28 WEEKS LATER

At some point during Melbourne’s second big lockdown I got big back into horror movies. I found them weirdly comforting, because a scary thing would happen and then be resolved. While watching a stream of fright flicks I ended up revisiting a lot of movies I hadn’t seen in years. And I tell you what, it is an interesting experience finding out that your memory is wrong.

Way back in 2007 I saw 28 Weeks Later in cinemas and for the longest time I swore up and down that it was far superior to the original and it was a breathtakingly thrilling zombie movie. And I am wrong about both of those things. Days Later is easily the better of the two movies and outside of a good opening sequence Weeks Later is an absolute drag.

The most proof I needed that my memory was absolutely shot was that this movie stars Rose Byrne and Jeremy Renner and I had absolutely no idea. They are the stars of the film. Idris Elba is also in this movie. As is Imogen Poots. You could have quizzed me on all of this information and I would have been like “I think Robert Carlyle is in it and that is about all I know.”

I think what happened is that over time solid actual recollections must get replaced by the memory of feelings and then your brain just pieces together the rest. 28 Weeks Later arrived at that juncture between when the world was producing the occasional zombie film and when the world was producing so much zombie content that it was impossible to feel anything about the idea of zombies. So at the time, maybe, sure, 28 Weeks Later was exciting because it felt fresh, but now, after eleven seasons (AND COUNTING) of The Walking Dead and two spin offs (AND COUNTING) it is hard to care about the undead.

Where would I fit into 28 Weeks Later? In the world of zombies? A post-apocalyptic hellscape? A world with no law and order? A world where the undead roam amongst the living? I think I know exactly how I would survive.

IF I WERE IN ’28 WEEKS LATER’ I WOULD: NOT LAST A MINUTE IN THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE