28 Days Later
28 Days Later: The Raging Dead & The Vibe That Changed Horror
The "Bone Temple" is here and it’s officially the highest-rated movie in the franchise. With the recent release of 28 Weeks Later and 28 Years Later (and The Bone Temple hitting over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes), we had to go back to where the rage began.
In this episode, Kyle, Seth, and our resident horror expert Mariana Barksdale break down Danny Boyle’s 2002 masterpiece, 28 Days Later. We’re diving into the "immaculate vibe" of empty London, the "gorilla speed" filmmaking that captured it for just $8 million, and why Cillian Murphy is the master of being unidentifiable. Plus, we tackle the hard-hitting questions: Are they even "zombies" or is this a biological thriller? And how did Jim survive a 28-day coma without a catheter?
- From "Rage Babies" to the "Lamborghini crawl" of the undead world, we’re dissecting the film that made slow-walking zombies look like a joke.
Key Takeaways
- The $1,300 Word (Zombie Version): We discuss the hiring of ballet dancers and gymnasts to create the most terrifyingly athletic zombies in film history.
- Gorilla Filmmaking: The crew shot at 4:00 AM in London and allegedly used "attractive women" to distract authorities and keep the streets clear.
- Sound Over Sight: Because of the tiny budget, the film uses visceral audio design—the sounds of eating and blood spitting—to terrify you more than any CGI could.
- The "Rage Baby" Backstory: Selena’s deleted scene included a horrific choice involving her family and an infected infant.
- Bikini PAs: Mariana shares her experience on sets where PAs in bikinis were used as a distraction tactic for the crowd
Cast & Credits Mentioned
- The Squad: Kyle Castro, Seth Kays, and Mariana Barksdale.
- The Architects: Director Danny Boyle and Writer Alex Garland.
- The Talent: Cillian Murphy (Jim), Naomi Harris (Selena), Brendan Gleeson (Frank), and Christopher Eccleston.
- The Backbone: Shout out to the athletic extras and the sound design team.
Keywords
- 28 Days Later, Danny Boyle, Alex Garland, Cillian Murphy, Zombie Movies, Horror Podcast, 28 Years Later, The Bone Temple, Post-Apocalyptic Film, Indie Filmmaking, Movie Review, Zombie Lore, Survival Horror.
Transcript
Foreign. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Movie wars podcast. I'm Kyle.
Seth:I'm Seth.
Marianna:I'm Mariana.
Seth:She's back.
Kyle:She's back. I'm back. You're back. We're back. Harrison Ford's back. And black.
Today we're covering 28 Days later because, man, they've released, like, two sequels within six months of each other.
Seth:Yeah. Literally.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:So 28. Eight weeks later, the Bone Temples already come out. It came out a little over a week ago, and it's the highest rated movie in the franchise.
So we decided to go back and visit where it all started.
Kyle:Yes.
Seth:Where it all began.
Kyle:And then 28 weeks years later came out, like, towards the end of last year, right? Yeah. Mid. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And before we get started, just a reminder, the format here, as we do a little bit of film history, we talk about our feels and our likes. We do the randos, which are the most interesting things that we find in research. And then we close it out with the war card.
And we do some questions in there too, to generate some discussion. But, yeah, this is interesting. It's funny.
I just so happened to watch 28 Days later again in December because when the 28 Years later came out, it surfaced that these movies have just not been on streaming and they haven't been available physically. A lot of. A lot of great movies have been caught in limbo. And so they finally re released them and they came back up on Netflix and Hulu.
And so I was like, I haven't watched that in a while. And I watched it and I was like, oh, I remember why everyone was into this. Like, it was. It caught. It caught a wave. It was kind of pre Killian Murphy.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:You know what I mean? And I gotta say, we've. This is the second Killian Murphy movie we've covered. And both times you have to glance really hard to recognize him. Like in.
In Tron.
Seth:Yeah, Tron legacy. For like 15 seconds.
Kyle:At first I'm just like, oh, that's a guy. And then I. Is that Kelly? And then I had to look.
Marianna:I was like.
Kyle:That was like, yeah, he's really good at not being identifiable.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:And it really isn't until the. Till Batman Begins to me, that I was like, just like, he had a distinguishable face that I started to recognize in movies.
Seth:Sure, definitely. But then he kept falling under the radar because John Legacy came out five years after. Yeah, Batman Begins did. And he was in Inception the same year.
Kyle:Yeah. And he also did that. What? Red eye.
Seth:Oh, I think so.
Kyle:I think Red Eye was kind of his biggest role before.
Marianna:And Peaky Blinders.
Kyle:Yeah, of course. Yeah. I mean, Peaky Blinder is awesome.
Marianna:Yeah.
Seth:This is the first time I saw 28 days later. Had heard lots about it, and I got to say, it has one immaculate vibe.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:Like, the moment the movie was over, I was like, as terrifying as it was, and it was actually terrifying for me, I was like, I kind of want to go back and, like, live in the vibe again.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:So that is the. And literally the next night, I ended up watching 28 weeks later. And a quick comparison. It's. It's lower rated. It's definitely not as good.
