28 Weeks Later

The sequel to Danny Boyle’s 2002 film 28 Days Later poses the same questions as its predecessor about the steps humans will take to survive in a state of chaos.

In 28 Weeks Later, six months have passed since the rage virus spread through the majority of British residents, causing them to indiscriminately murder and destroy everything in their paths, as was depicted in 28 Days Later.

The US military has now declared victory in the war against the infection, which spreads all too easily. Only a few drops of blood or saliva from a rage-infected person need enter the eye or mouth of another human for the rage virus to spread.

As the virus mixes with a victim’s blood, it only takes a matter of minutes for them to turn into a rage-filled, flesh-eating zombies However, unlike the slow-moving, dim-witted zombies from George A Romero’s Dead quadrilogy or Michael Jackson’s Thriller, these zombies are as fast and coordinated as any human.

So, what we have here is basically a scary, flesh-tearing, gore-fest. 28 Weeks Later uses all the clichéd techniques of horror movies to frighten and shock its audience. There are the loud noises in the dark, there are the rage-filled people with twisted faces jumping out at unexpected times from unexpected places and, as is so common in horror films in recent years, there is an emphasis on showing very gory acts of violence that should probably never be committed to film, even if they are computer-generated.

That said, the film does work as science fiction, showing what it might be like to try and stay alive in a dystopia where the murderous infected population outnumbers the fleeing remnant by a large ratio.

This film’s story is primarily told through one family. Rewind to six months earlier, to the time of 28 Days Later and Don (The Full Monty’s Robert Carlyle) and his wife Alice are living with the last few survivors in a country house, trying to avoid the murderous rage-virus victims.

Well, it’s not long before the rage-filled zombies penetrate the house. Most of the inhabitants are killed, but Don has a small chance to save himself and Alice. Sadly, Alice’s stubbornness leads to her being trapped by the zombies. Don runs through the countryside, looking back at the house’s top floor to see his wife one last time as she is pulled to the ground by the zombies.

Six months later and the reconstruction process is underway. The first wave of refugees return to the UK and Don is reunited with his children Tammy and Andy. The children are devastated to hear about the death of their mother.

However, when the mother is later revealed to have survived the attack, Don is shocked and has to hide the shame of leaving his wife behind from his children. A special condition of the mother means she is immune to the rage virus, even though she harbours it.

A passionate, but ill-fated kiss between Alice and Don spreads the virus to Don, who is not immune. And so the rage virus begins to spread again as Don brutally kills his wife, then makes his way into crowds of people either killing them, or infecting them with the virus, once again turning the bulk of the British population into rage-filled zombies.

While the film never raises issues of spirituality nor judgment, the film does raise moral questions about the sanctity of human life. As the virus spreads wider and wider, the US military decide to take more extreme measures to contain it. Initially, snipers are carefully picking off rage-infected people. But as the numbers increase, the commander instructs his men to pick off everyone in sight. This leads to one sniper standing down and joining the innocent on the ground to help them survive, as he refuses to kill the innocent with the dangerous.

The military soon decide to firebomb large sections of the city, as a quick but sure way of containing the virus. This means wiping out everyone indiscriminately. The utilitarian approach used to wipe out the rage virus is pretty clearly being used by the film makers to criticise US military campaigns in the Middle East in recent years. While this kind of commentary is not new, it should always be food for thought for Christians as we think through the morality of war and the how it is carried out.

The last big moral question the film raises, which is common to many zombie films, is how to deal with a loved one when they have turned from a conscious human being into a a flesh-eating zombie.

As the kids see their father, Don, infected with the rage virus, and having already killed many, they can see he is no longer the dad they loved. To kill him would be to stop more murder, but is he still the father. Maybe not mentally, but physically, he is still the same human being.

To stretch an analogy, perhaps this scenario is used by horror film makers to justify euthanasia. Proponents of euthanasia often argue that once somebody is infected, or physically disabled, or brain-dead, they are no longer the person they used to be. Euthanasia becomes a viable option. However, as Christians, we must believe that all these people bear God’s image and so their life must be treated as sacred as anyone else’s.

Thankfully, rage-filled humans and zombies who become violent by no fault of their own are restricted to the world of horror film fantasy, so to apply lessons abut how to deal such people in our world is to draw an awfully long, and perhaps pointless, bow.

In any case, 28 Weeks Later contains some very frightening and exciting chase sequences that have to be seen to be believed. It also has a core group of sympathetic lead characters who each sacrifice themselves to different degrees to protect the people around them. While the film might not be the most inspirational example of humanity working together to overcome adversity, it’s certainly one of the scariest.

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