28 Years Later 4K UHD (2025)

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Driver78

just as it was getting kinda interesting, bam! The film abruptly ends!

This isn't a standalone film at all, it's really just act 1 of an epic story, setting up a bunch of story elements. They should have made that clearer in the marketing.

Part 2 comes out in January.

Part 3 hasn't been filmed, it seems like the box office of 1 and 2 will determine whether they make 3, which is concerning.

[Thomas Veil]

I haven't seen this yet and I like Days and Weeks but I'm thinking when I do see it I might not like it as much. I've always been a fan of apocalyptic movies but towards the beginning of it; the back end not so much.

[peruguy]

I just watched this on Netflix.
So... I think that was the Power Rangers that showed up at the ending.

Am I right ?

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by peruguy

I just watched this on Netflix.
So... I think that was the Power Rangers that showed up at the ending.

Am I right ?

For a movie with a MASSIVE budget that was aimed at a global audience, that ending is a bonkers choice, because it's a pop culture reference that only Brits will get.

[Jay H.]

I guess I'm one of the few people that had no issues with the ending.

[DeathLazer]

Originally Posted by Jay H.

I guess I'm one of the few people that had no issues with the ending.

I have no issues with the ending either. It's simply a cliffhanger for the sequel. Maybe people were not expecting that going in. If the sequel is not good, I suppose it could affect how I feel about the ending, but I still feel like 28 Years Later was a great movie with some very wild and interesting sequences. Even though Danny Boyle is not directing the sequel, Alex Garland is writing the script. I trust him to tell a good story.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by DeathLazer

I have no issues with the ending either. It's simply a cliffhanger for the sequel. Maybe people were not expecting that going in. If the sequel is not good, I suppose it could affect how I feel about the ending, but I still feel like 28 Years Later was a great movie with some very wild and interesting sequences. Even though Danny Boyle is not directing the sequel, Alex Garland is writing the script. I trust him to tell a good story.

It's not just a cliffhanger though.

It's

[Show spoiler]a MASSIVE tonal shift.

It's also

[Show spoiler]a very culturally specific reference to disgraced British TV host Jimmy Saville.

[DeathLazer]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

It's not just a cliffhanger though.

It's

[Show spoiler]a MASSIVE tonal shift.

It's also

[Show spoiler]a very culturally specific reference to disgraced British TV host Jimmy Saville.

Like I said, I'm fine with the ending. It didn't bother me at all, so I clearly didn't need to get the reference you mentioned. I was going, "Oh man, its those kids from the beginning!" Ha ha ha!

I'm looking forward to getting my steelbook copy delivered Tuesday or Wednesday. I hope its not dinged.

[bookcase]

I watched this last night on Netflix and was underwhelmed. To be fair, I was tired and I might have to give it another chance. I liked the look of the film and some of the cinematography floored me. But it felt overly long and would’ve been better if they’d not ended with the circus act (if that’s where the trilogy is headed, no thanks). Nothing can hold a candle to the first IMO.

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

It's not just a cliffhanger though.

It's

[Show spoiler]a MASSIVE tonal shift.

It's also

[Show spoiler]a very culturally specific reference to disgraced British TV host Jimmy Saville.

It’s the first spoiler above that is the real issue. Non-UK viewers not understanding the pop culture reference doesn’t take anything away from those viewers’ ability to understand the film’s ending; it just means there’s an extra layer of nuance reserved for those in the UK. But what’s mentioned in the first spoiler is what caused many of us to leave the theater with no small measure of cognitive dissonance. I enjoyed the film, I’m buying the film, I’m cautiously optimistic about THE BONE TEMPLE, but I have to admit 28 YEARS LATER is the only film I’ve seen at the theater this year (and I’ve seen every single one on my personal watch list) that let me down a bit, and it was 95% because of that ending.

[mikesncc1701]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

For a movie with a MASSIVE budget that was aimed at a global audience, that ending is a bonkers choice, because it's a pop culture reference that only Brits will get.

Can you elaborate for me? I didn't mind the ending but everything I've looked up when I come across the references, I just can't really put two and two together.

[mikesncc1701]

Originally Posted by apeman09

Did anyone receive a regular bluray or 4k for this title? Did it come with a slipcover?

Originally Posted by Disciple of Vedder

The title listing says it should, but my 4K copy from Target did not have one.

