't be reasoned with and all it takes is a drop of their blood in your eye to infect you.

I'm not sure if Tammy and Andy both had immunity. It seemed to be linked to heterochromia, which Alice and Andy had but Tammy didn't?

Re the end of Years thanks for sharing the link it is an interesting idea, that for the UK time stopped in 2002 and since this was before the truth about Saville came out, he would be perceived very differently by the survivors.

 

[Starkers]

Just a heads up. I listen to The Evolution of Horror podcast and they've recently done an episode on 28 Years Later, which includes an interview with Boyle and Garland. There isn't a direct link to it but if you scroll down the main page of the podcast you'll find it near the bottom. And it's just a great podcast in general (@The Nth Doctor they did a whole season on Folk Horror)

The Evolution of Horror

The Official Website for The Evolution Of Horror podcast.

www.evolutionofhorror.com

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Rolling Stone has given us our first look at The Bone Temple, what it's about, when to expect a trailer (tomorrow!), and when it's coming out (January 16!):

The sequel follows Spike, whom [Nia] DaCosta calls “the through line” between the films, as he is forced to join Jimmy’s violent cult, which is on a collision course with Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) and his Alpha virus-carrier Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry).​

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“This film is the weird, deranged cousin to 28 Years Later, who you might be a bit ashamed of because they have weird, questionable interests,” [Jack] O’Connell tells Rolling Stone. “We see how much nature is the unstoppable force at the end of the day. Nature prevails. The world will take its natural course with or without humans. But I don’t think the infected are purely antagonists in our film. It definitely will make you consider that.”​

​

“What’s cool about The Bone Temple is we have the Jimmies and their world, and we have Kelson and his world,” DaCosta says. “Spike moves between the two, so it was really fun to be able to have a different style of filming for each character.”​

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The film will feature more backstory on Dr. Kelson and more of his relationship with Samson, a vicious Alpha he regularly sedates but never tries to kill. In the trailer, which drops Wednesday, we see Kelson reach out to touch Samson, and DaCosta teases that their evolving dynamic is a “big part of the movie.” “We’ve seen Samson ripping people’s heads off,” she notes. “But Kelson’s a kook, and he’s doing what he wants to do.”​

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Shot entirely on location, The Bone Temple will also deepen our understanding of the virus’ devastation around England. “The world expands,” DaCosta says. “We get a glimpse of other types of the 28-years-later effect.” And she promises the action will live up to the cover-your-eyes-scary scenes of 28 Years Later as well as the original series. “As a viewer, I love gore and body horror and visceral effects,” she says. “But when I’m directing it’s more about what effect I want to create and what I want people to feel. There wasn’t a mandate that it had to be super-gory, but there are some moments.”​

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DaCosta, who also helmed the upcoming film Hedda starring Tessa Thompson, recalls having 28 Days Later on DVD was she was 12. She says she’s grateful for the opportunity to continue exploring the primal world created by Boyle and Garland in 2002. “The concept of the rage virus gives us the opportunity to really talk about humanity,” DaCosta says. “In particular in this film, [it’s about] the nature of evil and how we contextualize that in a world with a lot of belief systems that have been created in order to handle the meaninglessness of existence. That’s one of my favorite things about this genre of film — it’s the look at humanity and what we do to each other. In the film, we have the infected and we have people who aren’t infected. Who’s really doing worse things?”​

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All of it sounds pretty promising! Plus, I keep forgetting Erin Kellyman (who we briefly see in the conclusion) will be in it.

 

[Starkers]

Trailer's here! I can't wait for this!

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[The Nth Doctor]

Looks great, even if the trailer isn't quite ethereal as the main Years trailer. Surprisingly little seen of Spike but perhaps it's not too surprising considering the trailer wanted to focus on Dr. Kelson, Samson, and the Jimmys.