Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 39 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 303 Ratings

  • Starring: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris
  • Summary: When a group of animal rights activists frees primates from a research facility, a deadly virus which causes murderous behavior is unleashed.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 39
  2. Negative: 1 out of 39
  1. A first-rate zombie movie. The best tribute I can offer is that it makes you want to go out directly afterward and down some expensive single-malt scotch.
  2. 80
    The movie is mercifully uncontaminated by the smarty-pants self-reflexiveness that has sucked the lifeblood from nearly all post-"Scream" horror pictures. Clever enough not to be too clever, Boyle and Garland play their story straight -- they just want to give you the creeps -- and, by so doing, bring the undead back to cinematic life.
  3. Reviewed by: Rich Cline
    60
    Director Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting") has a terrific eye, so the film as a whole is very well directed, with clever camera work that builds the tension and actually jolts us out of our seats a few times.
  4. 30
    Unrelentingly grim, unremittingly gross and unforgivably unattractive, 28 Days Later is an orgy of troubling images and bestial sound effects.

See all 39 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 26 out of 157
  1. ChaseG.
    10
    To me, what Days has always held over the head of Weeks is simply this...mood. 28 Days Later has an unparalleled mood and style in its execution, in almost everything it does. It doesn't just describe events to you, like some movies do, but it portrays it in such a way that it's genuinely chilling and believable. In comparison to Weeks, Days doesn't hold what it has over you like a bludgeon, it doesn't attempt to beat you with the speed of the zombies, or the gore. But it places it in supreme positions in the film to have the utmost effect, at the climax, at the low-point, etc. And the best part about it, is that it manages to achieve a constant level of edginess, a constant thrill even when there's nothing on the screen, it manages all of this without a guitar-blasting soundtrack (however awesome the Weeks theme is) or cameras explicitly showing that zombies are just running at you, spewing blood as they go. In fact, you are often scared in this movie simply by the fact that you don't really see what's scaring you, which is a true sign of mastery in the genre. On the other end of the spectrum, all performances in this film are excellent, the chemistry between Seline and Jim is believable especially. All characters have an edge of sympathy, and portray to you that not everyone to survive the apocalypse will be beefy, bulky men with chain guns. It defies a lot of things that would be expected of it, and ditches all normal conventions, pulling it off with grace and poise. It's a must see for anyone who can stand the level of intensity. It's a must see for anyone who can stand the. Collapse
  2. Quite different to your American zombie movie as it focus more on survival rather than a zombie apocalypse. Lead by a great cast, in particular Naomie Harris who plays a bad-ass Selena. The zombies aren't even zombies, more-so humans infected with rage, which is a nice little twist on the genre. It is fairly slow-paced at times but tends to get quite exciting towards the end with a few shocks in there. Overall an impressive zombie flick from the Brits that also delivered an impressive sequel! Expand
  3. Sure, Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later" is a wonderful, gritty, realistic example of what the world would be if there was a zombie apocalypse (which I highly doubt). But except for the pure horror entertainment and several political satire, it's pretty much another linear zombie film that really isn't any different from Romero's. Expand
  4. MikeD.
    0
    28 months after I watched this movie and I still think it's the worst movie of the last century. Not only is it boring but it lacks all horror/suspense. Do not watch. Save yourself the time. Expand

See all 157 User Reviews

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