28 Years Later – Memento Mori
Written by Dr. Zoe Crombie
The reboot – or ‘legacy sequel’ – has become something of a plague on modern cinema at this point, but there remain a few exceptions. Danny Boyle is one of the key players bringing meaning to this trend, first with T2: Trainspotting, a film with no pretences about the consequences of the squalor Renton and the gang made a habit of, and now with 28 Years Later, a follow up to one of horror’s greatest triumphs.
Centred on an astounding first lead performance from Alfie Williams, Alex Garland’s screenplay for 28 Years Later follows Spike, a boy from a town of survivors living on the island of Lindisfarne, tenuously detached from the harsh realities of the Rage virus that still plagues the UK nearly three decades on. Through his parents, played by Aaron Taylor Johnson and Jodie Comer, and adults around him like the wonderfully off the wall Dr Kelson (the latest Ralph Fiennes creation), we see a myriad of ways of dealing with the illness that surrounds them, and the sickness that comes from within. Add in innovative camerawork and haunting montage sequences from Boyle, and this is a masterclass in tension, fear, and keeping the audience on their toes.
Half gory zombie slaying and half poignant musing on life and death, 28 Years Later may be Boyle and Garland’s magnum opus. A post-Brexit critique of modern Britain that deconstructs the zombie genre in new ways, all while telling a story that will wrench your heart out, it’s not one to be missed – especially if you want to see the most talked about ending of the year.
Be prepared to run between Friday 11th - Thursday 17th July!
