# 28 weeks later! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2007, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415 "2007-05-02T03:27:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/21 "2007-05-02T18:02:43Z")
[QUOTE=brewha] I like the first one and am pretty excited about the second. My **finance** likes a good zombie flick as well… (emphasis added) [/QUOTE] Show her the money! ---
**Author:** ![Procyon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@Procyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procyon)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/22 "2007-05-02T18:14:58Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] Your definition of _zombie_ doesn’t include “came back from the dead”? I thought that was pretty much a necessary (though not sufficient, cf. vampires, fankensteins) condition for “zombie”. [/QUOTE] Limiting zombies to the undead excludes the entire category of _Voodoo zombies_, which cinematically predate Romero-style living dead (see [White Zombie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023694/)). ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/23 "2007-05-02T18:55:15Z")
I dunno. None of the principles (either in front of or behind the camera) are returning. The trailer seems to feature a ‘more-of-the-same scenario’ (lots of shots of a mostly uninhabited London - just like in the first movie), and worst of all…precocious adolescent kids are apparently major characters. Much as I loved the first film, and would like to get psyched for a sequel, I have a bad feeling about this one. I’ll wait for the DVD. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/24 "2007-05-02T19:03:10Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] There were no zombies in the movie _28 Days Later_; have they added them to the sequel? Odd. [/quote] There were plenty of zombies. They were those berserk people that shunned the daylight and pretty much attacked most normal people on sight. Just because they weren’t the walking dead doesn’t mean they aren’t zombies. Firefly had the Reavers who were little more than space zombies. Marc ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/25 "2007-05-02T19:09:44Z")
The creatures in 28 days later were like zombies, except they preyed solely on the pedantic. ---
**Author:** ![Kokopilau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Kokopilau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kokopilau)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/26 "2007-05-02T20:29:44Z")
[QUOTE=stolichnaya] The creatures in 28 days later were like zombies, except they preyed solely on the pedantic. [/QUOTE] Horrifying indeed! ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/27 "2007-05-02T20:49:49Z")
[QUOTE=Procyon] Limiting zombies to the undead excludes the entire category of _Voodoo zombies_, which cinematically predate Romero-style living dead (see [White Zombie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023694/)). [/QUOTE] Wasn’t George Romero the first one to come up with the idea of zombies as mindless (no offence Bub 😉 ) reaninmated corpses that craved human flesh? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/28 "2007-05-02T20:51:33Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] From the trailer I’ve seen, it looks as if they’re imitating the visual style of the first film, even though Danny Boyle isn’t directing. [/QUOTE] The director is a Spanish fellow who is responsible for a very good film called _Intacto._ Dunno about this movie, but the director ain’t just some schmoe; he’s got his own cred. Based on his prior work, this one has potential, at least. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/29 "2007-05-02T20:54:02Z")
[QUOTE=stolichnaya] The creatures in 28 days later were like zombies, except they preyed solely on the pedantic. [/QUOTE] Our brains are in terrible danger! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/30 "2007-05-03T07:17:04Z")
[QUOTE=Nancarrow] Er, I’m sure I’d remember that. 😕 Are you sure you’re talking about the same film? [/QUOTE] Sorry I was too obscure for everyone. I guess since its sort of a often used inside joke for me and a couple of my buddies I forget that it may be hard to understand. The scene I was refering to with the whole “massaging brain thing” was when Jim kills the soldier by gouging his eyes out. Sorry for the confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/31 "2007-05-03T16:58:52Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] Yeah, the first one was…unpredictable. A zombie flick with road movie sensibilities and social critique. I’m not sure how they’re going to pull it off with a sequel. I’m not totally pessimistic, but I’m suspicious that it’ll just turn into a contextless gorefest, the way the unauthorized sequels of Romero’s films became. [/QUOTE] I was excited by the trailer until one single line of dialog. Now I’m just nervous. The premise of repopulating the infected areras after all the zombie-like madhumans have been disposed of seemed cool and ominous, but that _one_ line of dialog in the trailer is really bothering me (I’m worried it’s a spoiler). [spoiler]Daughter: “Dad, what really happened to mum, anyway?” Gah! Now I’m just thinking of _Shaun of the Dead_ where he had his zombie buddy hidden in the garage. Lemme guess, the army came and killed the zombies… except this one guy couldn’t bear to let his zombie wife get killed and has her chained up somewhere, then she finally gets loose and re-zombifies the city. [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/32 "2007-05-03T17:34:19Z")
