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28 Days Later (Widescreen Edition)

28 Days Later (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $27.98
Your Price: $25.18
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The end is extremely nigh
Review: This is actually a line of graffitti written on the wall of some church as depicted in the film.
"28 days later" is overall a great horror film and quite possibly a classic in its genre even though it treads already stepped on ground it still has enough originality and verve in it to bring it through.

As a man wakes up from a coma after a month only to find out that humans have been almost wiped out by a deadly "rage virus" that makes its victims extremely aggressive and murderous a story of ultra doom unfolds filmed masterfully by Doyle (Trainspotting).
The scenes where the protagonist walks about in a deserted London where cars have been abandoned in the middle of the streets and there's no soul to be seen anywhere while screaming "helloooooo" are second to none when it comes to depicting catastrophe on celluloid.
Eventually, and after being attacked by raging zombies, he figures out that while he was comatose the world has turned into an arena of murder induced by the virus. Understanding the extreme danger he's under he teams up with other non-infected survivors and they try to figure out what to do but in the mode of a blind man searching for something which he doesn't know what it looks like.
The ened of the film dissapoints somewhat as the few survivors become prisoners of a near-psychosis-army-major and his few men who've set barracks somewhere in the countryside and gets further spoiled as the final scene emits out of the blue hope when the entire film actually works in showing there's no such possibility. Pity because those last 20 seconds of the closing scene are enough to take the film off its course. An ultra doom-end would not only have been very appropriate but the scenario indeed screams for an ending that leaves no hope and no light at the end of any tunnel.

Strangely enough, for those that've read Stephen King's "the stand" a lot of the scenes and ideas incorporated here seem to be lifted straight off that book. They fit like a glove of course but I wonder how much of the script was inspired of that novel.
Cinematically speaking it's strikingly obvious that Boyle pays hommage to classic horror directors like Romero and Carpenter. The raging zombie theme has Romero written all over it and the excellent soundtrack reminds immediately of Carpenter as does the sequence with the survivors being emprisoned in the army barracks while under literal siege which reminisces of "Assault on precinct 13"..

Beautiful camera work, beautiful directing, incredible photography, brilliant soundtrack only marred by the ending of the film which should have been avoided. All the -outside Britain- actors are giving excellent performances (esp. the main character as well as the army major) and exactly the fact that they are not known faces helps make the film more believable.
Along with Donnie Darko (dont miss it if you havent seen it)28 days later are easily the top indie films of last year not to metnion of the last 5 years.
Great stuff and a welcome return to classic horror themes for lovers of the genre.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: 3rd TIME THE CHARM?
Review: I may have enjoyed this movie better if I had not already seen two other versions before this. The first version was called The last man on Earth with Vincent Price-he was left alone to survive when a virius wiped out the population changing them to zombies. The second version was called The Omega Man- he was left alone when a virius wiped out the population changing them to vampires. In 28 Days the hero is left alone(almost) to survive when a virus wipes out the populatiion and changes them to zombie/vampires. It starts out pretty bad when some animal rights people break in to a highly secure building of secret experiments without any trouble at all. They get inside and blindly release some chimps carring the Disease called "Rage" of course the chimps attack the animal rights people and rage spreads from there. 28 days later a guy in a coma wakes up to a empty London and he connects with a few survivers and they try to survive. The ending is bad , like they just threw it together becaus they were running out of disc space or somthing. be prepared for a lot of throwing up by the zombies too. Could have been a good re-make with todays special effects but it crashes and burns leaving the viewer feeling drained,bored and weak.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Lame and awful
Review: It started out pretty good, but quickly went downhill. By the time it ended, this movie truly sucked. Do not waste your time on this. If you rent it I'll guarantee you'll shut it off half way through. If you buy it, you'll sit and suffer as you watch the whole thing through. I mean you bought it so you HAVE to watch it right? The story sucked, the soldiers sucked, and the ending REALLY sucked.

