Most sequels are the cud that cattle spit up and chew again before digesting it in their second stomach—a rehash that takes all the best elements of the first film and robs them of flavor. Luckily “28 Weeks Later” is a bit of an exception to that rule. Although far from flawless, the sequel to Danny Boyle’s “20 Days Later” (Boyle acted as producer and second unit director on this film) takes a slightly different approach than the first film. ***

Six months after the original viral outbreak of the disease that causes people to become like mindless zombies attacking, biting and killing others in order to spread the virus, London has been resettled and the military has stepped in restoring order. The settlers are carefully checked for signs of infection before being allowed in this new gated community in London. A brother and sister (Mackintosh Muggleton and Imogen Poots) are among the first children admitted to the area where they see their father Donald (Robert Carlyle) for the first time since the outbreak. He works as a custodian keeping the heat, power and essential services running for the building. Donald’s wife wasn’t so lucky—she was separated from her husband when a group of the infected broke into the home where they were hiding and Donald who abandoned her as the infected swarmed around her assumed that she was dead. When Dr. Scarlet Ross (Rose Byrne also in Boyle’s “Sunshine”) finds that the boy has some sort of natural immunity to the virus she believes she may have the cure within her grasp if she has enough time to figure out how to use it.When the children break out of the confines of the city to go back home and look for their mother they are taking their lives and those inside the city into their own hands as the infected could still be roaming the countryside. What they find out there changes both their lives and the lives of everyone in this safe zone in ways they never anticipated. ---

Image & Sound:

“28 Weeks Later” is a bloody mess. There are pixilation issues left and right, blurred images (some intentional but many not) due to the inadequate ability to capture the look of the film because of the disc space. Why? Because this is one of those screeners. Screeners from Fox are BURNED so are different from the final product. I can’t recommend how this looks based on this DVD I could, however, ASSUME that the final version will look better (it often does) but this burned screener stuff has to stop. It doesn’t give us any idea of what the final product will truly look like. I can tell you that if you burned a bootleg version of this for yourself with inadequate use of digital compression, it’ll look like one of the creatures vomiting up blood in this film. Audio sounded fine and is very active with a nice, smooth 5.1 mix that captures the intensity of the theatrical version of the film. ---

First up we get an intelligent commentary by director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and producer Enrique Lopex Lavigne that focuses less on the behind-the-scenes hijinks and more on character motivation, changes in the story as shooting progressed and technical shooting information. We also get deleted scenes with optional commentary. Keep in mind that these are unfinished lacking the edgy look of the final product. ***

We also get two deleted scenes with optional commentary. It should be noted that the deleted scenes aren’t quite finished looking. Both were cut for good reasons including a sequence where the boy imagines seeing his mother in a creepy subway scene as they are trying to escape. ***

“Code Red: The Making of ’28 Weeks Later’ is a solid featurette on the challenges of following up a popular horror film and taking the franchise in a new creative direction. ***

“The Infected” is a profile of the actors playing the monsters in the film. ***

“Getting into the Action” gives us a glimpse into the “look” of the film including the visual effects and the on stage action sequences. ***

“28 Days Later: The Aftermath: Stage 1 Development” and “Stage 3: Decimation” Are two animated shorts that provide us with a prequel and story that connects the two films. The animation style is quite a bit different for both with the latter looking more like a graphic novel brought to life. ***

Thinks are wrapped p with trailers for this film, the original film and some torture porn flicks including “The Hills Have Eyes 2” and “Wrong Turn 2”. ---

Final Words: