| 28 Days Later | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Danny Boyle |
| Written by | Alex Garland |
| Produced by | Andrew Macdonald |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Anthony Dod Mantle |
| Edited by | Chris Gill |
| Music by | John Murphy |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Fox Searchlight Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 113 minutes[1] |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $8 million[1] |
| Box office | $82.8 million[2][3] |
28 Days Later (sometimes stylised with anellipsis as28 Days Later...[4]) is a 2002 Britishpost-apocalyptichorror film directed byDanny Boyle and written byAlex Garland. It starsCillian Murphy as a bicycle courier who awakens from acoma to discover that the accidental release of a highly contagious, aggression-inducingvirus has caused thebreakdown of society.Naomie Harris,Christopher Eccleston,Megan Burns, andBrendan Gleeson appear in supporting roles.
Garland took inspiration fromGeorge A. Romero'sNight of the Living Dead film series andJohn Wyndham's 1951 novelThe Day of the Triffids. Filming took place in various locations in the United Kingdom in 2001. The crew filmed for brief periods during early mornings and temporarily closed streets in London to capture recognisable and typically busy areas when they were deserted.John Murphy composedan original soundtrack for the film, with other instrumental songs byBrian Eno,Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and other artists.
28 Days Later was released on 1 November 2002 in the United Kingdom byFox Searchlight Pictures. It received generally positive reviews and was a commercial success. Grossing $82.8 million worldwide on a budget of $8 million, it became one of the most profitable horror films of 2002. Reviewers praised Boyle's direction, the cast's performances, Garland's screenplay, the atmosphere and soundtrack.
Despite Boyle not considering it azombie film,28 Days Later is credited with reinvigorating the genre and influencing a revival in it a decade after its release, with its fast-running infected and character-driven drama.[5][6] It has been featured in several "best-of" film lists. The film's success launched itstitular film series, featuring three further instalments,28 Weeks Later (2007),28 Years Later (2025), and28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026). A wider franchise also includes the graphic novel28 Days Later: The Aftermath (2007), and the comic book series28 Days Later (2009–2011).
A group of animal rights activists infiltrate alaboratory inCambridge which houses abnormally aggressivechimpanzees. Despite a scientist warning that the chimpanzees are infected with a highly contagious "Rage" virus, an activist frees one; it attacks her and, within seconds of exposure, she succumbs to the virus. She immediately attacks the others, and the virus spreads rapidly acrossGreat Britain, resulting in totalsocietal collapse.
Twenty-eight days later, bicycle courierJim, who had a traffic accident and fell into acoma before the outbreak, wakes inSt Thomas' Hospital inLondon to find it deserted. Leaving the hospital, Jim wanders the empty streets of London, discovers newspapers headlining a mass evacuation, and eventually enters a church and witnesses the aftermath of a massacre, presumably caused by the infected people. An infected priest and members of the public appear and chase after Jim, but he is rescued by survivors Selena and Mark, who take him to their refuge in aTube station shop.
At Jim's request, the group travels on foot to his parents' house inDeptford, where he learns that they have died bysuicide. When dusk settles in, the group decides to stay the night. Staying up, Jim reminisces over family memories and lights a candle, drawing the infected neighbours to the house. Mark is bitten while eliminating them, forcing Selena to kill him. Jim and Selena make their way upBalfron Tower after seeing a makeshiftsignal lamp in a flat belonging tocab driver Frank and his young daughter Hannah. Frank plays them a military radio broadcast offering protection and "salvation from infection" at a blockade outsideManchester. Frank plans to take Hannah to the blockade, and the four agree to travel together. Reaching Manchester, they find the blockade deserted. Frank, frustrated, kicks a gate on which a dead infected body is balanced. A drop of blood from the corpse falls into Frank's eye, infecting him. As he warns the others to keep their distance, hidden soldiers appear and shoot him dead.
