28 Days Later

In keeping with our other movie related threads, I guess I'll start one for this movie.

(spoiler warning!)

I thought it was disappointing. The movie was overhyped as "scary as hell" and "a reinvention of the zombie movie." Whatever. It wasn't particularly scary or even tense for that matter. About the only thing "new" with this movie was that it didn't really have zombies, it had people infected with some bio-weapon or something. This had good points and bad: the "zombies" are actually fast instead of slow and lumbering, but they're also basically just human. This offers an exceptionally easy way to kill them (hunger) and gets rid of the need for a headshot to bring them down. As for the story itself, it reminded me way too much of Day of the Dead for it to be revolutionary in any way.

Bottom line: an ok movie, nothing spectacular at all. Totally overhyped. People who aren't fans of the older movies in the genre might think more highly of it, I guess.

I tought of seeing it in the next week. When I saw the preview I imagined it would look like a mix of old horror movies and resident evil story.

Er..didnt it come out..like..ages ago?

Gah, I hate horror movies in general, so I guess I'll steer clear of this.

deathbringer said:

Er..didnt it come out..like..ages ago?

It came out on Friday in the US. Since it's British, I would imagine it came out a lot earlier in Europe.

I was really dissapointed with the movie...
"scary as hell" doesn't fit with what I saw

The clips that I saw looked very out dated to me like from the 70's or somthing.

my older sister freeked when she saw that movie.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

i saw it last night with dingus khan. i really liked it, although, like david_a said, it certainly took a fair bit from day of the dead. as far as i could tell, however, they weren't infected with any bio-weapon. in the beginning the scientist says that to find a cure, you have to determine the disease. when asked what this disease they have is, he says 'rage'. the first thing seen in the whole movie is a monkey forced to watch endless scenes of televised destruction. using techniques like these they somehow filled the monkeys full of anger in an attempt to find a cure for it. like the seargent says when he's locked up with jim, 'it's no disease, just crazy people', and like the leader of the camp says, 'now, i see people killing people. before, i saw people killing people.' like the virus brought back from space on a satellite (if i recall correctly) in george romero's 'dead' trilogy, i think its function as a disease is probably meant to be more metaphorical than biological, as this basically boils down to a film about the human condition. in my humble opinion, of course.

Tyockell said:

The clips that I saw looked very out dated to me like from the 70's or somthing.

The film was intentionally shot like that. Probably for both "artistic" and budget reasons :)

pregnant with worms said:

i saw it last night with dingus khan. i really liked it, although, like david_a said, it certainly took a fair bit from day of the dead. as far as i could tell, however, they weren't infected with any bio-weapon. in the beginning the scientist says that to find a cure, you have to determine the disease. when asked what this disease they have is, he says 'rage'.

I forgot about what the scientist said. Still, it could be an old Russian bio-weapon or something:)

Romero's trilogy never stated how or why the zombies came about. I think the closest to an explanation was in Day where one character says "when there's no more room in Hell, the dead shall walk the Earth." I guess both movies try to say similar things with their zombies...

As far as zombie movies go, it wasn't that bad. It did tend to focus more, however, on the way that the people react psychologically to the idea that the world is ending around them and they might be the only ones left alive, as opposed to 'holy crap, they're gonna kill us!' like in most zombie films. The best part about it though is the way that the infected moved. If only the zombies in games acted that way... now that could make a scary game.

I really enjoyed the desolate atmosphere that the movie had. I also had to wonder how they did all the shots of those empty streets and stuff.

I think it was about the human condition and a virus. If it was solely about human condition then the part about coming into contact with the blood of the infected doesnt make sense. I'm guessing that the rage that the chimps experienced in that laboratory was so potent that it somehow turned into an infection. Yes that's a pretty crazy and far fetched plot idea, but hell there's zombies in this movie. Or zombie like people.

I really enjoyed this movie. The plot didnt really thrill me a whole lot, with exception to the parts about the quarantine and people continuing to kill people. It was the feel that the movie had that really did it for me.

david_a said:

It came out on Friday in the US. Since it's British, I would imagine it came out a lot earlier in Europe.

English movies - I love them. Great cime serials, social dramas, action films, funnies (those "Carry on" movies :), science fiction and especially horror movies, including the "trashy" ones. Let us think of the 70ties, so many unique english horror movies were produced in that decade. Anyone remembers "Asphyx"? Stuff like that. And then: Was not Poe british? See...

Hurrah for "Pinewood Studios" ... ahem.

Dingus Khan said:

I really enjoyed the desolate atmosphere that the movie had. I also had to wonder how they did all the shots of those empty streets and stuff.

Apparently they filmed between 3am and 6am in the morning, but they still had to employ a few people to keep pilled up clubbers away :)

ahh right, i would have expected it to come out a little bit later in the US, but not like 6 months LOL

anybody over there seen "Kevin and perry go large"? XD

david_a said:

"when there's no more room in Hell, the dead shall walk the Earth."

Dawn of the Dead, not Day. Get your movies straight. :P

I downloaded the movie yesterday from kazaa, havent watched it yet.

I saw part of the intro to make sure it wasnt a renamed movie, it reminded me of 12 monkey a bit.

personally, from what Ive heard about the story, its gonna be lame. Total zombie ripoff. I'm a big fan of zombie movies, and George Romero kicks ass. I have all three movies on vhs from the night, dawn, and day series. None of the newer zombieish movies have even touched em.


