After some crazy college kids unleash some experimental monkeys with a highly contagious virus, the rage inducing disease sweeps Great Britain causing the vast majority of the population to kill each other. 28 days later, Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up in an empty hospital, inexplicably unharmed, and discovers he is alone in the world. Actually, not quite alone. There are a few surviving humans scattered and hidden among the debris. There are also a few surviving infected humans scattered and hidden among the debris. The humans are trying to survive and the infected are trying to kill them.

At this point the movie could go anywhere. You could make a hundred different movies from this jumping point. And they could, possibly, all be entertaining – it’s a fun set up. I have to admit, though, what we did get was rather surprising. The majority of 28 Days Later plays like a video game: long periods of walking around quite streets with no one around, with occasional infected crazies that jump out and need to be blown down with guns, knives, or whatever you got at the moment.

28 Days Later is certainly a genre film and is not greatly different than other zombie movies other than that it’s a little bit eerier, a little bit scarier, and whole lot more intelligent. The protagonists only occasionally do stupid things that put themselves in danger – as opposed to other films of the genre, where it occurs frequently.

The primary source of higher level thought, however, comes later in the film, as Jim and his company encounter a patch of civilization that isn’t as civilized as it ought to be. It’s true that, as is hinted at in the film, it’s actually scarier what sane humans will do to each other than what the infected will do. It all plays out as a subtle satire of war, suggesting that what we do to each other in war is as mad as the state of the red-eyed infected humans.

The fact that 28 Days Later rises above others of its sort doesn’t exactly redeem it though. It’s nothing that’s particularly inspiring or compelling, but it does manage to freak you out in some genuinely frightening ways.

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