Where the traditional zombies of George Romero or Val Lewton movies are slow, lumbering things, the creatures of 28 Days Later — and now its even zippier, uglier sequel, 28 Weeks Later — surge after their victims at record speeds, and the camera reacts accordingly. We barely get a glimpse of these brain-munchers on crystal meth, but not because of the movie's fondness for the dark; 28 Weeks Later frequently shoots its attacking ghoulies with light to spare, but in such quick, tight bursts as to be nearly incoherent.
The very antithesis of Lewton's cinema of shadows and meticulously cultivated terror, 28 Weeks Later is largely headache-inducing stuff — frenetic, synapse-shredding, strobe-light-and-amyl-nitrate horror. The movie picks up some months after its predecessor, with the zombie-inducing epidemic of the original film apparently contained and American-led NATO forces moving in to help rebuild a devastated Britain. Everything soon enough goes to hell, of course, and the bulk of the film is pure chaos, as masses of frightened human survivors and infected, flesh-craving zombies run amok through the streets of London, and confused U.S. soldiers stand at a distance firing blindly into the crowds, unable to tell friends from foes.
The movie's scenario practically demands a parallel or three with Iraq, but there's very little shape or nuance to what happens here, and what 28 Weeks Later mainly has going for it is some pretty extreme and ugly nihilism (the person we presume to be the hero even runs out on his loved ones in the first scene and, in a particularly dubious bit of pop psychology, later becomes a monstrous daddy-zombie stalking his own children).
There are some clever turns here, but the movie mainly just tosses out a series of faceless characters for its zombies to chow down on, all set to a combination of aggressive metal and dreamy, discordant rock of the sort that used to be called alternative. Not much of a beat, but I suppose you could dance to it if you tried.
28 Weeks Later (R) Stars Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Catherine McCormack, Imogen Poots, Makintosh Muggleton and Idris Elba. Opens May 4 at local theaters. 1/2
This article appears in May 9-15, 2007.