090 | W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K
28 DAYS LATER
RETRO CLASSIC
LONDON’S CALLING!
Cor blimey guv’nor! We list our
top 5 London genre fi lms...CREEP
We all know that the London
Underground can be an
absolute horror during rush
hour but nothing prepared
us for this sinister look at
T F L ’ s fi n e s t!V FOR VENDETTA
Remember remember...
not to put blind trust in a
man donning a creepy
mask and with a political
agenda and an affi nity
for fi reworks.AN AMERICAN
WEREWOLF IN
LONDON
John Landis’ howling horror
shows what happens when
you leave the bustling city for
a quiet pint at a local pub...COCKNEYS
VS ZOMBIES
The only thing on the streets
of London more dangerous
than those ‘Trafalgars’ are
our cockney OAPs willing to
take ‘em all down!ATTACK THE BLOCK
Mass housing can
create a real community
atmosphere... but it can also
sometimes attract aliens.
Which isn’t something you
want to deal with...afraid to take his time to develop a familial
bond between the group as they take a
road trip to this “answer”. They go on a
shopping trip and even take a picnic, all the
while audiences are expecting something to
happen. An infected hiding in the supermarket
store room perhaps? No. A surprise attack
during their al fresco lunch? Nope! There are
such long moments between any infected
sightings that when the inevitable does
happen, the shock is all the more palpable.
The journey also allows the movie to have
a real humanity to run through it and it’s a
theme that’s explored throughout. Jim latches
on to this makeshift family after he discovers
his own parents have taken their lives rather
than live in this world. He fi nds them in their
bed, his mother clutching on to a photo of
himself as a child with the words ‘don’t wake
up’ scribbled on the back. There is also a
charming relationship between Frank and his
daughter, with playful banter about the latter
learning how to drive and the former taking on
the father role of the group (Jim even sleepily
calls him ‘dad’ at one point). It’s telling that the
nightmare Jim has during this road trip isn’t of
the infected killing him, but of waking up alone
again. So when humanity quickly crumbles
after this “answer to infection” turns out to be
a horny renegade army squadron holed up in
a country manor, the fl ip from ‘fun road trip’ to
‘horror house in the country’ is alarming.
This later half of the fi lm explores horror
from an entirely different perspective –
that being the horrifi c nature of humans
themselves. The squadron’s leader (played
by the brilliant Christopher Eccleston who
also stared in Boyle’s earlier fi lm, Shallow
Grave) calmly discusses the validity of rape
and murder, while Jim learns that leaving hisown humanity at the door is necessary for his
survival. The character’s arc turns him from
clueless pacifi st to a ruthless animal; driven
by the same basic instincts as the infected
themselves to protect his loved ones.
These excellent performances and direction,
as well as on-the-nose themes and a truly
terrifying viewing experience ensured that
28 Days Later was a success, grossing $82.7
million worldwide on its budget of $8 million.
It’s also said to have spawned a reinvigoration
of the zombie genre (although it must benoted that Resident Evil – the movie based on
the zombie shot-em-up videogame – came
out earlier that same year). The hugely
successful British zombie comedy Shaun Of
The Dead came out two years later in 2004,
the box-offi ce-busting I Am Legend based on
the successful novel of the same name was
released three years after that in 2007, and
the Woody Harrelson-starring zombie road
trip adventure, Zombieland came out in 2009,
whose sequel, Zombieland 2, was released
just this year.“LEAVING HIS OWN
HUMANITY AT THE
DOOR IS NECESSARY
FOR HIS SURVIVAL”
090 | W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K
28 DAYS LATER
RETRO CLASSIC
LONDON’S CALLING!
Cor blimey guv’nor! We list our
top 5 London genre fi lms...CREEP
We all know that the London
Underground can be an
absolute horror during rush
hour but nothing prepared
us for this sinister look at
T F L ’ s fi n e s t!V FOR VENDETTA
Remember remember...
not to put blind trust in a
man donning a creepy
mask and with a political
agenda and an affi nity
for fi reworks.AN AMERICAN
WEREWOLF IN
LONDON
John Landis’ howling horror
shows what happens when
you leave the bustling city for
a quiet pint at a local pub...COCKNEYS
VS ZOMBIES
The only thing on the streets
of London more dangerous
than those ‘Trafalgars’ are
our cockney OAPs willing to
take ‘em all down!ATTACK THE BLOCK
Mass housing can
create a real community
atmosphere... but it can also
sometimes attract aliens.
Which isn’t something you
want to deal with...afraid to take his time to develop a familial
bond between the group as they take a
road trip to this “answer”. They go on a
shopping trip and even take a picnic, all the
while audiences are expecting something to
happen. An infected hiding in the supermarket
store room perhaps? No. A surprise attack
during their al fresco lunch? Nope! There are
such long moments between any infected
sightings that when the inevitable does
happen, the shock is all the more palpable.
The journey also allows the movie to have
a real humanity to run through it and it’s a
theme that’s explored throughout. Jim latches
on to this makeshift family after he discovers
his own parents have taken their lives rather
than live in this world. He fi nds them in their
bed, his mother clutching on to a photo of
himself as a child with the words ‘don’t wake
up’ scribbled on the back. There is also a
charming relationship between Frank and his
daughter, with playful banter about the latter
learning how to drive and the former taking on
the father role of the group (Jim even sleepily
calls him ‘dad’ at one point). It’s telling that the
nightmare Jim has during this road trip isn’t of
the infected killing him, but of waking up alone
again. So when humanity quickly crumbles
after this “answer to infection” turns out to be
a horny renegade army squadron holed up in
a country manor, the fl ip from ‘fun road trip’ to
‘horror house in the country’ is alarming.
This later half of the fi lm explores horror
from an entirely different perspective –
that being the horrifi c nature of humans
themselves. The squadron’s leader (played
by the brilliant Christopher Eccleston who
also stared in Boyle’s earlier fi lm, Shallow
Grave) calmly discusses the validity of rape
and murder, while Jim learns that leaving hisown humanity at the door is necessary for his
survival. The character’s arc turns him from
clueless pacifi st to a ruthless animal; driven
by the same basic instincts as the infected
themselves to protect his loved ones.
These excellent performances and direction,
as well as on-the-nose themes and a truly
terrifying viewing experience ensured that
28 Days Later was a success, grossing $82.7
million worldwide on its budget of $8 million.
It’s also said to have spawned a reinvigoration
of the zombie genre (although it must benoted that Resident Evil – the movie based on
the zombie shot-em-up videogame – came
out earlier that same year). The hugely
successful British zombie comedy Shaun Of
The Dead came out two years later in 2004,
the box-offi ce-busting I Am Legend based on
the successful novel of the same name was
released three years after that in 2007, and
the Woody Harrelson-starring zombie road
trip adventure, Zombieland came out in 2009,
whose sequel, Zombieland 2, was released
just this year.“LEAVING HIS OWN
HUMANITY AT THE
DOOR IS NECESSARY
FOR HIS SURVIVAL”