This is from HD Movie Source's facebook page so it looks like there are some out there.

[DaylightsEnd]

Originally Posted by Filmmaker

It’s the first spoiler above that is the real issue. Non-UK viewers not understanding the pop culture reference doesn’t take anything away from those viewers’ ability to understand the film’s ending; it just means there’s an extra layer of nuance reserved for those in the UK. But what’s mentioned in the first spoiler is what caused many of us to leave the theater with no small measure of cognitive dissonance. I enjoyed the film, I’m buying the film, I’m cautiously optimistic about THE BONE TEMPLE, but I have to admit 28 YEARS LATER is the only film I’ve seen at the theater this year (and I’ve seen every single one on my personal watch list) that let me down a bit, and it was 95% because of that ending.

I just watched the uhd last night and don't disagree here. But I was wholly underwhelmed. This is easily the weakest in the series to date, in addition to being a general excuse to exhibit 30+ minutes of random flopping zombie-cocks whilst stuffing the presentation with some of the weakest score material I've heard in a horror film in some time. I was even surprised that they'd stooped to using pointless, poorly-placed jump scares. First hint that I was not this film's intended target audience.

But I'll go one further. It's not the first time mentioning this and it won't be the last....I absolutely despise despise despise despise despise all the tacky, irritating, highly-distracting, awful, wannabe videogame-simulation cgi effects and terrible gaming-perspective rubbish that completely chokes out and ruins all of the action scenes. Literally, another bad cartoon. It absolutely and irreversibly takes me out of the film entirely. The freeze-frame trash editing used to stuff weak minds full of jerky multiple-angle views of every single fake arrow striking every single infected, while fake cgi blood spurts and splatters in the fakest, most physics-defying possible manner, again from multiple angles every time, is some of the worst gaming-parody tripe I've ever seen. Even the Resident Evil films aren't this contrived, pathetic and cheesy in their action scenes. Those films are actually trying to BE video games, but do it quite well by comparison. I mean, that was fine and all....12+ years ago when it almost might've been novel.

[Show spoiler]Have these kids doing all this godawful cgi programming ever even shot an arrow, let alone into anything? Obviously not a chance. As a result, the film already feels dated and played-out to me. Just more video-game-gimmick-laden rubbish action scenes, with directors and producers trying desperately to keep brain-dead teens engaged or achieve some connectedness by making them feel like they're watching a video game, so they don't stop watching the film to play on their iphones out of boredom. There's just no way around this. It's become entrenched in modern horror films, and I've developed a zero tolerance level for it.

Worse yet, The infected are no longer savage, brutal, loathsome and scary. They're just goofy and silly....bad caricatures or parodies of what was created in the prior films. 28 Weeks contains some of the most vicious, inescapable, relentless, fearsome high-speed infected ever put to tape. It's practically claustrophobic, and palpably so. In this case,

[Show spoiler]a little kid with a junk homemade bow and his sick, weak, dying mom didn't even seem to be in any real danger from dozens of them. Add to this the fact the infected here all just move around in a predictable, poor, mechanical, cartoonish cgi manner, and it's a solid miss.

It's many steps backward from what the first two films had achieved in this regard.

Anyhoo, yeah I own the uhd disc which looks solid, so...I'll keep it but won't rewatch it anytime soon. A fan edit with all the bad cgi bloodspray and really bad, jerky multi-angle videogame attack sequences completely cut out would be very useful for this flick someday down the road. God, I just hope this horrendous trend of turning every single action scene in every single new film into a lousy rendition of a first- or third-person shooter video game eventually ends, because I'm past my limit with this gimmicky horseshit. Make a movie, or make a video game. One or the other.

[Show spoiler] If you can't separate it, or can't keep viewer interest or make money otherwise based on a talented script or skilled cinematography, and are just going to make a heartless, contrived film that will lose money but serves as little more than a springboard for a host of future first-person shooter video games that WILL make money, then the studios can keep it. Probably my last blind buy of any new film in the action-based horror genre from a major studio. I should know better by now. I'll be skipping any more sequels. The prior two films were master-grade actual horror cinema, by comparison.

[Kyle15]

I agree with Bowie. I'm afraid of Americans.

[DaylightsEnd]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

I agree with Bowie. I'm afraid of Americans.