And I think the biggest reason why 28 weeks later is nowhere near as good as 28 days is because it really lacks that vibe that no one else has been able to get. Like, the fact that. And I'm sure you've got randos about how they were able to get those shots of empty London.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:But the fact that, like, convincingly, it wasn't cg, it was actual empty London, they were able to capture this feeling of. Of loneliness and emptiness in. In one of the largest cities in the world, one of the most busy cities in the world, I think is absolutely insane.
And, like, that's something that especially the second movie, but most zombie movies in general don't really capture.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:This movie is, like, almost downright relaxing.
Kyle:Really?
Seth:Literally, though.
Marianna:Yeah. No, I mean, like, I was watching and I was like, this is. This is exactly what I need right now.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:You're a resident horror expert. I was really interested in your thoughts.
Marianna:Yeah, No, I mean, so this is, like, what I would call, like, almost very realistic. Yeah, like, absolutely horror, which is what makes me super uncomfortable. I wouldn't even say that I was scared during it. It's like.
It's almost like I feel like I need to be making a to do list, you know? Like, I feel like I'm in a zombie apocalypse because of this movie and because they made it so real. But they also had this.
Like, the way it's filmed is almost like a music video in a way.
Seth:Yeah. I mean, their budget was tiny.
Kyle:Like, they barely had any money.
Marianna:Yeah. And then I feel like they were kind of going out on a limb, like, trying different things.
Like, I love Danny Boyle, I love Alex Garland, and I love when they work together.
Seth:But.
Marianna:But, like, this, it didn't really, like. I mean, Danny, we've talked about this before. Danny Boyle. Like, I guess this will come up in the randos, but, like, man, he has a range.
Kyle:Yeah, I know. We were talking about 127 hours.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:Slumdog Millionaire, Sunshine. Yeah.
Marianna:He's just a space movie all over the place.
Kyle:He has no filter. His agent calls him. He's like, sure, yeah.
Marianna:He's like, whatever.
Kyle:That sounds good.
Marianna:Yeah. If I like the team, I'll do it, you know? Cause, like, it does seem like everything he works on is like a great team.
Seth:Yeah, yeah.
Marianna:Like fun projects. But yeah, it was just. It's so realistic.
Seth:Well, to your point about the look of it, it kind of why it looks. It feels so realistic. They shot on three different mediums. The flashback scenes they shot on a Super 8 camera on 8 millimeter film.
The very last scene they shot on 35 millimeter film. But the rest of it was shot on DV tapes, like digital tape.
Marianna:That's why.
Seth:And so, yeah, it almost has like a home. The. The camera work is still very, you know, cinema. Cinema. Graphic or whatever the word is very beautiful. It's very well done.
But the feel of the camera itself for the vast bulk of the movie almost feels like a home movie.
Marianna:It looks like a home movie. I thought that the whole time.
Seth:And it's literally because it's shot on tape instead of film or like straight digital, because digital wasn't really available then.
Marianna:Which makes it feel like you're really there.
Seth:Yeah, yeah.
Kyle:No, it, it.
Seth:And that's another part of why I'm like, this has such a vibe. Vibe that so many movies are missing because. Feels very grassroots. It feels very grounded in reality. But it, it, it. It kind of.
It rode that wave of like, Blair Witch Project being shot for like, what, six, $7,000? And, and all they. They did the found footage. Same thing with Paranormal Activity. I think the first one, like, it, it.
s, early:We'll talk about this next week with Dracula.
But like, yeah, everything was so over the top and so grandiose that I feel like getting back to that gritty reality, like, really shocked people for a few years there.
Marianna:Yeah, yeah. It was so different than everything else that was coming out.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:And Garland has caught a wave. I mean, let's just look at just a couple of the hits. Dread, which we've covered.
Seth:Oh, yeah.
Kyle:Ex Machina.
Seth:He wrote it or directed it.
Kyle:Wrote it, I think. I Think he may have directed. Oh, do you write the Beach?
Marianna:I think so.
Kyle:Annihilation.
Marianna:Annihilation.
Seth:So many good movies.
Kyle:Civil War. Civil War. And then the 28 years later. And then he came back for Bone Temple. I mean, he's really. I mean, speaking of range.
And then he found himself embedded in the A24 world, which was great for him, too.
Seth:That's. That's his world. That should be where he lives, cuz.
Kyle:Yeah, he's.
Seth:Yeah, he would fit that vibe so well.
Marianna:Yeah. I got to see him do a Q and A once. Like, he is exactly how you think he is.
Seth:Oh, nice.
Kyle:Really?
Marianna:Yeah. Yeah. You're just like. Yep. You wrote all that? Yeah.
Kyle:I love that.
Marianna:That's this guy wearing a denim shirt. I get it works.
Kyle:Chambray. Oh, yeah, A chambray Chambray.
Seth:When I worked at Old Navy, we had so many of those. And that's exactly how we'd all say to each other, like, it's a very nice chambray you're wearing.
Kyle: hanics were like in the early:He'd be like, I just drank whiskey for breakfast.