The soldiers bring Jim, Selena and Hannah to a heavily fortified country house under the command of Major Henry West, and treat their guests to a tour and banquet. However, the sanctuary turns out to be a ruse; West reveals to Jim that his broadcast was intended to lure female survivors intosexual slavery to maintain his troops' morale, giving them faith in a future where the human race survives. Jim and Sergeant Farrell refuse to go along with this scheme, so West orders them to be imprisoned. While chained, Farrell tells Jim that the infection has not spread across the Atlantic and that Britain has been quarantined from the rest of the world. Two soldiers shoot Farrell and then argue, allowing Jim to escape into the woods. Jim notices a jetcontrail in the sky, showing proof that the outside world is still active.
After luring West away from the mansion with a siren and killing a soldier, Jim returns and frees Private Mailer, an infected soldier kept chained up for observation, to infect and kill the remaining soldiers. One, Corporal Mitchell, attempts to abduct Selena, but Jim kills him. Jim, Selena, and Hannah attempt to escape in Frank's cab, but West, who has hidden in the back seat, shoots Jim in the stomach. Hannah retaliates by putting the cab in reverse, causing Mailer to burst through the rear window and drag West out before mauling him to death as the car drives away.
Another twenty-eight days later, Jim recovers at a remote cottage inCumbria, where the infected are shown lying on the roads, dying of starvation. As aHawker Hunter jet flies overhead, Jim, Selena, and Hannah unfurl a huge cloth banner spelling the word "HELLO". All three survivors wave at the jet, and wonder among themselves if the pilot had spotted them.
Additionally, Alex Palmer, Bindu De Stoppani, and Jukka Hiltunen portray the animal liberation activists, whileDavid Schneider portrays a scientist at the laboratory. Christopher Dunne and Emma Hitching appear as Jim's parents.Toby Sedgwick plays an infected priest encountered by Jim. Sedgwick would later return to the series in a behind the scenes role, acting as the movement coach for28 Years Later (2025).
Early influences on writerAlex Garland included theGeorge A. Romero filmsNight of the Living Dead (1968) andDawn of the Dead (1978), which he loved as a child. Garland claimed to have largely forgotten about the zombie genre until he played the video gameResident Evil (1996), which reminded him how much he loved zombies after "having not really encountered zombies for quite a while".[7][8] DirectorDanny Boyle liked Garland's screenplay for a proposed zombie film, having directedthe 2000 film adaptation of Garland's 1996 novelThe Beach.[8]
Rather than portraying zombies as supernatural beings, the film'srage virus was conceived as a biological contagion.[9] Boyle and Garland intended the virus to amplify an inherent aspect of human nature—psychological aggression—depicting rage as an uncontrollable viral force intrinsic to humanity rather than merely a physical infection.[9] This was designed to serve as a metaphor for contemporary social rage, includingroad rage,air rage, and other everyday aggressive behaviours.[9] On the DVDaudio commentary, Garland said the idea of Britain being under quarantine was developed during production, replacing an earlier conception of the outbreak as a worldwide contagion that included a discarded idea of infection boarding a plane to the United States; he linked the quarantine framing to contemporary UK anxieties aboutBSE (mad cow disease) andfoot-and-mouth disease.[10]
Garland described the supermarket sequence as a deliberate nod to Romero'sDawn of the Dead, and the chained Infected as a nod to the character "Bub" inDay of the Dead.[11][12] Garland said he was thinking of the plantation dinner sequence fromApocalypse Now Redux when writing the soldiers' dinner scene.[13]
ProducerAndrew Macdonald had access to funding from theNational Lottery andpitched it toUniversal Pictures, who declined to support it. Budget constraints proved to be an issue, withChristopher Eccleston having to take an emergency pay cut.[8] In June 2001, it was reported thatFox Searchlight Pictures had picked up for co-financing as well as worldwide distribution.[14]
Boyle identifiedJohn Wyndham's 1951 novelThe Day of the Triffids as Garland's original inspiration for the story.[15][16][17]
Five months after the film was released in Europe, video game publisherNovaLogic hosted agraffiti competition in a cross-promotion with the gameDevastation (2003). The connection was owed mainly to the similar theme of a devastated world. The prizes consisted of signed screenplay copies and posters along with DVDs.[18] For the Infected, Boyle took inspiration from real-life diseases, particularlyEbola, with aspects ofrabies.[19]
