28 Days Later (2002)

Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston

Synopsis:
An injured courier awakes from a coma to a London devastated by a mysterious plague. Ravaging packs of infectees still roam the streets and few desperate survivors struggle to stay alive.

Impressions:
This is without a doubt one of the primary influences on modern zombie fiction, to include not using the Zed word. Fast zombies were pretty well inaugurated here and people hoping for shamblers that make easy pickings will have to look elsewhere. By now, I imagine a lot of people are getting tired of the whole zombie thing, but the standout pieces of zombie fiction can still shine in spite of whatever fatigue you may be feeling.

Cillian Murphy delivers a strong performance as the gaunt, disoriented Jim and I also want to credit Naomie Harris and Brendan Gleeson as fellow survivors and Christopher Eccleston as Major West. All the big themes of zombie and apocalyptic fiction like man's brutality to man, the breakdown of civilization, desperation and hopelessness, etc., all get handled well. Expect plenty of blood and gore, so if you're squeamish, zombie fiction really isn't right for you anyway. Otherwise, this is a movie worth seeing.

Rating:
Watch It