THE OMEGA MAN MEETS NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

A Film Review of "28 Days Later…"

Copyright 2003 Glenn Walker

You have a bike accident and slip into a coma. When you wake up there's nobody there. There's nobody anywhere. You wander the deserted city dazed and confused until… you find out what happened.

Mankind has been taken out -in twenty days, hence the title- by a highly contagious quick acting disease that causes uncontrollable rage and an aversion to sunlight. Sounds a bit like The Omega Man, doesn't it?

Coma-boy Jim, played by Cillian Murphy, runs afoul of 'the infected' and is saved by survivors who know how to fight them. It's sounding a bit like Night of the Living Dead, now isn't it? Well, that's what this is. It's The Omega Man meets Night of the Living Dead.

This pseudo-zombie flick is directed by Danny Boyle who is best known for his filmography work on Trainspotting and A Life Less Ordinary with an almost Dario Argento flair. His use of digital video for the movement of 'the infected' is inspired and doesn't get tired.

Also impressive is the offbeat and properly suspenseful music track by Brian Eno and John Murphy. This is a good horror flick and has some genuine scares in it. Be warned however, there is an alternate ending tagged on after the credits. If you don't want to leave the theatre hating what is really a good film - leave when the credits start.