On the DVD commentary, Boyle explains that with the aim of preserving thesuspension of disbelief, relatively unknown actors were cast in the film. Cillian Murphy had starred primarily in small independent films, while Naomie Harris had acted on British television as a child, and Megan Burns had only one previous film credit. However, Christopher Eccleston andBrendan Gleeson were well-knowncharacter actors. Murphy originally auditioned for the role with aStandard Southern British accent, as Jim was written to be English.[20][21] However, during filming, Boyle and Murphy decided to revert to the actor's natural accent, and rewrote the character as Irish.[20][21]James McAvoy auditioned for a role as an Infected.[22]
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The film features scenes set in normally bustling parts of London, such asWestminster Bridge,Piccadilly Circus,Horse Guards Parade andOxford Street. To depict these locations as desolate, the film crew closed off sections of street for minutes at a time, usually on Sunday mornings. They typically had around 45 minutes after dawn to shoot the locations devoid of members of the public and traffic, with closures lasting only "90 seconds or two minutes" at a time while traffic was held back by volunteer marshals (students and friends).[23]
The majority of the film (except for the final sequence when the military plane finds Jim, Selena, and Hannah, which was shot on35mm film) was shot onCanon XL1digital video (DV) cameras,[24][8] which were smaller and more manoeuvrable than traditional film cameras, which would have been impractical on such brief shoots. Boyle said the early London sequences avoided "litter[ing] the world with corpses", instead emphasising a more symbolic emptiness and atmosphere.[25] The scenes of the emptyM1 motorway were also filmed within limited periods; Boyle said police created a "rolling block" in both directions to produce a temporary corridor of empty road, giving the crew seven or eight minutes to shoot using multiple cameras.[26]
For the London scene in which Jim walks by an overturneddouble-decker bus, the film crew placed the bus on its side and removed it when the shot was finished, all within about 15–20 minutes.[27][28] The crew had askedWestminster City Council for permission to place the bus outsideDowning Street, which was denied; when they arrived there at 4am and nobody from the council was present, they placed the bus there anyway.[8]
TheSeptember 11 attacks took place during filming.[8] Boyle notes the parallel between the "missing persons" flyers seen at the beginning of the film and similar flyers posted in New York City in the wake of the attacks. Boyle said his crew probably would not have been granted permission to close offWhitehall for filming after the terrorist attacks, citing the production's ability to stage an overturned bus there before the attacks.[27][29]
The mansion used in the film wasTrafalgar Park nearSalisbury.[30][31] The old ruins used as the setting for an idyllic interlude in their journey to Manchester were those ofWaverley Abbey, Surrey. The end scenes of the film with Jim, Selena and Hannah living in a rural cottage were filmed aroundEnnerdale in Cumbria.[32] The production team hired anoptometrist to supervise with the redcontact lenses needed for cast members playing the infected.[8]
Boyle said the supermarket scene was filmed overnight at a Budgens on Tottenham Court Road using the store's overhead lighting; to save time, the crew avoided neon where possible and had the visual-effects house Clear paint out remaining neon in post-production.[33] Boyle said some pick-ups were shot by cinematographer Alwin Küchler because Anthony Dod Mantle was unavailable.[34]
Boyle said the film initially ended with Jim being shot, which marked the end of the first budget; after showing the cut to Fox, the production received additional funding and shot the final sequence months later.[35] After several different pitches for a new ending, with the original ending which featured Jim's death havingtested badly with audiences, the studio approved the ending eventually used. The crew arranged for a real jet to fly overhead for them to film, as this was cheaper than approximately £70,000 for acomputer-generated one.[8] Boyle said Fox funded the Lake District ending, and that the final rural sequence was shot on 35mm to make the film "feel like [it] had opened up".[36] Boyle said the overflight was filmed with an RAF jet standing in for the Finnish Air Force, and that the markings could not be changed.[37]