That other guy, i think his name is Russo, who helped in the original B&W movie, went totally fag and made those lame ass Return movies. I hope he rots in hell. He made it soo easy for everyone else to make shitty movies with zombies (Night of The Comet, anyone?)


in other words

heh, fag.

Hey, the return movies weren't that bad. Well... I guess they kinda were (especially the second one), but it's not like Dawn of the Dead was that great either. FYI, there is currently a remake of that movie in the works. Sounds cool, but unfortunately it's target audience is the more 'hip' crowd, not the classic zombie movie fans.

Out of curiosity, has anyone seen the movie Zombie? I've heard it's good, and have actually seen the sequels for sale, but I have yet to see it for myself.

Tobester said:

Dawn of the Dead, not Day. Get your movies straight. :P

Damnit! Well, there's a similar conversation in Day, I just assumed it was from there.

personally, from what Ive heard about the story, its gonna be lame. Total zombie ripoff. I'm a big fan of zombie movies, and George Romero kicks ass. I have all three movies on vhs from the night, dawn, and day series. None of the newer zombieish movies have even touched em.

The story is just Day rehashed for the second half; be warned.

EllipsusD said:

Hey, the return movies weren't that bad. Well... I guess they kinda were (especially the second one), but it's not like Dawn of the Dead was that great either. FYI, there is currently a remake of that movie in the works. Sounds cool, but unfortunately it's target audience is the more 'hip' crowd, not the classic zombie movie fans.

WHAT?! Dawn of the Dead is the greatest zombie movie of all time, and a pretty damn good movie in general too! The remake sounds horrid, though.

Out of curiosity, has anyone seen the movie Zombie? I've heard it's good, and have actually seen the sequels for sale, but I have yet to see it for myself.

STAY AWAY! I bought the DVD for $10, and it's not worth it. The picture quality is atrocious and the movie itself is retarded. The only thing mildly good about it is the zombie makeup and the amount of gore. The story is just an exploitation of Dawn of the Dead's popularity at the time.

Yeah, there's a new Dawn remake in the works.

From what i've heard, instead of four people trapped in a mall, it's going to be something like a dozen.

I've heard of Zombie but i've yet to get it. It is on my list of shit to get tho.

And no, all of the Return movies are gay. ESPECIALLY the second one. ick.

Sadly I have yet to see Day of the Dead (I've never had the chance to rent it around here), but that should soon change. Anyone wanting to see the movie, and especially those of you who love the movie might want to take a look at this. What makes it even better is that it comes out only four days after Jason vs Freddy hits theatres (a new poster for that is out, btw).

Thinking about it... have any of you seen the moive Dead Alive? If not then you may want to rent it. Just don't expect it to be serious or anything, but it is entertaining (it does mean to be bad).

Dingus Khan said:

I really enjoyed the desolate atmosphere that the movie had. I also had to wonder how they did all the shots of those empty streets and stuff.

As NiGHTMARE said, a lot of it was filmed at quiet times. But it's been out here (UK) for ages, and I already have the DVD. On that is a brief cut-scene with the actors doing something at the side of a motorway. There are moving vehicles all over the place. I guess what they did for some scenes was to make a matte of a still shot of the whole area with no traffic, and use that to mask out the areas where there was only supposed to be desolation.

As far as the movie goes, I found it genuinely disturbing. Not especially scary. I can't remember the last time I was scared watching a movie. But, there was something disturbing about it. It preyed on my mind and kept leaping into my thoughts days after I had first seen it. There was something quite visceral and unpleasant about a lot of it. I think some of that can be attributed to the fact it is set in the UK. The entire world is used to seeing American movies, set in America and "affecting" American citizens. I find watching a UK based movie makes it more personal and "real". It "brings it home" so to speak (well, if you live in the UK). It is also quite British in feel, in a way that non British viewers may not notice or "get" (In jokes, well known British scenes desolated, Manchester burning etc). Of course, that could equally well explain why the film may be getting a luke warm reception elsewhere.

And on the zombie thing. It actually bugs me a little that people keep on referring to it as a zombie movie. It isn't really. I know it shares a LOT of common themes with zombie movies, but the victims of rage are very un-zombie like in the way they move and their motivation. No lumbering undead corpses in an endless search for brains to gorge on, but fast moving, hyped up, crazed, living victims of a disease whose motivation is the further spread of the disease, to the cost of many of the host organisms own survival needs - even eating.

EllipsusD said:

Thinking about it... have any of you seen the moive Dead Alive? If not then you may want to rent it. Just don't expect it to be serious or anything, but it is entertaining (it does mean to be bad).

a great movie. i mean, it has zombies fucking. and lawnmower death (not the band). it's originally known as 'brain-dead', and it's by peter jackson, who also created 'bad taste', 'meet the feebles', and those pesky 'lord of the rings' movies. see if you can figure that shit out. i picture the guys who just procured more money than is in god's checking account to make a trilogy of films based on possibly the most legendary and revered fantasy tale of all time watching the scene in 'dead-alive' where the guy eats the severed ear and thinking "THIS IS THE ONE."