Me too. Have you seen their driving lately? They sail right through all the red lights at busy intersections whilst playing "28 Videogames later: Attack of the giant infectedkoks" on their MePhones. Maybe they just arrived at level 14 and were confronted by the Alpha, too distracted to yield to thru traffic or even look forward through their windscreens at where they're going at 60mph.....


I'm still wishing out of all this that the right folks will feel greedy pangs and be arsed enough by current franchise activity to tag along, ride the marketing wave, and put 28 Weeks Later on 4k uhd. But....not holding up much hope for such a thing.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Originally Posted by DaylightsEnd

[Show spoiler] I just watched the uhd last night and don't disagree here. But I was wholly underwhelmed. This is easily the weakest in the series to date, in addition to being a general excuse to exhibit 30+ minutes of random flopping zombie-cocks whilst stuffing the presentation with some of the weakest score material I've heard in a horror film in some time. I was even surprised that they'd stooped to using so many pointless, poorly-placed jump scares. First hint that I was not this film's intended target audience.

But I'll go one further. It's not the first time mentioning this and it won't be the last....I absolutely despise despise despise despise despise all the tacky, irritating, highly-distracting, awful, wannabe videogame-simulation cgi effects and terrible gaming-perspective rubbish that completely chokes out and ruins all of the action scenes. Literally, another bad cartoon. It absolutely and irreversibly takes me out of the film entirely. The freeze-frame trash editing used to stuff weak minds full of jerky multiple-angle views of every single fake arrow striking every single infected, while fake cgi blood spurts and splatters in the fakest, most physics-defying possible manner, again from multiple angles every time, is some of the worst gaming-parody tripe I've ever seen. Even the Resident Evil films aren't this contrived, pathetic and cheesy in their action scenes. Those films are actually trying to BE video games, but do it quite well by comparison. I mean, that was fine and all....12+ years ago when it almost might've been novel.

[Show spoiler]Have these kids doing all this godawful cgi programming ever even shot an arrow, let alone into anything? Obviously not a chance. As a result, the film already feels dated and played-out to me. Just more video-game-gimmick-laden rubbish action scenes, with directors and producers trying desperately to keep brain-dead teens engaged or achieve some connectedness by making them feel like they're watching a video game, so they don't stop watching the film to play on their iphones out of boredom. There's just no way around this. It's become entrenched in modern horror films, and I've developed a zero tolerance level for it.

Worse yet, The infected are no longer savage, brutal, loathsome and scary. They're just goofy and silly....bad caricatures or parodies of what was created in the prior films. 28 Weeks contains some of the most vicious, inescapable, relentless, fearsome high-speed infected ever put to tape. It's practically claustrophobic, and palpably so. In this case,

[Show spoiler]a little kid with a junk homemade bow and his sick, weak, dying mom didn't even seem to be in any real danger from dozens of them. Add to this the fact the infected here all just move around in a predictable, poor, mechanical, cartoonish cgi manner, and it's a solid miss.

It's many steps backward from what the first two films had achieved in this regard.

Anyhoo, yeah I own the uhd disc which looks solid, so...I'll keep it but won't rewatch it anytime soon. A fan edit with all the bad cgi bloodspray and really bad, jerky multi-angle videogame attack sequences completely cut out would be very useful for this flick someday down the road. God, I just hope this horrendous trend of turning every single action scene in every single new film into a lousy rendition of a first-person shooter video game eventually ends, because I'm past my limit with this gimmicky horseshit. Make a movie, or make a video game. One or the other.

[Show spoiler] If you can't separate it, or can't keep viewer interest or make money otherwise based on a talented script or skilled cinematography, and are just going to make a heartless, contrived film that will lose money but serves as little more than a springboard for a host of future first-person shooter video games that WILL make money, then the studios can keep it. Probably my last blind buy of any new film in the action-based horror genre from a major studio. I should know better by now. I'll be skipping any more sequels. The prior two films were master-grade actual horror cinema, by comparison.

Not having seen the movie: wow, that doesn't sound promising...at all!
I'll probably wait for the opportunity to stream it. Hard pass on the 4k for now!

[DaylightsEnd]

Originally Posted by Rollo Tomassi

Not having seen the movie: wow, that doesn't sound promising...at all!
I'll probably wait for the opportunity to stream it. Hard pass on the 4k for now!

