Love the film, hate the audience.

Recently zombie films have had a resurgence like never before… over the next few months we’re seeing several high profile zombie films released, from “28 Weeks Later” to “Fido” and “Diary of the Dead”. CBS will be airing a zombie-themed TV series next fall, “Babylon Fields”. There are zombie comics all over comics shop bookshelves. Boston is having a zombie walk the day after “28 Weeks Later” premieres. And the 800 pound zombie gorilla in the room, the film adaptation of “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War” written by JMS and filmed by Brad Pitt’s production company, is still around the corner.

I don’t want to spoil the film for you. I’ll say that it begins with a betrayal, and that the consequences of that betrayal are devastating. The trailers make it clear that the film involves the repopulation of London, and you know that things are going to go south… you just don’t know when and you don’t know how far south.

Robert Carlyle is a wonderful actor and he doesn’t just coast through “28 Weeks Later”, he brings it the intensity that it deserves. He’s certainly the most recognizable of the cast, but they all do a great job of bringing across the fear, horror and trauma of the situation.

I’ll say that I enjoyed “28 Weeks Later” even more than I enjoyed “28 Days Later”. The original film brought a fresh look to the whole zombie thing, brought us “fast zombies” and reintroduced the genre. “28 Weeks Later” ratchets the story another, not entirely predictable step forward while fortunately remaining faithful to the first film’s interpretation of the zombie. There were a few moments where I thought it was going to deviate but thankfully it stayed on track.

If you like this sort of thing – I highly recommend it. If only for the beautiful sweeping apocalyptic shots of ruined London. And then for the zombies.

I was surprised that the theater was only half-full. I expected opening weekend for the film to be very strong. I hope that it gets good worth of mouth and that audiences build.

And a word to that audience, especially the folks two rows back from us who talked through the entire movie: I’m sure that your running commentary of the film is more fascinating than the film itself, but how about if we put it to the test and try the film first with you keeping your mouths shut?
[tags]zombies, 28 weeks later, 28 days later, robert carlyle, movies, London[/tags]

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