The DVD extras include three alternative endings, all of which conclude with Jim dying. One ending involves Jim dying of his gunshot wounds.[38] In another, Jim dreams of the accident that left him in a coma as he dies from his gunshot wounds.[39] The third, a more radical departure, was presented only instoryboards; instead of Frank being killed by soldiers after being infected, the other survivors tie him up and discover a research laboratory at the blockade, where Jim undergoes ablood transfusion in order to save Frank.[38] The US cinematic release included one of the alternative endings after the film's credits in response to intense online debates over whether or not it was a more appropriate conclusion than the official ending.[40]
The film's score was composed byJohn Murphy, featuringelectric guitar and atmosphericelectronic production. It also features tracks fromBrian Eno,Grandaddy andBlue States,[41] and was released in a combined score and song compilation in 2003. A heavily edited version of the track "East Hastings" by thepost-rock bandGodspeed You! Black Emperor appears in the film, but the track is excluded from the soundtrack, because Boyle could only obtain the rights to use it in the film.[42]
28 Days Later: The Soundtrack Album was released on 17 June 2003. A modified version of the track "In the House - In a Heartbeat" was used as the character Big Daddy's theme in the 2010 filmKick-Ass.[43] The same song was played in the 2012 advertisement campaign ofLouis Vuitton, "L'Invitation au voyage".[44] In 2019, the song was remixed and used in the video gameMetro Exodus.[45]
28 Days Later was a considerable success at the box office and became highly profitable on a budget of about £5 million. In the UK, it took in £6.1 million, while in the US, it became a surprise hit, taking over $45 million despite a limited release at fewer than 1,500 screens across the country.[1] The film garnered over$82.8 million worldwide.[46][3]
Critical views of the film were positive. On the film review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, 87% of 237 critics' reviews gave28 Days Later a positive review, with an average rating of 7.40/10. The site's consensus reads: "Kinetically directed by Danny Boyle,28 Days Later is both a terrifying zombie movie and a sharp political allegory."[47] OnMetacritic, the film received a rating of 73 out of 100 based on 39 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews".[48]
Bravo awarded it the 100th spot on their list of "The 100 Scariest Movie Moments" in a four-episode 2004 television series. The commentators explained that making the zombies move fast for the first time was a bright and effective idea.[49][50] In 2007,Stylus Magazine named it the second-bestzombie movie of all time.[51] The film also ranked at number 456 inEmpire's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.[52]Bloody Disgusting ranked the film seventh in their list of the Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade, with the article saying "Zombie movie? Political allegory? Humanist drama?28 Days Later is all of those things and more—a genuine work of art by a director at the top of his game. What's so amazing about the film is the way it so expertly balances scenes of white-knuckled, hell-for-leather horror with moments of intimate beauty."[6] In 2017, a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics forTime Out magazine ranked it the97th-best British film ever.[53] Rotten Tomatoes lists the film on its 100 Best Zombie Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer.[54] In July 2025, it was one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition ofThe New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century", finishing at number 156.[55] That same month, it ranked number 53 onRolling Stone's list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century,"[56] andThe Hollywood Reporter ranked the film at number six on its list of the "25 Best Horror Movies of the 21st Century."[57]
28 Days Later was notorious for being largely unavailable to purchase on home video, attributed to out-of-print copies and expensive secondhands of the film onBlu-ray,VHS,DVD, and digital unavailability from its original distributor,20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.[62] In February 2024, it was revealed that producerAndrew MacDonald had bought back the rights to the film fromDisney (parent company ofSearchlight Pictures), promptly selling it toSony Pictures (viaColumbia Pictures) along with the then-upcoming sequel28 Years Later and its future sequels, though28 Weeks Later (a film largely produced by Fox), would remain with the former.[63][64] In December 2024, following a largely favourable response from the public to the trailer for28 Years Later, Sony announced that it would be making28 Days Later available for purchase on digital and rental platforms from 18 December.[65] The following year, Sony announced a 4K remaster of the film to be released with asteelbook cover.[66]