Check out the special features. The alternative ending is a hoot. It's not an alternative ending, it's an alternative movie. They had no idea where the hell they were going with this. Just a bad bad bad movie. Terrible in every way.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Disapointing for 28 days after
Review: What was this? It was cool for like 5 mins when he was the only one there walking around by himself. Very boring I couldnt't wait for it to be over.Every movie gets one star for trying.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: this movie sucked
Review: This movie was not good at all, it sucked big time nobody get this i hate it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A terrifying, yet excellent cinematic experience...
Review: When a group of Animal Rights activists raids a British research facility they have no idea what they are about to release. 28 days later, Jim (Cillian Murphy) regains consciousness and he finds himself abandoned in his hospital bed after an accident. He quickly realizes that London is as deserted as the hospital, and he begins a small quest for signs of human life. In his search, he encounters some ferocious characters that attempt to kill him, but he is saved by two hardened individuals. They unveil the truth behind the disappearance of the British people. 28 Days Later... displays a vicious horror story about humanity struggling with hope and the loss of hope where the interaction between the characters brings out several philosophical notions such as existentialism, Darwinism, and love. These viewpoints are brought to life in this dark story as Boyle conveys his intimidating message to a frightened audience. This leaves the audience with a terrifying, yet excellent cinematic experience.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: WARNING! DON'T GO INTO THIS MOVIE ALREADY TIRED...
Review: Because if you do, you'll fall asleep within the first half-hour or so. This is due to a long, slow, 15-minute scene with slow music in the background in which the main character, Jim, has awakened from a coma and is walking around the city wondering what happened while he was asleep. Although this scene is well made, filmed and provocative, it goes on and on, and you'll soon be bored with it and will want to walk out. You may be awakened by a startling sequence in the near-by church where he encounters a few "infected" church-goers and the preacher himself. If you've made it through the long and ponderous first half-hour, get ready for a ride of a movie. Although this movie is almost unbearingly depressing, the action takes you out of that darkness and has your heart pounding with fear and hope, and yet again sadness. This film does have an incredible soundtrack (even the first tune, though its too slow for its own good [and the movie's as well]), and the end sequence with the soldiers in the house is nothing short of fantastic with tricky photography and writing (making the audience think that Jim has become infected, deepening the provocativeness on how man reacts to violence and death) and this film is also filled with so much drama, it grabs you by the throat, forgetting to breathe. Oh, one more thing, why did they call it "the scariest movie of the year"?! Although it contains horror, this film is drama-suspense.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: BELIEVE THE HYPE
Review: In Brief

Imagine waking up to find that you are alone, there is no one - you walk the streets of London searching and when all else fails you turn to the church where you encounter for the first time the horror of what has happened. The RAGE virus, transmitted in a drop of blood and devastating in seconds has within 28 days overwhelmed the country. The population is devastated, those infected are ripped apart from the inside both physically and mentally, leaving them in a permanent state of murderous rage, now only a handful of survivors are left. They begin to salvage what remains of their lives only for the nightmare to turn into a terror they cannot escape, as they realise its not only the virus that threatens them now.

Review

Danny Boyle is back on form, lets choose to ignore what I thought of The Beach and continue. This film will do for the Zombie flick what An American Werewolf in London did for that genre. What first strikes you about this film is that it is shot entirely on DV, yes that's right and its obvious! The degradation in the picture quality as opposed to film works magnificently giving the work an eerie dreamlike quality on one hand, while juxtaposing that with a gritty harshness that strikes home with the inescapable nightmare of what is happening. Indeed, the use of tilted shots from high angles gives the work a contemporary feel, creating connotations of CCTV camera footage while at the same time adding to the suspense that the central characters are always being watched and are never really alone. Add to that the intense horror, fast camera work & editing and this is a movie that one should not miss as it is sure to spark a stream of copycat films as Blair Witch did previously.

This is not American, only British filmmakers and actors could have made this and stripped that sense of saran-wrapped packaging that is typically attached to these sorts of films. This feels real, and the pacing works well, it isn't one corpse after another, there are lulls that make the sudden impact of horror believable. The cast play their respective roles effectively, portraying what within the space of this film, are tangibly real people. While it is on occasion graphically nasty, it's the horror of humanity, or should that be horror in trying to rediscover ones humanity, that Murphy, Harris & Eccleston et all deliver so well.

From the frame enhanced shots of fire that recalled in my mind old atomic test footage & the movement of the virus victims, to the simplicity of the signs of lost loved ones around Eros in Piccadilly, that invoked parallels with September 11th, this film works well on so many levels. In my opinion the most striking of sequences involved Murphy discovering his parents dead; prior to entering the bedroom where they lay he is bathed in golden sunlight through opaque blinds that block the outside world, as if to remind us that life continues whether it be here or somewhere else.

So didn't anything about this film annoy me? Was it really that perfect? To be honest it was that dam good and I don't say that very often. However I will say this: that on occasion the music did seem to date the picture to era of BBC television made films from yesteryear, and at one particular moment a speech by the young actress Megan Burns seemed undermined by the soundtrack making what should have been a poignant moment quite corny. The only other grating issue was the overwhelming amount of product placement within the film - I guess films have to be made somehow - though any film that involves the irony of a virus that wipes out mankind from the streets of London but leaves the pigeons ought to be forgiven for that I guess!

The Verdict

Only Exodus or Revelation's have come as close as the apocalyptic horror of this new text. In the light of recent events this film becomes all the more frightening due to the reality principle that works so well, but at least the distributors on this occasion haven't feared releasing something that in my opinion really should not be missed. It may be a horror film but that doesn't mean it has to be crap - This time Danny Boyle has proved that.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Surprising
Review: This movie is great. I don't really understand the blasting reviews, I loved it, seemingly for the reasons that others hated it. If it had been made with insanely artistic computer animation and eloquent characters, it would not have the feel to it that it has, the realism works.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Surprising
Review: This movie is great. I don't know why the blasting reviews, I loved it. While not geniously original, the storyline doesn't falter, and graphically it is at the very least interesting.


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