28 Years Later (2025)

The main characters in 28 Years Later come from a self-sufficient small tidal island in England, which is isolated from the mainland and the infection. We see things from the view of 12-year-old boy Spike, who lived with his parents inside the community of this island.

For a living condition that is so dependent on each other, this community isn’t an ideal oasis. With the characters being fully Caucasian (one zombie in the mainland wasn’t white-looking), it seems to emphasize the isolation of this town free of urbanization. Spike’s mother, Isla, played by Jodie Comer, has an unknown disease and wasn’t always in a lucid state. Spike’s relationship with his father, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, was intimate at first glance as he led Spike’s first adventure to the mainland. While Spike experienced the shallowness of the heroic narrative and witnessed his father’s affair at the party celebrating his triumphant return, the gap between their relationship widened. The only doctor whose service was possibly available to the community was also a social outcast. His valuable skills didn’t guarantee forgiveness for his abnormal behavior or even a chance to explain. Spike left the island to seek the doctor with Isla for a possible cure for her disease, becoming an outsider himself.

Unexpectedly, the disabled mother who was mentally unstable and physically feeble wasn’t a passive side character and didn’t solely remain as a symbol of motivation for the protagonist. She saved Spike during his sleep and an uninfected newborn from the zombie. Her characterization is mainly being a sacrificing mother with the instinct for protecting children, either her own or others’.

A young Swedish man, Erik, joined the navy to prove a point to his friend and was short-lived in this film. His story holds a classic stance of dystopian films on questioning what we choose in our lives. Spike’s confusion about the concept of delivery and online shopping raises a contrast between the life inside the quarantined British Isles and the mundane daily life outside.

The grainy and stylish editing of every kill with the splashing of blood and flesh, the glistening hollow eyes at night, and the olive-colored landscape created the ambient visual experience in 28 Years Later. In a swift motion, the once flourishing town was in a shabby state, covered in green.