Hooptober XII: 16/32

It took me seeing 28 Years Later in theaters earlier this year to I realize I’d bypassed the middle installment of one of my favorite franchises, never having actually caught it from beginning to end. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s entry into 28 canon is a film that doesn’t get brought up too often in the pantheon of great zombie movies, but I hope 28 Weeks Later continues to be reevaluated over time as a true genre staple. There’s a grand scale and scope to this film which sets it apart from the more intimate character and story portrayals of Days and Years, and for me, every element from story, acting, sound, and horror blended together seamlessly to surprise the hell out of me. Having low expectations for a horror flick is always the move.

The opening of 28 Weeks Later might be one of the best I’ve seen in horror. Period. I understand the praise, and also the double edged sword of setting your cinematic bar so high so early in a film, but I never came too far down throughout the rest of its efficient 100 minute runtime. Maybe it was my mood, or the set and setting, but the first two acts of 28 Weeks Later is damn near perfect as a zombie film. Believably tense and emotional, action packed, full of genuine tension and scares. There is an absolutely horrifying sequence as the first outbreak occurs, and the US military loses control. My heart sunk into my stomach when Idris Elba declared all targets free, infected or non. Something about our current climate in the US turned that into one of the most horrifying scenes and sequences I’ve seen in horror ever. 

Dramatic, complex, well thought out, and not afraid to linger in its gory, violent infected attack sequences, I’m finding myself again marveling at the subjectivity of horror, and how effected 28 Weeks has me. 

Also… That score goes so fkn hard.