28 Weeks Later & 28 Days Later [DVD] [2007] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Ah, what better way to spend 3 1/2 hours than watching bloody projectile vomiting in high-def?

Perhaps inspired by Stephen King's The Stand The Stand (Signet) where a deadly virus escapes a secret government facility and obliterates the world as we know it, Director Danny Boyle Trainspotting and writer Alex Garland (rumored to be involved with the film adaptation of the video game Halo...sweeeeet!) take the killer virus theme to the next level in 2002 with 28 Days Later.

28 Days opens with what happens when animal activists go wild. In a short, violent sequence we see how a voraciously contagious virus that turns people into raging lunatics gets released into society. Flash to pre-Scarecrow Cillian Murphy Batman Begins waking up several days later in a hospital bed after most of the rest of society has been affected by the germs. (Coincidentally{?} we see this same beginning to a world gone mad in two other recent zombie-type stories: The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye and Resident Evil / Resident Evil: Apocalypse ).

Boyle does an excellent job of directing Murphy from his hospital bed into a fight for survival in a new world. And it turns out that Murphy and the folks that he bands up with need to fear more than just 'the infected'. 28 Days is frightening, suspenseful, thrilling, disgusting, realistic, emotionally-charging...all the ingredients in the Horror genre that make up a Classic.

Too bad 28 Weeks Later didn't follow suit.

28 Weeks Later is a good Horror movie, but a bad sequel. 28 Weeks (fledgling) director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo dropped the ball on several fronts...most importantly that the Rage Virus was supposed to be extremely contagious...coming into contact with just one drop of the contagion should render anyone 'infected'; part of 28 Weeks is the introduction of potentially immune people (just like in The Stand), and that was not lost on me. But there is 'infected' spatter everywhere and on everyone in this movie that seems to have no effect, and that takes away a lot of the realism and continuity that held true in 28 Days.

28 Weeks also fails in the way it delivers its scares. In Weeks there's lot's of scare moments that unnecessarily rely more on focusing on an image where one second their is nothing there and it's a deadly silent, then the next second there's a frightening image crashing into the shot accompanied by a loud "PUNG!!!" (like someone landing on the low keys of a piano). Granted, in DTS 5.1, it effectively knocked me of my chair each time, but it was quite dissimilar to 28 Days where the situations and images alone were enough to knock me out of my chair without the 'BOO!' effect. (Only Blu Ray [no 2-pack available] offers DTS; standard versions will still knock you out of your chair with the Dolby 5.1 option.)

28 Weeks also breaks down in the reality department where tight, military-secure areas are breached by civilians (including teenagers) and a Rage-infected person is not only able to breach dozens of secure areas, but also manages to appear everywhere in the movie.

It's the small (important) things like these that took a great movie in 28 Days and turned out an average sequel in 28 Weeks. So overall, Boyle's 5-star Horror/Drama goes to a 3-star Fresnadillo follow-up for me.

Final words: Buy 28 Days Later for your collection; rent 28 Weeks Later.

These 2 movies are about a virus called "Rage" that is borne by body-fluids and within 20 seconds of exposure to it you have it. The movies take place in London & surrounding area. If you like zombie movies and horror movies, this is the stuff. Not for children I wouldn't think. Lots of bloody gore, infected people chasing & eating people. Infected people being shot & blown up. Both movies are very scary in that the people who are not infected are very few, and the infected people are chasing them down all the time - very graphic and scary. I loved both movies, but I thought the second movie was done better. I couldn't wait to watch them again!

These 2 films are the best movies I've seen in many, many years. I've always been a fan of the genre, but many times I've been disappointed a few failed attempts. 28 Days Later it was surprising, and 28 Weeks Later is wonderful, even higher than the original. I pray to all the saints that a third party is involved and that people with the ability, ingenuity, creativity and professionalism of those who have been to these two (Boyle and Fresnadillo please!).
28 Weeks Later is the BEST film of 2007