28 Days Later
Picture:
B- Sound: B+ Extras: B Film: A-
Halleluiah.
There
exists a great modern horror film.
Faithful
fans of the genre, those of you who suffered through recent entries like Final Destination 2, House of 1000
Corpses, and Wrong Turn, can
thank director Danny Boyle for delivering you from evil. Or rather, delivering you to evil. 28 Days Later (2003) is his best film
since Trainspotting and the best
horror film in a while.
It’s a
zombie film….sort of. The monsters
aren’t technically undead; they’re live humans in the grip of a virus that
makes them permanently overcome by violent rage. Structurally, though, the film – openly – takes from the father
of zombies, George Romero; 28 Days is
something like Romero’s Dawn and Day of the Dead in one film. The 28 days that Boyle skips over would have
been the Night of the Living Dead portion.
Before
skipping those four weeks, we see the outbreak begin: activists unwittingly set
free lab chimps infected with the manmade virus, which turns out to be
super-contagious. Cut to Jim (Cillian
Murphy) waking up in a hospital and finding he’s got all of Britain to
himself. Well, himself and “the
infected,” ferocious, bloody-eyed maniacs who come out at night looking someone
to tear apart. Jim and the other
survivors he finds – Selena, a tough black woman with a blade (right out of
‘70s horror), and Frank and Hannah, an endearing father and daughter – have no
choice but to journey toward the source of a repeating radio broadcast that
promises “the answer to infection.”
The drab
16mm, monochrome photography that Romero used to conjure dread is replaced here
by low-grade digital video, which gives the film an appropriately ‘dirty’
appearance (even more so on this disc than in theaters, with the video having
been transferred to celluloid and back to digital). Occasionally, it’s just blurry, but most of time, it lends a feel
of grittiness and urgency.
Where the
film ends up might not look like traditional horror, but that’s just because
we’re – lately – not used to seeing the genre taken this seriously. That the film’s concern shifts to things
darker and more immediate and zombie thrills doesn’t mean it’s not horror; it
just means it’s not cheap.
Watch it
late at night. And brace yourself. 28 Days Later is scary stuff.
Presented
anamorphically in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, 28 Days Later is a bit on the ugly side. Which is appropriate. The
drab, ‘processed’ look of the film is intentional – and has great effect. Often, colors look unnatural (the orange of
Frank’s beard in some shots, for instance) and the transfer has an
artificial-looking sharpness; this is how the film was shot (digital video) and
how it looked in theaters (transferred to film – a generation removed). This transfer (taken not from the original
digital, but from a film print – yet another generation removed) is accurate,
if unflattering. Unlike the look of the
film, the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is anything but muted. The mix is powerful and highly active. In fact, it’s even a bit rambunctious with
its huge range; don’t set your volume during a dialogue scene, or you’ll have a
heart attack as soon as the infected show up, the mix spikes so intensely. This is an exciting mix, but I can’t help
but wish a DTS track was also included.
Fox has
given 28 Days Later a solid special
edition treatment. The crucial
inclusion is the commentary track by director Danny Boyle and writer Alex
Garland, who are fast-talking, interesting, intelligent, and gracious. They hit on Romero’s influence, shots
inspired by famous photographs and paintings, filming the spectacular “deserted
London” sequences, using digital cameras, and much, much more. This is a great, breathless filmmakers’
track. Also appreciable are six deleted
scenes (approximately 10 min. total) and the film’s – controversial – three
alternate endings; both the scenes and the endings feature optional director
and writer commentary – again, Boyle and Garland are well-spoken in their
explanation of the cuts. The “Radical
Alternative Ending,” which was never filmed, is presented as a remarkably
well-put-together storyboard sequence, complete with narration and dialogue
read by Boyle and Garland, and pieces of music from the film. The other scenes and endings are presented
letterboxed – and mostly rough looking – with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.
On the
other hand, “Pure Rage: The Making of 28
Days Later” is fairly extraneous.
The approximately 25-minute featurette is primarily concerned with the
real life possibility of a deadly pandemic; otherwise, it is filled in with
footage from the film and tidbits from actor and filmmaker interviews – take it
or leave it. Boyle has so much to say,
he has even provided commentary for the disc’s galleries of publicity stills
(18 minutes) and continuity Polaroids (four minutes); the director doesn’t have
many interesting comments left – this is a bit excessive considering all the
other commentary on the disc. Finally,
the “Marketing” extras include (I believe, the UK versions of) the film’s teaser
and trailer (both letterboxed, with Dolby Pro Logic sound), animated
storyboards from the original UK website (a comic-book-ish minute and a half
sequence that’s essentially another trailer), and a Jacknife Lee music video,
which is actually a condensed version of the film, featuring a chunk of every
single important scene, set to a techno track – do not watch it before you’ve
seen the film.
This is
perfectly respectable DVD treatment for a film that is easily one of the finest
scarefests in years. The apparently
intense involvement of director Danny Boyle in the production of this special
edition means there’s a lot to discover here, even for hardcore fans that have
already seen the film multiple times in theaters.
- Chad
Eberle
