The “28 Series” is a movie series featuring the movies “28 Days Later” and “28 Weeks Later”. The third movie, “28 Years Later”, is currently in production and is expected to be released in June of 2025.
“28 Days Later” is a movie following protagonists Jim and Selena. But before we delve into Jim and Selena, we meet a group of animal rights activists who remain unnamed. These activists have broken into a chimp research facility in the British Isles. The movie pans to a chimpanzee tied on a table and being forced to watch various TV screens; all showcasing similar disasters, protests, human rights violations, war, etc. This is the foundation for the virus later known as “rage”. The activists set to free the chimpanzees kept in glass cages, but a scientist attempts to stop them, claiming the primates are infected with “rage”. The activists refuse to listen, releasing a chimp, and causing the first stage of the infection. The chimpanzee bites a female activist, causing her to go insane from the infection, and bite her fellow activists. This leads to widespread infection.
Cue Jim, who’s just woken up from a coma 28 days later. He wanders around aimlessly, searching the abandoned hospital and the empty and deserted city before him. He wanders into a cathedral, alerting an infected, causing him to run for his life. Jim meets Selena and Mark, who save him from certain death and explain the situation to him. They make their way around the city, searching for supplies, before they come across an apartment building with flashing Christmas lights.
Ascending the building causes a horde of infected to chase after them; Mark gets bitten, and Selena is forced to kill him. She tells Jim she would do the same to him in a heartbeat. Atop the apartment building, they meet Frank and his daughter Hannah. Frank has a working radio and encourages the group to follow him to Manchester where a military brigade claims to have the answer to the virus.
Along the way, Frank gets infected and shot down by the military. Eventually it comes out that the Major of the military promised his men women; to which Jim disagrees with and attempts to escape with Selena and Hannah. This leads to him being captured and nearly executed by the military. He manages to escape and leads the infected back to the military stronghold, escaping with Selena and Hannah in the chaos.
“28 Weeks Later” picks up the story. A US-led NATO force made its way into contaminated Britain, confirming that all of the infected in the British Isles had died of starvation. This leads to the military leading refugees back to Britain, in a contained and cleaned-out section called District One. The medical commander, Scarlet, leads two children into District One: Tam and Andy. Tam and Andy manage to reunite with their dad, Don. Don tells his children that their mother didn’t make it, that there was nothing he could do as she was already infected by the time he made it back. However, this is not the truth, as Don had sacrificed her to the infected in order to save himself.
Andy confesses to Tam that he thinks he’s forgetting what his mom looks like, leading to the two venturing out of District One to their old house, to find a picture of their mother. Just before the military leads them back to District One, Andy finds his mother, who was supposed to be dead. Scarlet takes a blood sample from her, confirming that she is infected, but she’s only a carrier, not showing any symptoms. Don is elated by the news that his wife is alive; they reunite in her containment cell, sharing a kiss, which causes Don to be infected.
He goes mad with the virus and kills his wife and surrounding soldiers, leading the infection to become widespread once more. The military leader orders Code Red, telling soldiers to exterminate everyone. Doyle, a soldier who disagrees with this, travels with Scarlet and the kids outside of District One in an attempt to save themselves. However, soldiers are already gassing and setting fire to the surrounding cities. The group traps themselves in a car to escape the gas, but quickly realizes the car won’t start. Doyle, seeing soldiers setting fire to the city behind them, gets out of the car and pushes it from behind in order to get the car going. He’s set on fire and killed.
Scarlet and the kids now make their way to a stadium after one of Doyle’s friends promised to get him to safety. To do this, they travel through the abandoned, dark subway tunnels. After trying to descend an escalator, Tam and Andy fall and get split up after tripping on the bodies littering the stairs. Tam manages to find Scarlet, but all of the noise they made attracts an infected: Don. Don kills Scarlet, and Tam manages to get away. However, Andy makes contact with Don, quickly being attacked. Tam grabs Scarlet’s gun and kills her dad, saving Andy. However, Andy has already been bit; he runs away from Tam, hoping to keep her safe.
Tam chases after her brother, and they share a hug. The movie pans to Andy’s eyes – which are green and brown heterochromia, just like his mother. He asks, “Tam, am I one of them?” and Tam says no, because he’s just like their mother – a carrier, but not showing any symptoms. Tam and Andy make it to the stadium, flying off in a helicopter to France. The movie ends with France pleading for help, and with Paris being overrun by infected.
Overall, the series is extremely good. The graphics are wonderful and the storytelling is well executed, especially for its time. The first movie was released in 2002, and the second in 2007. It provides a fresh take on stereotypical zombie movies, and implies that aggression and bloodlust, specifically in primates, is a learned and taught behavior, but not one that we instinctively know. The series is dark and gorey and truly showcases just how awful human nature can be; sacrificing children, or even thousands of people in order to save yourself. For those that enjoy horror, thrillers, or zombie movies, this is a perfect series to watch.
