Here I sit, the morning after watching “28 Days Later”, and what do I find myself doing? Sitting in front of the tube (yes... as I type this) watching “Dawn of the Dead”. “28..” is such an impressive melange of tributes to zombie movies, that it almost (ALMOST) makes you ignore the fact that the genre has been done SO much better, SO many times before. It truly made me want to see all those movies it makes references to. And yes friends at last count it made references to at least 9 movies, zombie or otherwise. (It starts out with a blatant ripoff of the “ultraviolencve” programming scene in “Colckwork Orange” for heaven’s sake...but this time with a monkey).

Not much new here folks. Yes this movie will give those uninitiated nightmares, but only to those types that thought “The Ring” was creative and scary. (heathens!)

I’ll spare you the plot details and associated spoilers usually associated with reviews and just tell you that as with most zombie/horror movies, they are moot. Danny Boyle(Trainspotting) has done such an impressive job, both visually and storywise in the past, that the potential here was great for a stunning, exciting, and (I can’t stress this enough)creative gorefest. And do not get me wrong, there were some moments that I did not expect. (cases in point: when the father gets infected not by being bitten, but by looking up at a dead body and a drop of blood falls into his eye. When the camera follows the blood from the blood’s perspective right into this guys orb, that was the most tense moment of the film. Also instead of most movies where infection kills the victims, this is the case of a virus, which I’ll acutally buy. But, now instead of waiting for the infection to turn you into a zombie...usually a couple of hours or days...you now have only 20 seconds. I found my self counting. 8...7...6...) After that everything in this film has been done many times over. Is this supposed to be a tribute film? ALSO there are no closeups and extended shots of gore. Something that bugged me about this movie and about all modern fims in general is the rapid jump and cut style of camrea work. I know that it is supposed to accentuate the excitement and freneticism of the scene, but I believe that excitement and tension can rely solely on character development. I’d like to see what is going on instead of only having an idea because of the blurred jumpy images on the screen.

Alas...gone of the days of George Romero, Lamberto Bava, Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento. Whatever happened to makeup gurus Tom Savini and Greg Nicotero? Unfortunately I realize that the truly great zombie movies will never be released theatrically (although I do eagerly anticipate Resident Evil 2) but for those in search of a truly fun and tense zombie flick, do not see 28 days (at least until it is on video).

Hit your local video store and rent:
“Zombie” (Lucio Fulci)
“Night of the Living Dead” Series(George Romero)
“Demons” (Lamberto Bava)
“Dead Alive” (Peter Jackson before he sold out) etc.

Now Get Crackin!