[QUOTE=stolichnaya] The creatures in 28 days later were like zombies, except they preyed solely on the pedantic. [/QUOTE] And The Straight Dope was decimated. Precocious adolescents? I think I’ll wait for the DVD release, too. You’re right, **Swallowed** - that sounds like the way it might go. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/33 "2007-05-03T19:20:10Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Excellent] Come on - they’re former humans who’ve been changed into raging monsters that feast on the flesh of normal people. The fact they haven’t come back from the dead is unimportant - they’re zombies, admittedly of the fast-moving variety. [/QUOTE] I prefer to classify them as an infectious variety of soccer hooligan. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/34 "2007-05-03T19:40:07Z")
[QUOTE=Swallowed My Cellphone] I was excited by the trailer until one single line of dialog. Now I’m just nervous. The premise of repopulating the infected areras after all the zombie-like madhumans have been disposed of seemed cool and ominous, but that _one_ line of dialog in the trailer is really bothering me (I’m worried it’s a spoiler). [/QUOTE] Your spoiler-boxed supposition is, according to what I’ve heard, not accurate. If you really want to know what that line refers to, and I mean **really** want to know (because it’s a **major** twist in the movie’s setup, and is being concealed in the previews), then read the following. (I haven’t actually seen the movie but I’ve heard this from very reliable sources. It’s possible this is wrong but don’t think so; I’m confident it’s more or less correct. BIG, BIG spoiler alert.) [spoiler]Wife is married to Robert Carlyle character. (If you recognized him in the preview, he’s the lead in _The Full Monty_ and Begbie in _Trainspotting_.) During the initial attack, i.e. the gap in the first movie, he was forced to leave his wife behind in order to escape. He left her to the Rage people to save himself, and assumed she was killed, or was infected (and then presumably exterminated when the military moved in). Hence his awkwardness at the child’s question. But then she shows up, alive, and uninfected. He has to deal with his guilt at leaving her to her fate. And _then_ it turns out that she has a rare immunity to the Rage, and is a Typhoid-Mary-like carrier. Her return is the vector that triggers the new outbreak that is the bulk of this sequel. She infects the medical staff, and her husband, and basically everybody else she contacts, except her kid, with whom she goes on the run. It’s understandable why they’re not providing these details in the preview, because they want it to be a surprise when Robert Carlyle, the best-known member of the cast and the person we assume will be a heroic lead, suddenly turns into a Rage zombie and begins hunting his wife.[/spoiler] Hope that helps. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/35 "2007-05-03T20:48:54Z")
Do they call the “small area” in London “the Green Zone”? I thought _28 Days Later_ was a great premise, ruined. The first half hour or so was great, but it went downhill fast with all those Zombies (or whatever you want to call them). Yeah, and the ending was pretty hokey. IIRC, the original ending was quite different. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/36 "2007-05-03T22:02:09Z")
I liked the initial theatrical ending in 28 Days Later because it **wasn’t** what I was expecting. The original ending that was shown later was exactly how I was expecting the movie to end and as such it had no impact for me. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/37 "2007-05-14T20:52:04Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Do they call the “small area” in London “the Green Zone”? [/QUOTE] They do indeed, with that exact term. ---
**Author:** ![Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoundrel_Swanswater)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/38 "2007-05-15T08:45:17Z")
[QUOTE=Just Some Guy] I liked the initial theatrical ending in 28 Days Later because it **wasn’t** what I was expecting. The original ending that was shown later was exactly how I was expecting the movie to end and as such it had no impact for me. [/QUOTE] Can you spoil for me what the difference is between the two endings? I have only seen it on DVD and had no idea there was an alternate ending. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/39 "2007-05-15T16:08:18Z")
[QUOTE=Scoundrel Swanswater] Can you spoil for me what the difference is between the two endings? I have only seen it on DVD and had no idea there was an alternate ending. [/QUOTE] Memory’s a little shaky, but since nobody else is jumping up: [spoiler]Almost exactly like the released ending, except the male lead dies; the woman and the girl are rescued. This is on the DVD. Again, my it’s been a while, but – as far as _radically_ different endings, the DVD has read-aloud storyboards for a very different second half of the film. I think the father was to be saved by having a full blood transfusion with the male lead.[/spoiler] Please correct me if I’m wrong, someone. Edit: er, corrected spoiler. ---
**Author:** ![jharvey963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415/40 "2007-05-15T20:13:02Z")
I just saw this last night and thought it was pretty good. It got a B+ on Yahoo Movies from users. I’d give it a B myself. Well worth seeing, if you like this kind of movie. Let me reply to a couple of messages. First of all, regarding the zombies they aren’t TECHNICALLY zombies, in the sense that they were dead, but have come back to life. They are living people that were infected with the Rage virus The synopsis of the plot given above is not correct in saying the mother, who is somehow immune to the virus, goes around infecting the medical staff, her husband, and a bunch of other people. Her husband, out of guilt, sneaks in to visit her (she’s strapped to a bed), kisses her, and is infected. He then starts infecting everybody else. She never gets released from the bed, and never goes on the run with her kids. Also, The army doesn’t kill the infected from the initial outbreak of the Rage virus. They starve to death once there are no more people to eat. :eek: So, not a bad horror flick. J. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/28-weeks-later/402415.md?page=3)