22 years ago, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland helped to kickstart a zombie movie renaissance with a movie that isn't technically a zombie film. "28 Days Later" is a pandemic film. And sadly, 22 years later, that subgenre is bloodily ripe for the exploitin'.
On June 20, 2025, "28 Years Later" will pick up 17 years (in our own timeline) after the rage virus bedlam of Juan Carlos Fresndillo's 2007 sequel "28 Weeks Later." Lest you think this is some small affair, know that 2024 Academy Award winner Cillian Murphy will reprise his role as the once comatose Jim for the film. He'll be joined by the immensely talented likes of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Jack O'Connell, and Ralph Fiennes in the cast. As for the state of the world in "28 Years Later," per the premise the rage virus is once again spreading and, presumably, the aforementioned actors will be scrambling to keep from joining the ranks of the infected.
This is Boyle's first feature since 2019's "Yesterday," and his first full-on piece of horror since "28 Days Later." It should be a hoot to have the "Trainspotting" and "Slumdog Millionaire" auteur working in the genre again, and it'll hopefully be an absolute pleasure to have him collaborating again with screenwriter Alex Garland, who's become a formidable director in his own right with bangers like "Annihilation" and "Civil War."
So, what does the new trailer for "28 Years Later" promise in the way of rage-infected mayhem?
28 Days Later looks like The Road meets I Am Legend
Sony Pictures Entertainment
At first the trailer for "28 Years Later" seems to show a post-apocalyptic future where things are basically like later seasons of "The Walking Dead," with luxuries like electricity and mundanities like chores. However, this relatively stable life belongs to people on an island, and it turns out they're living in a bubble. Here's the official synopsis for "28 Years Later."
It's been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.
There are strong hints of cannibalism, towers of skulls, and starved rage virus victims — all promising the darkest chapter of the story yet. But perhaps more disturbing than any of the visuals is the score: Taylor Holmes' 1915 reading of "Boots," a war poem by Rudyard Kipling. This particular recording is used during POW training in the US Navy's SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) schools to test soldiers' mental resilence, by holding them in a small cell and playing the recording over and over again. You can easily imagine how that could drive a person mad.
"28 Years Later" arrives in theaters on June 20, 2025.
English (US) ·