Directed by: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo

Starring: Catherine McCormack, Robert Carlyle, Jeremy Renner, Rose Byrne, Imogen Poots, Mackintosh Muggleton

Classification: 18

Continuing the momentum of the recent revival of British horror, 28 Weeks Later acts as a sequel to Danny Boyle's 2002 film, 28 Days Later.

After seven months, mainland Britain has been declared free of the rage virus, and a small resettlement area has been set up on the Isle of Dogs, run by the US army. Citizens are being slowly allowed back into the UK in a bid to repopulate the country, starting with London. As you'd expect, things don't go smoothly and the rage virus comes back, leaving medical officer Scarlet (Rose Byrne) to go on the run with two children, Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton), whose blood may contain the key to a cure for the virus.

It's a simple and straightforward idea, but sadly it just leads straight to a formulaic plot that offers little that is new for the genre. 28 Days Later was innovative in its 'reinvention' of the zombie film, however this sequel feels almost lazy and forced in its evolution of the story - particularly since it doesn't actually bring anything new to mythos of the infected, other than a somewhat pathetic attempt at linking the virus to genetics.

The fact that Danny Boyle didn't actually direct this just makes the lost potential all the more obvious. In fact, Fresnadillo's directing is what made this such a poor film for me. Almost the entire film is shot on a handheld camera and the visuals are given a grainy makeover, presumably to convey a sense of gritty realism, but the end result looks shoddy and amateur. It is true that it lends a sense of desperation to the harrowing scenes of various run-ins with the infected, but sadly Fresnadillo has no idea of pacing, and has made a film which is one continuous string of run-ins. His haste to focus on action scenes over character development leaves the whole film feeling weak and slightly shaky (much like the camerawork), since there are no real efforts made to humanise any of the characters (apart from the sniper, Doyle). Fresnadillo provides no breathing space between chases and confrontations, and has essentially made a dull film that could quite easily have been a good half hour shorter.

Fresnadillo would have done to well to watch Shaun of the Dead, 28 Days Later, or the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, since they're all more than happy to show gore and violence, but they also give you a chance to get to know the characters before they start throwing zombies at them.

It is a formulaic, unpredictable exercise in horror-by-numbers, and I'd strongly recommend that if you're at all interested in seeing it, that you wait for the DVD release.

Rating: 1/5