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Order this DVD from Amazon.com
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28
Days Later
Widescreen
Special Edition
(Twentieth Century
Fox Home Entertainment)
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| DVD
Release Date:
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October
21, 2003
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Length:
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113 mins.
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| Rated:
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R
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| Format:
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Widescreen (1.85:1)
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Audio:
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English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby 2.0, Spanish Dolby 2.0
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| Subtitles:
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English, Spanish, Closed-Captioned
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| Extras:
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Audio
Commentary by Director Danny Boyle and Writer Alex Garland, 3
Alternate Endings, Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary,
"Pure Rage: The Making of 28 Days Later Featurette,
Jacknife Lee Music Video, Animated Storyboards, Still Photo
Galleries, Theatrical Trailer
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"The most frightening movie since
'The Exorcist'"?!? That's how this movie is described on the back
of the DVD case. Frightening? The only thing frightening here is that
statement!
In 28 Days Later, a virus is unleashed when a group of people try to
rescue some apes from an animal testing laboratory. The apes were
infected with "rage" and they pass the infection on to the
humans. Some rescue effort... So, fast forward 28 days later, and the
population of the United Kingdom (and possibly the planet) is decimated
by the virus. A man named Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up in the
hospital and is completely alone. And the first thing he does? He
breaks into a Pepsi machine (obvious product placement). He walks
around - there's nobody anywhere. He walks into a church and finally
finds some people. Unfortunately, they freak out on him and he runs
away in horror, only to be rescued by a couple of survivors (Naomie
Harris and Noah Huntley) who explain what happened to civilization.
It's not safe anymore, so they go on the run. Along the way, they meet
a couple of other survivors. Listening to the radio, they hear
directions to where they can go to be safe - but when they reach their
destination, it's anything but safe, and they must fight another
danger in addition to the infected.
Unless you are one of those people who live in fear of viruses or even
that the world will be taken over by zombies (if you can even call
them that), there is not a helluva lot to be frightened about with
this movie. Not that it wasn't a good movie. It was okay, but
frightening is one of the last words I'd use in this situation.
The big promotional push with this DVD are the three alternate endings
we get in the special features. This movie was even re-released
theatrically with one of the endings featured on the DVD - and for
good reason - the theatrical alternative ending was actually pretty
good. I could see this ending making more sense, but I could also see
why it would've failed based on the included commentary. For me, the
actual ending was a bit too happy, given what happened during the rest
of the movie. The second ending featured on the DVD was pretty much
the real ending without one of the key characters, who we must assume
died. Finally, there is a third "radical" ending which
would've been nice to see with actual footage. Instead, we get this
ending storyboarded with the script being read by the writer and
director. In this version, we cut into the movie about 1/2 way and
change the direction completely - an interesting concept for sure.
Both the alternate theatrical ending and the alternate radical ending
were more poetic, mirroring what happened in the beginning of the
movie and you can't help but wonder if the movie would have been more
successful had they chose to go either of these different ways?
In addition to the alternate endings, the special features include six
deleted scenes with optional commentary by the writer and director.
All except one of these could have conceivably been included in the
movie. They were cut for the usual reasons we're given - either due to
time constraints or the fact that it didn't fit into the final cut,
etc... I guess the director made the right decisions - unlike the
alternate endings, there is no real question as to why they were cut.
In terms of the audio commentary from director Danny Boyle and writer
Alex Garland, although Boyle dominates the commentary, this isn't
necessarily a bad thing. As with any director that has made a name for
himself due to his unique style, Boyle contributes tonnes about the
production, the challenges and his own feelings about certain scenes
and elements in the movie. There are parts where it drags, with
frequent gaps in the conversation, but this doesn't really affect the
overall quality of the commentary.
Also included as features are some galleries with commentary by Boyle.
These are again interesting because of Boyle and his obvious knowledge
and passion for his work. There is a photo gallery and a Polaroid
gallery. The photo gallery is more promotional whereas the Polaroids
are more "behind-the-scenes" in nature. Both are worth
checking out for Boyle's commentary alone which is both interesting
and informative.
Next, there is a section of the DVD dedicated to the marketing of the
film. Included here are the film's teaser, a trailer, an animated
storyboard (which was included on the film's original UK website) and
a music video by Jacknife. The music video is a bit strange because it
is the movie condensed into a 6-minute clip. I guess if you don't like
the movie, you can just stop it and watch the music video instead to
find out how it ends without wasting your time. How odd is that?
If you watched the movie and didn't find it to be that scary, check
out the featurette "Pure Rage: The Making of 28 Days Later".
Now THAT is scary - for real. The first ten minutes alone was enough
to make me want to crawl into a hole and never come out. Facts like
"in the last year of the 20th Century, communicable diseases
accounted for and estimated 25% of deaths worldwide" were enough
to do it for me. They go over communicable diseases and how they are
on the rise worldwide. About how the big fear is not nuclear war, but
biological war. About the scare of transmitting diseases from animals
to humans. Mad Cow Disease is a big one here - I guess because the
film was made in the UK. Anyways, it's pretty scary stuff, and makes
you realize just how close the planet is to a worldwide epidemic. It
also makes you realize just how scary the movie really is - that it's
not the so-called zombies that you have to be afraid of, but instead
the threat that something like this could really happen on a mass
scale!
So overall, not a very frightening movie, or at least from what I was
expecting. There were a couple of jump-out-of-your-seat scenes but if
you're going into this movie looking for zombie horror, look
elsewhere. I guess the thought of a virus wiping out the planet is a
little more scary - so if you're going into this movie curious about
where our planet may be heading, this might be a good glimpse.
| The Movie: |
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6.5/10 |
| The
Extras: |
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8/10 |
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did you think?
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Click here for more information on
28 Days Later
Liam Cullin -
Editor
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