In that sense, the film is just one more in a genre that includes Night of the Living Dead, The Thing, Virus-which is not to deny Boyle’s unquestionable talent. The group sleeps amidst debris in deserted buildings, eats canned food gleaned from an abandoned supermarket, fights off the Infected, and worries about having to kill one another in the event that one of them becomes contaminated.Ģ8 Days Later aligns itself with the typical loss-of-individuality plot-once an individual is infected, their humanity gives way to the monstrous. With few exceptions, those who haven’t fled the country after the outbreak are either dead or have become “the infected.” And it is with these survivors-Selena (Naomi Harris), widowed Frank (Brendan Gleeson), and his teenage daughter Hannah (Megan Burns)-that Jim will struggle to stay alive.
Finding the hospital abandoned, he walks out and wanders through the empty London streets.
The film then cuts to a young man named Jim (Cillian Murphy) waking up from a 28-day coma following a car accident. The epidemic begins with chimps infected with “rage” (as part of research into what we presume is a cure for violent impulses) liberated by animal rights activists.
The movie starts with the usual sci-fi tropes: mankind’s experiments go haywire with destructive results.
