28 Days Later is a 2002 British post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland.

It stars Cillian Murphy as a bicycle courier who awakens from a coma to discover the accidental release of a highly contagious, aggression-inducing virus has caused the breakdown of society.

Garland took inspiration from George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead film series and John Wyndham's 1951 novel The Day of the Triffids.

The crew filmed for brief periods during early mornings and temporarily closed streets to capture recognisable and typically busy areas when they were deserted.

Twenty-eight days later, bicycle courier Jim, who had a traffic accident and fell into a coma before the outbreak, awakens in St Thomas' Hospital in London to find it deserted.

Leaving the hospital, Jim wanders the empty streets of London, discovers newspapers headlining a mass evacuation, and eventually enters a church which contains the aftermath of a massacre.

Infected living humans appear and give chase to Jim, but he is rescued by healthy survivors Selena and Mark, who take him to their refuge in a streetside shop.

The group set out for Manchester in Frank's cab, looting a supermarket along the way, and escaping ambushes when they stop to change a tyre and to refuel.

When they find the blockade deserted except by crows, Frank, frustrated, kicks a tall gate on which a dead body is balanced.

The soldiers bring Jim, Selena, and Hannah to a heavily fortified mansion under the command of Major Henry West, and treat their guests to a tour and banquet.

Hannah retaliates by putting the cab in reverse, allowing Mailer to pull West through the rear window and kill him, and drives off.

Another twenty-eight days later, Jim recovers at a remote cottage in Cumbria, where the infected are shown lying openly on the roads, showing signs of starvation.

As a Hawker Hunter jet flies overhead, Jim, Selena, and Hannah unfurl a huge cloth banner spelling the word "HELLO".

On the DVD commentary, Boyle explains that with the aim of preserving the suspension of disbelief, relatively unknown actors were cast in the film.

[6] Producer Andrew Macdonald had access to funding from the National Lottery, and pitched it to Universal Pictures, who declined to support it.

[12] The film features scenes set in normally bustling parts of London, such as Westminster Bridge, Piccadilly Circus, Horse Guards Parade and Oxford Street.

To depict these locations as desolate, the film crew closed off sections of street for minutes at a time, usually on Sunday mornings.

[19] The production team hired an optometrist to supervise with the red contact lenses needed for cast members playing the infected.

[6] At a certain point, Macdonald announced to the crew that the production had run out of money, and filming ceased without a satisfactory closing sequence having been shot.

[22] The film's score was composed by John Murphy, featuring electric guitar and atmospheric electronic production.

It also features notable tracks from Brian Eno, Grandaddy and Blue States,[23] and was released in a combined score and song compilation in 2003.

A modified version of the track 'In The House – In A Heartbeat' was used as the character Big Daddy's theme in the 2010 film Kick-Ass.

The site's consensus reads: "Kinetically directed by Danny Boyle, 28 Days Later is both a terrifying zombie movie and a sharp political allegory.

"[4] In 2017, a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine ranked it the 97th-best British film ever.

[32] 28 Days Later had an impact on subsequent horror films,[3] and is credited with starting a revival for the zombie genre,[5][3][33] along with the Resident Evil franchise.

[3] During the COVID-19 pandemic, images of a national lockdown in the United Kingdom and stay-at-home orders elsewhere were compared to the opening sequence of 28 Days Later.

[35][36][37][38] In 2021, Megan Burns said of the film, "When I joined the cast of 28 Days Later I had no idea of how big a cultural impact it would have and what a game-changer it would be to the 'zombie' genre.

The plot revolves around the arrival of American troops about seven months after the incidents in the original film, attempting to restore order and revitalise a nearly desolate Britain.

The cast includes Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Imogen Poots, Harold Perrineau, Catherine McCormack, Mackintosh Muggleton and Idris Elba.