Have We Learned Anything From ‘28 Weeks Later’?
The world has known about COVID-19 for more than two years as of this writing. The CDC reports that the United States alone has accumulated over 80 million cases and 981,748 deaths over this time frame. There are many reasons why the disease hasn’t been eradicated or controlled yet. A central one is the handling of the virus’ spread by worldwide governments. It seems that as soon as they believe the pandemic is dying down, infections spike as the regulations and restrictions made to curb the spread are revoked.
This general apathy towards COVID-19 makes the fifteenth anniversary of one of the best horror sequels of the 2000s much more timely.
28 Weeks Later, released on this day in 2007, is the anticipated follow-up to Danny Boyle’s harrowing 2002 horror 28 Days Later. Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, it depicts a world where the zombie-like victims of the Rage Virus slowly died of starvation after its initial outbreak throughout Britain. Amidst the dropping number of infected, NATO began reclaiming the region to rebuild society as much as it can.
The setup is promising. Both British and American forces patrol the safe zone known as District One. Meanwhile, scientists are working to figure out the secrets of the Rage Virus to create a potential cure for it. While obviously not an ideal situation, survivors like siblings Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) still have the chance at a comfortable life as they heal from the obvious trauma caused by a massive Rage outbreak. Everything should be fine. As long as the necessary precautions are taken to ensure that the Rage Virus does not enter District One.
Also Read: ‘The Sadness’: Rob Jabbaz’s Deeply Disturbing Zombie Film Is Coming To Shudder This May
Unfortunately, these precautions are not put into effect. Tammy and Andy sneak out of District One and stumble across their lost mother, Alice (Catherine McCormack). She is then quickly taken into the compound for experimentation. After all, she’s clearly infected. The question that needs to be answered is why she hasn’t exhibited the side effects of the Rage Virus. After a reunion kiss goes terribly wrong, thanks to the family patriarch Don (Robert Carlyle), every protection protocol and barrier in District One falls. The Rage Virus comes back with a bloody and claustrophobic vengeance.
The idea that one small event can quickly devolve into complete chaos is far from a unique storytelling method. Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 film Contagion centers around a similarly mysterious virus and the seemingly futile attempts to eradicate it. The film reveals that an innocuous handshake was the cause of a global pandemic. Although the pandemic film subgenre is not lacking in entries, Contagion, in particular, gained massive popularity in the early days of COVID-19. These comparisons weren’t unwarranted. The movie seemingly predicted the widespread panic and conspiratorial speculation that the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in.
However, the world is not the same as it was two years ago. Terror has given way to passiveness. Both the government and a sizable portion of the world have agreed that the virus is no longer a big deal; even the bare minimum of transmission prevention isn’t necessary anymore. The plethora of COVID-19 vaccines that have been developed since the pandemic, which have overwhelmingly been proven to be effective in reducing the risk of transmission, are fought against by fringe groups. Even those who believe in the vaccine’s effectiveness are dropping their preventative measures because they don’t feel like following them anymore.
Also Read: Return of the Living Dead III is a Punk Rock Zombie Love Story for the Ages [The Overlook Motel]
This is why 28 Weeks Later is such a haunting yet underrated pandemic film. The ending of Contagion leaves it unclear whether the vaccine developed to treat its virus was actually successful or not. 28 Weeks Later, on the other hand, imagines a post-virus world where preventive measures are easy to break; a safe haven can quickly become a living hell. It isn’t until the large mass of survivors crushing and climbing over each other to avoid those newly infected, that the British and American forces realize just how flimsy District One’s protections really were. The damage was done long before the sea of survivors became a sea of infected. District One was never going to be safe enough because the risk of infection never died.
It would be remiss not to acknowledge that COVID-19 and the Rage Virus are two very different beasts. One of the primary reasons Contagion was revisited in 2020 is because of how similar its virus and its symptoms were to the novel coronavirus. Unless a new COVID strain makes you feral and want to bite other people while bleeding profusely, the 28 duology won’t be used as motivation for medical treatment organizations any time soon.
However, that is irrelevant. Even though we have coronavirus vaccines and booster shots, COVID-19 is still raging worldwide. According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, the United States has registered over 1.2 million cases of COVID-19 and over 11,000 deaths over a 28-day period. The university also claims that there have been over 515 million cases worldwide ever since COVID-19 was first identified. 6.2 million of those cases led to death. These numbers are staggering and terrifying. The worst part is that government officials and regular citizens alike pretend that their lives can carry on as usual.
Also Read: ‘Plaga Zombie’: The Pioneers in Contemporary Argentinian Horror Cinema
If there was anything that needed to be learned from 28 Weeks Later, it’s that nobody should be madly dashing to return to normal after the supposed worst of a pandemic is over. You cannot simply get a vaccine and expect COVID-19 to be eradicated. When protections such as mask-wearing and vaccine mandates are lowered, the infection will always come rushing back. It might even be worse than before. Much like the final shaky-cam shots showing those infected with the Rage Virus dashing into Paris, more contagious strains such as Omicron have spread in the quieter moments of the pandemic.
The majority of this retrospective has been overwhelmingly negative regarding both the future portrayed in 28 Weeks Later and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, the film does drive home something positive that the world has witnessed over the past two years: the power of community. Not entirely unlike how medical officer Scarlet (Rose Byrne) and sniper Doyle (Jeremy Renner) risk their lives to protect Tammy and Andy, the pandemic has also resulted in stories of how strangers came together to support those in need. Some began sending their community members physical and monetary aid. Others fostered relationships that made such an isolating time feel less lonely.
Also Read: In Alex Garland’s ‘Men’, Shapeshifters Haunt The Forest [Trailer]
Admittedly, this could be a bit of a stretch so this piece isn’t too much of a downer. After all, Scarlet and Doyle horrifically die in their effort to keep the siblings safe. However, it is still worth discussing as a reflection of communal responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. While many people were selfish and downright cruel, others looked out for those who needed help adjusting to the chaos. During times like these, people looking out for each other despite the risks can make you regain your faith in humanity.
Perhaps there is something that the world has learned in the fifteen years since 28 Weeks Later was released. It may not seem like it, as the greater infrastructures of disease prevention have ultimately failed to keep the world’s populations safe. However, when observed on a communal level, there exists a glimmer of hope. As long as people look out for each other and do not rely on failing institutions, maybe we can strive toward a healthier future.
It might take another fifteen years to see whether this observation still holds any weight. Until then, here’s to hoping that 28 Weeks Later achieves the respect it deserves as a harrowing, disgusting, but still morbidly hopeful depiction of unity amidst the backdrop of infection and collapsing systems.
Categorized:Editorials News
