28 Months Later…Director Chosen *** UPDATE ***

Reader Comments

1. Rodney Perkins 10/06/2008 @ 8:58am

   Upon what basis can it be said that 28 Weeks Later was superior to or “outdid” 28 Days Later? I completely disagree with that.

2. Todd Brown 10/06/2008 @ 9:24am

   As of last night Paul was still here in Sitges with The Cottage.  If he hasn’t left yet I’ll try and track him down to confirm ...

3. DJensen 10/06/2008 @ 9:32am

   I have to disagree, Weeks was inferior to Days in almost every way. The only thing redeeming that movie is the opening set in the days following the outbreak. Which is why I think they ought to do a 28 Hours Later, showing the original outbreak in the area of the research lab and the moment normalcy was lost.

4. Garth 10/06/2008 @ 9:35am

   Upon the basis that it’s a better story with more interesting characters and a more interesting plot that was more than *just* an amalgam of Romero’s Dead movies.

   I’ll grant that the Robert Carlyle post-infection stuff wasn’t handled great, but as a whole I think it was definitely a superior movie.  It wasn’t *WAY* better than the first just, I think, a step up.

   Of course, this seems to be divisive…some people love it, some think it was awful.  I happen to really like it a lot.  I think it stands up to repeat viewings better as well.

   Either way, I’m glad there’s another one coming and I’m now going to have to be on the lookout for The Cottage.

5. Airchinapilot 10/06/2008 @ 9:42am

   I like Kurt’s thoughts on what makes a good sequel “develop the world”, and this is what made Aliens a great sequel to Alien. I thought both “Weeks Later” and “Days Later” had weak third acts. “28 Days Later” definitely still sticks with me longer than “Weeks” as I thought the characters were actually stronger. “Weeks” was a good movie but it couldn’t live up to the energy of its prologue which was so intense I wanted it to carry on from there instead of jumping forward to the kids.

6. Andrew Wickliffe 10/06/2008 @ 9:46am

   yeah… I’m with the dissenters. “Weeks” embarrassed me, especially since I drug people to it and drove like an hour to see it. Well-made and generally well-acted, but so stupidly written (Robert Carlyle in the zombie Shining and whatnot).

   As for a Russia-set third outing?

   I was really hoping the second one didn’t do enough business for a third.

7. Kurt Halfyard 10/06/2008 @ 10:19am

   *SPOILERS AHOY*

   Glad to have the controversial opinion to get the pot stirring.  I thought the visuals, the metaphors, the overall pacing and yes indeed, the third act were superior in Weeks.  While I was a fan of Boyle’s film quite a bit, I think Weeks is a much more ‘cinematic’ and immersive endeavor.  It’s rare that a film can lure me to the cinema for a second look, and Weeks almost got me out three times after it held up so well 2nd time around.

   For the Carlyle + Wife in hospital scene alone, I think this movie is fabulously brutal without compromising the story.

   Also, the usual complaint is Carlyle’s undead ‘intelligence’ for me was more or less explained away as a ‘fantasy’ of the children.  But it does tie nicely into the ‘family trust and bonds’ thing they’ve got working in the story.

   And that opening sequence.  Wow.  Knock-out.

8. sarkoffagus 10/06/2008 @ 12:28pm

   I agree with Kurt. I liked 28 WEEKS LATER more than DAYS. Danny’s flick was okay, but I found WEEKS more entertaining if for no other reason than the virus was a more consistent threat. By the end of DAYS, Doctor Who and co. seemed much worse than the viral infection. And as Kurt said, I found it stronger visually. Many of the scenes in the dark streets were stunning. I think another sequel could be good. But what the hell do I know? Answer: not much…

9. Simon Abrams 10/06/2008 @ 7:43pm

   Hey, I reviewed THE COTTAGE for Twitch, too!

   It was a pellet review so I’ll just paste it here (SPOILERS BELOW):

   The Cottage (2007) Dir: Paul William Andrew

   Either one of the most poe-faced, intelligent, self-mocking works of horror comedy I’ve seen or one of the most dismal failures. I prefer to believe it’s the former because so many signs point towards that interpretation, including the yawn-inducing baddy the pair has to face off against, the way that their mouthy dumb blonde of a hostage is the real monster and how neither of the men make it out alive to savor their victory. The monstrosity in question is the creation of their tepid, testosterone-driven imaginations, a tired cross between Jason Voorhees and Leatherface, but neither the macho man nor his wimpy, impotent brother can best him. That makes the funniest part of the film the meta-play between the stock characters and the cardboard boogeyman. It’s a mini horror-universe in caricature form, complete with the big bad men who aren’t as bad or as funny as the evil women that keep them down. They have the opportunity and the motivation to walk away from their generic fates, but as soon as they moronically conform to that unspoken rule of the genre that puts bros before hos—I’d say it’s right about when Serkis says, “Fuck the plan, fuck the money. I need to get my brother”—that’s when they’re officially fucked. If it’s not slyly self-mocking, then it’s easily one of the most vapid pastiches produced and deserves nothing but mockery because all of Serkis’ fuming, Shearsmith’s mewling and Ellison’s cleavage combined couldn’t save the film from itself.

10. Simon Abrams 10/06/2008 @ 7:47pm

    Oh shit. Just realized that I got the dude’s name wrong. Fuck.

    In any case, I don’t know what to say except—I hope the guy can make it work. Didn’t like WEEKS but did like DAYS and did like Fresnadillo’s INTACTO.

11. Kurt Halfyard 10/06/2008 @ 9:34pm

    Simon, it is your review I’m linking too!

    Also, I liked a lot of imagery in INTACTO, I like the concept, but the movie just doesn’t quite hold together, I found WEEKS… to be a step up for Fresnadillo.

12. Ichi-The-Killer 10/06/2008 @ 11:56pm

    I thought the 3rd film would be set in Paris.

13. AndyLauSpain 10/07/2008 @ 4:08am

    what?? 28 weeks later better than the 1st?? but but..but..it was…stupid..slow…and laughable at! O.O

14. Simon Abrams 10/07/2008 @ 5:08am

    Oh. Oops. Em. Er. Well, then.

    Carry on!

15. James Dennis 10/07/2008 @ 5:09am

    I have to agree that Weeks was better than Boyle’s original - I always look forward to DB’s latest, but the guy doesn’t seem to know how to end a film (28 Days, Sunshine etc). So many go tits up about two thirds in…

16. Michael Guillen 10/07/2008 @ 9:07am

    I’d be brief too in an email discounting an unfounded rumor.  Heh.

17. Kurt Halfyard 10/07/2008 @ 9:17am

    Well, I’m glad I put seems into the original post!  It was also a fine excuse to get the regulars twitching on the relative merits and weaknesses of one of the better horror franchises out there in recent times.

18. BlackIrishBastard 10/07/2008 @ 9:28am

    All this time I thought it was widely understood that Days was the better movie.

    Different opinions, interesting.

19. Garth 10/07/2008 @ 9:58am

    I haven’t seen The Cottage, but I hope that even the fact that people are talking about a third movie means that the “powers that be” are thinking about it…

20. Rodney Perkins 10/07/2008 @ 10:07am

    I vastly prefer the first film’s zombie “reboot” w/J.G. Ballard-style themes over the second film’s ham-fisted political allegory.

21. Kurt Halfyard 10/07/2008 @ 10:38am

    I never really read Weeks… as the IRAQ allegory that many critics foisted upon the film (The phrase Green Zone seemed to tip people in that general direction) but rather as a family abandonment (on several levels) story, and riffing on the many types of surrogate families in the modern world.  The original Days played with this also, particularly when Bredan Gleeson and his daughter came into the story, but it didn’t take it to be the over-encompassing story arc like in Weeks.

22. Rodney Perkins 10/07/2008 @ 11:54am

    I watched 28 Weeks Later cold, and the U.S. as occupier theme was clubbing me over the head. Certainly, those involved were not operating in a vacuum (interviews do not suggest as such), and if the intent was to explore more subtle themes, they were lost in the fog of what were then current events.

Post Your Comments

• Next Entry
• Previous Entry