Boy, good thing there’s absolutely nothing topical about a pandemic movie in which hordes of brainless humans have overrun an entire country and are making things a living hell for the rest of us just trying to survive. Nope, nothing at all! We haven’t had to resort to carrying bows and arrows to fight off those infected drones just yet but, well, maybe it’s only a matter of time.
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That time has come and gone in the world of “28 Years Later,” the long-awaited sequel to Danny Boyle’s post-apocalyptic thriller “28 Days Later” and the 2007 follow-up film “28 Weeks Later.” Our first look at the official trailer from late last year is still seared into our brains, chronicling the continued downfall of humanity almost three full decades after the rage virus first infected our friends across the pond — the hapless inhabitants of the UK. The original film followed Cillian Murphy’s Jim, who had the grave misfortune of falling into a coma one day and waking up nearly a month later during the end of his world. While he’s rumored to appear in one of the upcoming installments (which is planned as a new trilogy), the new film will follow a cast led by Aaron Taylor Johnson, Jodie Comer, “Sinners” star Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Ralph Fiennes, and more.
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Sony has released a new trailer for the next installment of this franchise, which you can check out above!
There are many kinds of death
The new “28 Years Later” trailer offers more glimpses of what was hinted at in the previous promo: infected people who have mutated into more terrifying forms over the years. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen mutated zombies in the horror genre, but the idea mostly emerged out of video games like “Left 4 Dead” and “Resident Evil,” where having a creative mix of enemies with different abilities is necessary to keep things interesting for players. (Few things in “Left 4 Dead” are scarier than creeping around a dark building and hearing the telltale sobbing of a Witch echoing nearby.)
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Special zombies have made the leap to the screen via adaptations like the “Resident Evil” movies and, more recently, “The Last of Us,” but “28 Years Later” seems to have at least two original creations. One is the bearded giant seen attacking a group of soldiers at the start of the trailer. Another has a body so bloated that it can only crawl along the ground. Spike (Alfie Williams) appears to be aiming to kill this one with his bow and arrow, but if it’s anything like the Boomers in “Left 4 Dead” or the Bloaters in “The Last of Us,” he’d be wise to get some distance before shooting it.
We’ll find out exactly what horrors are in store when “28 Years Later” hits theaters on June 20, 2025.
