28 Years Later Is Once Again Asking Very Big Questions About ...

28 Days Later is a film I hold near and dear to my heart. Danny Boyle’s horror classic came onto the scene in 2002 and single-handedly revitalized zombie cinema with its lo-fi approach to the end of the world, turning lumbering undead corpses into ferocious monsters willing to run marathons in pursuit of human flesh. Creatures driven by nothing but pure, unbridled Rage. It terrified, intrigued, and inspired me as a child, and two decades later it still does.

Naturally, I’m protective of its world, narrative, and characters. By some miracle, 28 Weeks Later was a compelling sequel with similarly intimate themes, exploring how human beings making even the simplest of decisions can send the world into chaos. Acting on our thoughts of passion, guilt, love, desire, and righteousness can doom society if we let them, leaving everyone else to pick up the pieces. I love the chaos, so the 28 Years Later trilogy pushing us so far forward into the future leaves me with plenty of questions, both good and bad.

The 28 Years Later Trilogy Is Very Different Than What Came Before

Both of the previous films are so unsettling because they aren’t afraid to explore how quickly society fell apart once the Rage Virus was unleashed. People can be infected with a single drop of blood, turning into zombies seconds later. One infected being in a large crowd spells doom for thousands, and by the time you’re aware of the danger, it’s too late.

It is pure terror, convincingly explaining to both the viewer and characters in this universe how it was impossible to come back from the brink. But then the zombies starved to death, like a human being would if they were acting on pure instinct with nothing to sustain them.

The idea of this society-collapsing threat fading away thanks to the reality of human biology is fascinating, and something other zombie media has seldom tried to explore. Rather than the classic trope of having to do terrible things to stay alive, the humans waited things out until zombies collapsed of their own accord.

The virus had spread to a point of irrelevance, allowing governments outside the UK to swoop in and reshape this empire in their own image. Despite its simplicity, there are multiple layers to these films and the ways they envision such a tried-and-true horror staple, which brings us to 28 Years Later and its debut trailer.

Starring Aaron-Taylor Johnson, Jodie Comer, and Ralph Innes, the upcoming trilogy takes us back to the United Kingdom and to a solitary community on the isle of Lindsfarne, also known as Holy Island. It’s connected to the mainland by a giant causeway (though often covered by high tide), and for decades, a group of survivors has called it home.

How exactly the universe has evolved remains unclear, but it seems that the outbreak persisted and society was placed into a continuous stream of very strict quarantines until, eventually, the world fell apart. Survivors are seen wielding bows and arrows, leading around mules and livestock, or adhering to traditional roles in society, each of which allows them to survive and work together in a world on the perpetual brink.

The Zombie Sequel Is All About Religion, Survival, and Human Beings

A major turning point in the narrative eventually leads Aaron-Taylor Johnson’s character and a small child to venture to the mainland in search of something, leading them to cross paths with not only the infected, but other humans that have formed their own religious sects and Mad Max-esque gangs. It’s very post-apocalyptic and covered in obvious religious imagery and ideas, something I assume will become a mainstay throughout the trilogy.

I have so many questions, and despite fearing that much of the imagery and overall concept of the trilogy feels derivative, I have faith in Danny Boyle and Alex Garland to put a distinct spin on things. Is this community even aware that the world has ended or the virus itself has died out, splitting themselves off from society to such an extent that they now risk dooming it all over again? Or has the idea of infected starving to death been entirely retconned? There is clearly something more that the trailer isn’t letting on, and how exactly this commune comes to function and reacts to the rage virus will play a big part in whether the film works or not.

Later scenes in the trailer follow a military unit of some form cautiously moving through the dark before being attacked by either humans or infected, leading me to believe there has to be some sort of crossover between this isolated community and the modern world. Nothing is as it seems, and this trailer wants us to draw conclusions before going back on ourselves again and again.

If the infected are now just zombies that live forever, I'd be bummed out, but there is enough imagery in this trailer - such as a zombie rising from the ground with little to no meat on its bones who might just be Cillian Murphy - that our expectations are going to be subverted.

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