28 Years Later Finds Humanity in the Horror

28 Years Later

★ ★ ★

28 Years Later is the third film in a series of zombie movies that started with 28 Days Later and followed up with 28 Weeks Later. The titles refer to how long it’s been since the release of the fictional Rage Virus. All three films tell a different story, with different characters as they navigate post-apocalyptic Europe overrun by zombies. Each film is about surviving societal collapse while battling incredibly fast, intensely angry and very hungry zombies. Unlike traditional brain-dead monsters, these zombies can climb stairs, open doors and hunt down their prey.

This film begins at the apex of the Rage Virus, where the infected start attacking the healthy. Seconds after a bite, a healthy victim will turn into a vicious, ruthless, raging zombie. We’re told that the virus completely devastated the U.K. and was driven back to continental Europe. The British mainland became a quarantine zone to contain the virus. Survivors are left to fend for themselves.

Aaron Taylor-Jonson as Jamie and Alfie Williams as Spike
© 2025 Columbia Pictures

Now 28 years later, the story begins on an island, isolated from the British mainland except for a land bridge that is only traversable during low tide. A man named Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is taking his son Spike (Alfie Williams) on his first trip outside the island gates to see the mainland firsthand and get his first zombie kill. Spike’s mother Isla (Jodie Comer) has been bedridden for some time and doesn’t want him to go. She has short-term memory loss.

This is the first moment where we get a hint that this film might be more about family than about zombies. Horror films are at their most terrifying when we’re emotionally connected to the characters. It naturally raises the stakes and we feel the danger with the characters.

Jamie and Spike set off for the mainland. Spike gets his first kill and quickly learns how dangerous the world is outside of the island gates. Before they head back, they see a large fire in the distance. Jamie tells Spike it must be a doctor believed to have gone mad.

Jodie Comer as Isla and Alfie Williams as Spike
© 2025 Columbia Pictures

Spike asks Sam (Christopher Fulford), one of the elders, about the doctor. He’s Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes). Sam and Jamie witnessed him burning bodies years ago on their way to the island. Spike isn’t convinced Dr. Kelson is a madman and decides to sneak Isla off the island to get her help.

There’s a scene very early in the film where several children are in a room watching Teletubbies. The kids aren’t smiling. The sirens scream louder than the show. A door slams. A window breaks. There’s muffled yelling. And still, the Teletubbies play. The children are terrified, knowing full well that the Rage Virus has hit their home. They also seem to know their fate is all but sealed as the adults try to keep them safe.

It’s the film’s most terrifying moment. Unfortunately, it’s also the last time the film fully delivers on its potential for dread.

This might be because the filmmaking style is odd, like watching three types of films meshed together in a way that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Scenes are interrupted by flashes of zombies in the forest with glowing white eyes, gnawing on prey. These are probably meant to build tension but instead add more confusion to the film’s tone.

There are a lot of cutaways to older, grainy war films with young soldiers in training. It’s a similar style to what Oliver Stone did in JFK, Natural Born Killers and Any Given Sunday. Stone’s montage style deepened the theme and tension in those films. Here, it distracts. It worked for Stone because it tied directly to the film’s core thesis. Here, there’s no clear connection making the cutaways more annoying than poignant. It’s as if the film is trying to make an important point but forgets to clue us in on what it is.

A Rage Virus infected zombie
© 2025 Columbia Pictures

The film’s best moments involve Spike and Isla. We can understand Spike’s mission – risky and dangerous as it is. Given the chance, what kid wouldn’t put it all on the line to save his mom? Fiennes gives us an immediately likeable Dr. Kelson. If he’s gone mad, it’s not without his deep sense of humanity.

But this film is rarely scary. It lacks tension and suspense, which is surprising given how fantastically adept the originals were at amping up our heart rates.

28 Years Later doesn’t infect you with fear like its predecessors. But it reminds us that terrifying survival isn’t always the point—sometimes it’s about love, loyalty and that one last chance to save someone you really care about in a world that’s come undone.