23 years ago, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland teamed up to kickoff one of the best horror trilogies of the modern era with 28 DAYS LATER.

Boyle had already delivered 'Trainspotting" and "The Beach". This was Garland's first screenplay and he would become a frequent partner with Boyle.

You can see why in this haunting, explosive and violent film that leans in on George Romero territory, with a twist.

The killing humans here are infected with "Rage" a fast moving virus with a 15 second incubation period that brings the dead back to life. Their eyes blaze red and they're permanently pissed off, but easier to kill the second time around than Romero's zombies.

But don't get me wrong. They are FAST, they are always drawn to sound or light at night, but appear to hide during the day, "I Am Legend" style.

After an opening scene that shows how this pandemic got started, Boyle brilliantly executes our main story. Bike messenger Jim (a very young Cillian Murphy from "Oppenheimer") wakes up in a London ICU hospital bed after a long coma. But where is everyone? No doctors, no nurses, no patients, nobody period.

Boyle stages some incredible visuals as Jim walks outside, across the Westminster Bridge and through the heart of London in complete isolation.

There is NO ONE else in sight.

Eventually, Jim does run into some additional survivors.

In her first big screen role, the always terrific Naomie Harris (Skyfall, Black Bag) stars as Selena, a resourceful survivor who's Jim's first human contact. Harris is excellent, intense and drives the story.

Brendan Gleeson (The Bashees of Inisherin, Troy) is Frank, holed up on a high floor of an apartment building with his teenage daughter Hannah (Megan Burns).

It's interesting to watch this film again now and see how Garland's themes that he first explored here have echoed in his later films like "Civil War" and "Annihilation".

As Jim, Selena, Frank and Hannah seek safety and answers from a military outpost, what they find is as far from a stereotypical refuge. Garland likes exploring how humans interact in time of crisis and disaster.

If you know and like Garland's films as much as I do (Ex Machina, Civil War and Annihilation were all in my top films the year they were released) you know that Garland is dark. Damn dark, he but always delivers unexpected turns exploring the jet black side of our human nature.

His observations and the characters that express them are not always pleasant to watch, but the lesser side of each of us rarely is.

Major Henry West (Christopher Eccleston from "True Detective") is an enigma, running the makeshift military encampment as some sort of killing field/day camp for unhinged young soldiers that have seen way too much death for the past month.

The ending, which I won't discuss here, feels like a bit of a disconnect compared to the tone of what has come before, but that's a minor quibble.

Boyle reinvigorated the zombie thriller with this low budget (only $8 million) blast that grossed ten times that at the box office. Murphy and Harris are both terrific, showing early signs of the reliable screen presence they'd continue to expand more than two decades later.

Boyle's style is evident here, mixing scary pops of horror with quiet moments that haunt. My favorite? When Jim finds his parents on their death bed, having taken themselves out when the pandemic spread. They've left a note for him, in a coma at the time. It simply reads,

Jim-

With endless love, we left you sleeping.

Now we're sleeping with you.

Don't wake up.

X

It's one of many moments within the film that blend Garland's powerful writing and Boyle's intimate style into something...above.

Zombie flick + survival thriller + human drama= an A.

Followed in 2007 by non Boyle/Garland entry "28 Weeks Later" but both will return later in 2025 with their new, final leg in the trilogy, "28 Years Later".