This summer’s 28 Years Later may have been the best film of 2025.  Apparently, the film is already getting a sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, slated for release in 2026:

I’m excited to see that sequel, so I was even more excited to see 2007’s 28 Weeks Later on Shudder.  Shudder experienced a bit of a dry spell this summer, with basically just a bunch of low-budget French and Indonesian films from the the 1960s and 1970s.  I like foreign flicks, but sometimes I just want to watch a movie, not read one.

I’ve still got to see 28 Days Later (2002), but I enjoyed Weeks immensely.

The film occurs in the aftermath of the Rage Virus sweeping through England.  Due to most everyone being devoured, the Rage victims/zombies/monsters have starved out, and a US-led NATO force operates on the island, clearing out any remaining vestiges of the zombie and the highly contagious virus.

The overly-optimistic occupation force starts bringing in refugees, securing them on the Isle of Dogs in the middle of the Thames River.  Much to the chagrin of an attractive Army major who is also a doctor, kids are being brought in as well.

Naturally, two of the kids, Tammy and Andy, sneak off and run amok in London.  They soon discover their mother, who their father had seen (he thought) eaten by the zombies.  It turns out that, while the mother was bitten, she is resistant to the Rage Virus.  Hot Army Doctor (HAD) wants to preserve her and the children, as their immunity could be the key to developing a medical defense against the Virus.

What could possibly go wrong?  Well, father goes to see mother and kisses her, immediately contracting the Virus.  For some reason, there’s no security around this woman, who is apparently a highly valuable asset.  Father goes crazy and starts eating soldiers.

With the situation growing desperate, the military starts firebombing London.  While that kills some zombies (and lots of innocent civilians), it primarily pushes the zombies toward the fleeing Tammy, Andy, HAD, and the guy that played the archer in all the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.

The goal isn’t just survival:  it’s to get Tammy and Andy to safety so their blood can be studied for immunity.  Little Andy’s own undead father takes a bite out of him, but Andy has the immunity—but now also carries the Rage Virus to France.  Oops!

The flick is fascinating in that way that many zombie movies are—it shows the continuing folly of governments and humans in the face of the very nightmarish problems they have created.  Unintended consequences cascade into monstrous outcomes for both the living and the undead.  Attempts to contain the threat snowball out of control—and ultimately prove futile (even as the bodies of innocents pile up like driftwood).

It’s also fun because there are so many moments that made me say, “C’mon, where are the responsible people? Why was it so easy for two kids to slip past snipers and armed guards?”  But without those cracks, there’d be no plot, and we’d just be watching a movie of people hanging out on a peninsula in the Thames for 90 minutes.