Exploding heads, and hearts: 28 Weeks Later is thick with blood.

by Ryland Walker Knight

The opening ten minutes of 28 Weeks Later are not perfect but so good they may be impossible for the rest of the film to top, or even measure up to. In fact, the rest of the film only suffers by comparison. Except for one devastating sequence in a medical trailer between Catherine McCormack and Robert Carlyle that devolves into a fiery bloodbath. Other than that it gets sidetracked by some silly political trappings instead of sticking to the almost genius horror tropes set up by the opening. Pushing the politics to the side is still possible, thankfully, since it's a complex film, and one of the best of 02007. What's odd is that critics immediately championed the politics, which are hardly interesting, or subtle, upon the film's release. That reading only makes the film a white elephant dressed up like a termite. Really, what's more interesting: heritage as poison or American occupation as poison? What is a grander theme to explore? Should be obvious, right? Watching the film again helped me see it more for its ferocity rather than its bland posture because it really is a movie about bloodlines, and heritage, and not about the politics it throws at the audience by the handful. There's more there to elucidate in the trope of eyes, and visibility-as-knowledge, but I decided to post to bring attention to the opening of the film, not the film on the whole. Below is my attempt to translate the ferocity of that explosive, melancholic, and rather terrifying sequence. With only the pictures as guide, you lack the brilliant sound design of the raged men and women bursting through walls, and growling, which is a shame. If you have yet to see the film this collage may, uh-oh, contain some spoilers. This is one of the few films I've endorsed a "spoiler warning" even though you can probably tell where the film is going from minute one.