The First Ever FMS Scarelicious October Movie Series - Movie #13: 28 Days Later

My apologies, but this is going to be a candy-ass review.  While I love 28 Days Later with all my heart, my heart really wasn't in it when I watched it yesterday, partly because I've seen it a couple of times before and partly because it was the sanitized AMC Fear Fest version and thus just not the same as the real deal.

Nutshell synopsis: some well-intentioned but misguided animal rights activists attempt to liberate some chimpanzees from a lab somewhere in England.  Unfortunately, these chimps have been infected with "rage," a virus that causes uncontrollable aggression and bloodthirstiness and is spread - at record speed, like you'll show symptoms in 15-20 seconds once infected - by blood.  An activist is bitten by an infected chimpanzee during the liberation attempt ... and twenty-eight days later, all of England has been decimated by this infection.  Our hero, Jim (a hauntingly skinny Cillian Murphy) wakes up in a London hospital after a month-long coma, only to find his world now post-apocalyptic.  He meets up with several other survivors and they make their way to a miliary outpost, battling the infected, screaming, blood-spewing lunatics all the way, only to discover that the soldiers have become monsters even more than the infected are.  The infected can't help themselves, of course, but the soldiers, led by the insane yet charismatic Christopher Eccleston, have succumbed to their fear and despair and in doing so, have given up their humanity.

This is a fantastic movie.  It's not technically a zombie flick since the infected aren't dead people, but they act like zombies - sprinting, shrieking zombies - in that all they want to do is chew on uninfected people.  It's well-acted and well-plotted and beautifully shot, and if you haven't seen it yet and have any inclination towards zombie films, you need to.

Next: I know today is Hallowe'en and tomorrow is November, but the next two movies in my queue are The Crazies (new version) and Event Horizon.  Perhaps I'll continue the Scarelicious Movie Series through those two, just for the heck of it.  Or maybe not, since we have visitors coming.  Guess you'll just have to check back and see.