28 Days Later had an impact on subsequenthorror films,[5] and is credited with starting a revival for thezombie genre,[7][5][67] along with theResident Evil franchise.[7][5][68] The2004 remake ofDawn of the Dead, for example, was influenced by28 Days Later.[7]28 Days Later was also followed by other infection films. Subsequent film examples include:Shaun of the Dead (2004),Black Sheep (2006),[67]I Am Legend (2007),[69]Planet Terror (2007),[5]Doomsday (2008),[70]Dead Snow (2009),[5]Zombieland (2009),[5]Devil's Playground (2010),[71]The Night Eats the World (2018),[72] andHemet, or the Landlady Don't Drink Tea (2023),[73] as well as books such asWorld War Z (2006),Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009) andWarm Bodies (2010),[5] and zombie-themed graphic novels and television shows such asThe Walking Dead.[67] The film was parodied in theSouth Park episode "Die Hippie, Die" (2005)[74] and inThe Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror XX" (2009).[75] The zombie revival trend lasted for more than a decade after28 Days Later, before eventually declining in popularity by the late 2010s.[5]
During theCOVID-19 pandemic, images of anational lockdown in the United Kingdom andstay-at-home orders elsewhere were compared to the opening sequence of28 Days Later.[76][77][78][79] In 2021, Megan Burns said of the film, "When I joined the cast of28 Days Later I had no idea of how big a cultural impact it would have and what a game-changer it would be to the 'zombie' genre. Even now after all these years, (or perhaps especially now with the current situation), people want to talk about the film and that's incredible."[80]Christopher Nolan said he cast Murphy asScarecrow inBatman Begins (2005) after being impressed by his performance in28 Days Later.[81]
A sequel,28 Weeks Later, was released on 11 May 2007.[82] Danny Boyle andAlex Garland took producing roles alongsideAndrew Macdonald. The plot revolves around the arrival of American troops about seven months after the incidents in the original film, attempting to restore order and revitalise a nearly desolate Britain. The cast includesRobert Carlyle,Rose Byrne,Jeremy Renner,Imogen Poots,Harold Perrineau,Catherine McCormack, Mackintosh Muggleton andIdris Elba.
A third film,28 Years Later, was released on 20 June 2025, its development having been announced in January 2024. Danny Boyle had said in March 2007 that he would be interested in making a third film in the series,28 Months Later.[83] In 2019, he said "Alex Garland and I have a wonderful idea for the third part".[84]28 Years Later is considered the first instalment in a potential trilogy, with Boyle directing the first film and Garland writing all three. With a planned $75 million budget per instalment, the duo will also produce the trilogy alongside the original producer Andrew Macdonald and former Fox Searchlight Pictures headPeter Rice.[85]
The fourth film,28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, was directed byNia DaCosta and filmed back-to-back with its predecessor. It premiered in the United Kingdom on 13 January 2026 as part of a double feature with28 Years Later, followed by individual releases in the UK on 14 January and the United States on 16 January. The plot continues the narrative of the previous film and reintroduces the character portrayed by Cillian Murphy from28 Days Later,[86] setting up the fifth instalment of the franchise.[87]
Following the success of28 Years Later andThe Bone Temple, Sony confirmed that the third and final film of the planned28 Years Later trilogy is in development, with Danny Boyle returning as director and Alex Garland writing.[88]
In 2007,Fox Atomic Comics, in association withHarperCollins, published28 Days Later: The Aftermath, agraphic novel written bySteve Niles. The work serves as a tie-in to the films, depicting events surrounding the Rage virus outbreak and providing background that connects28 Days Later with its sequel28 Weeks Later.[89]
A separate monthly comic book series, also titled28 Days Later, was launched in 2009 byBoom! Studios following the closure of Fox Atomic. The series continues the story of Selena, one of the film's central characters, and explores her actions and whereabouts between the events of the two films.[90][91]
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