I'm a very harsh critic when something ticks my personal peeves, as this did. But you may dig it. So be sure to watch and judge for yourself. Fortunately the uhd disc has no issues, for fans of the flick. I love the first two films for their rawness and brutality, which made this extra disappointing for me. I also have zero interest in computer animated monsters. Millions of kids out there love the shit and can't get enough of it.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Originally Posted by DaylightsEnd

I'm a very harsh critic when something ticks my personal peeves, as this did. But you may dig it. So be sure to watch and judge for yourself. Fortunately the uhd disc has no issues, for fans of the flick. I love the first two films for their rawness and brutality, which made this extra disappointing for me. I also have zero interest in computer animated monsters. Millions of kids out there love the shit and can't get enough of it.

Don't feel bad for putting me off! On the contrary: thank you for sharing this! I also hate this "video game" appearance (love the LOTR movies, hate the Hobbit trilogy for that very reason!) you mention and love the first two movies for their gritty, hand-held cinematography and fierce attacks of the infected. The criticism you mention will very likely cause me to hate the film, as well! The discs will be available two years down the line and by then, I will have had the opportunity to see the film via streaming.
No worries, mate!

[DeathLazer]

A few things...

Ralph Fiennes was extremely good in this. He elevated it beyond the typical horror stuff. His philosophy about life and death gave this movie some real emotional depth. Without Fiennes' character, it would've been just another horror movie.

And that kid Alfie Williams, wow...I doubt he will, but I think it would be cool if he got some serious consideration around awards season. It's even more impressive when you consider that this was his first feature film, and he's in just about every scene.

The special forces soldier was really funny.

I thought the violence was appropriately hardcore and ferocious. And that sequence when they are running back to the village being chased by that Alpha was amazing. It was interesting though how the filmmakers added some evolution to the infected people. If the infected had carried on in the same way (Constantly running around like Olympic sprinters, and what did they eat? They weren't cannibals) like in the first two movies, I think they would've all died off very quickly and we wouldn't have anymore movies. They kind of looked like they were starting to die off at they end of the first movie. LoL.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by mikesncc1701

Can you elaborate for me? I didn't mind the ending but everything I've looked up when I come across the references, I just can't really put two and two together.

The gang of feral young people at the end,

[Show spoiler]led by the grown boy from the cold open, are all dressed like iconic disgraced British children's TV show host Jimmy Saville. The outfit is instantly recognizable to any Brit, but meaningless to anyone in the rest of the world.

Saville was a children's show host who was revealed to have been a serial abuser of children. He went from a beloved national uncle to one of the worst and most revolting villains in British history, and the reveal of his sick crimes traumatized generations of fans, so the costumes are absolutely shocking and horrifying if you get the visual connection.

More than that, the movie's zombie outbreak took place when the first movie came out, in 2002, and Saville wasn't exposed as a monster until 2012, so in this alternate world, nobody knows about his hideous crimes, and the young people dressed as him are just dressing as their youthful hero, unaware of the darker connotations connected with his iconic tracksuit. They all call themselves Jimmy, because they have only fond memories of him, presumably, a commentary on their distorted memory of their lost England.

This plays into a whole motif running through the film of what England is in memory and how it's changed or how it hasn't.

A few more examples:

- the movie very briefly features the iconic Sycamore Gap tree, memorably featured in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, as still standing. It was famously cut down by drunken morons in 2023, but in this alternate world, it still exists, so in a weird way, the zombie pandemic has spared this icon of old Britain

- the townsfolk on the island still have affinity for the Queen, they have her portrait up in the town hall, even though she's certainly long dead

- the movie has frequent montages of footage from Olivier's Henry V, a movie about Britain at war that was itself made as a propaganda film to rouse the nation during Britain's existential battle for survival in WWII.

- that footage is intercut with old newsreel footage of British troops going off to fight in WWI

- the Kipling poem from the trailer and the film is a paean to the troops lost fighting for Britain in the Boer War

Boyle and Garland both said in interviews that the film is meant to be a metaphor for Brexit, and Britain's internal battle between wanting to be part of Europe and wanting to be a self-sufficient fortress island.

There's a ton going on here for a summer movie, and a lot of it is culturally specific to the UK, nothing more so than the

[Show spoiler]Jimmy Saville

references on which the film ends.