Seth:Leave it to hipsters to make blue collar expensive.
Kyle:I know, right?
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:Little bit of history here. So this was pitched over Pizza man. Pizza is where good things happen. Freddy Krueger was invented on pizza.
But Garland pitched this entire concept of running zombies in daylight in London, as.
Seth:He referred to it was the first to do runners.
Kyle:Yep. And it was inspired by something else, which is in the next Rando, but I guess Charlotte street in London, Some famous pizza shop there.
And that's where you pitched this idea of running zombies.
Seth:Nice.
Kyle:The running zombies themselves have the DNA of video games. And. And you'll love this if you're like me. I love Resident Evil, the running dogs. Alex Garland, that's where he kind of was inspired.
Because if you're a Resident Evil fan or a video game fan, the very first Resident Evil, those running dogs are like, one of the first legendary horror video game tropes in the 90s. Really interesting stuff. And he kind of felt like. Garland felt like slow zombies weren't a threat. You know what I mean?
If he had enough bullets, you could take one down. If you could run. Yeah, you were probably fine.
Seth:I mean, that's why the Walking Dead got so boring. After a couple of seasons was because they're literally walking through forests with zombies all around them. And they're not doing anything.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:They're having a conversation while surrounded because they're like, wait, it'll don't be here soon.
Marianna:That's why they had to start killing, like, each other. Yeah. The zombies aren't really doing it for anybody.
Kyle:And that's also why every third episode is about, like, the. The chronology of a B character that you don't care about. It's like, let's check in on Jim's history.
It's like, didn't we just pick up Jim at a gas station? Where did Jim come from? And now we care about how he got here.
Marianna:Jim has a name. Yeah.
Kyle:Jim was an accountant. Who gives a. You know, stop it with the Walking Dead.
And then, like, I don't watch it, but then, like, I'll be watching something else of, like, you know, the Diary of Carol. And then it's like Michonne. Like, they have all these side, like, Paris, like Daryl Dixie goes. It's like, stop.
Seth:Well, there's also three spin offs happening right now.
Kyle:City of the Dead and Fear the Walking Dead.
Seth:Daryl's got a whole show. Yes. Yeah.
Marianna:Fear of the Walking Dead is still going.
Seth:I think so. Yeah.
Marianna:Has anybody told these people that it's bad?
Seth:Probably.
Kyle:Somebody has to be watching them, though, in this environment.
Marianna:Somebody.
Kyle:And I want to meet those people.
Marianna:There's one person watching it.
Kyle:Somebody's in a dark room with a bag of Cheetos going, daryl's going to Paris. Holy.
Seth:Let's go meet Emily.
Marianna:These are the people that use AI as their boyfriend. Girlfriend.
Kyle:You know, that's.
Marianna:That's who watches the Walking.
Kyle:I'm gonna sex my AI boyfriend, Chip, and then I'm gonna watch Daryl Dixon, episode three.
Marianna:And I. I will say, I do love Daryl. He was a great character. But, like, I'm not gonna watch a spin off.
Kyle:At a certain point, they all just started to kind of bleed together. I was like, kill them all.
Marianna:I know, I know.
Seth:Can we just nuke the world at some point?
Marianna:You're like, do you want to live in a zombie apocalypse? Really?
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:Okay, enough about the walk.
Kyle:The opposite of the walking dead, the raging dead here. Seth, you alluded to this earlier. The way they filmed this with was the Canon XL ones, and they use gorilla film making technique.
The cameras, on average, about $4,000 a piece.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:And they wanted to be able to use what they refer to as gorilla speed. You know, if they're. They're going to be fast zombies.
They needed to be agile cameramen as well, and so they wanted to be able to be right in the action. Like you said, it feels like you're there. It feels real.
Seth:And I'm guessing those are on the smaller side of.
Kyle:Yeah, the XL one.
Seth:Just get away with handheld.
Kyle:Yeah. And so. And I love that. And I think they had like eight cameras on set.
Seth:That makes sense.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:I will say just. Just speaking to the cinematography real quick, and especially because now I've got both of them on my mind.
Compared to the second one, this one really knew when to move the camera. The camera was usually just on sticks, maybe a dolly here and there. It was pretty stationary for the most part. Right.
But then when it really needed to is when it really brought you into the action with that kind of more handheld feel.
The next one, only handheld, it was in that kind of born Legacy era, or not even Legacy, but like all the Bourne movie era, where everything was just super shaky and it just so bad. And so. Yeah, that's. The cinematography was unmatched in this one. Like, it was so purposeful. It was so well done.
Kyle:They managed to get some stuff in frame. Like, I think the scariest.
I know you guys might make fun of me, but I think the scariest scene in the movie is when he's in the church and he's walking around and there's all the dead bodies just on top of each other.
Seth:Yeah. No, that was terrifying.
Kyle:And then all of a sudden, two of them just pop up.
Seth:Yeah, that was terrifying.
Kyle:And their jaw, like one of them's jaws just slacked. He's like, yeah. And I was like, I don't know why, but that's, like the part I fear the most in the movie. Oh, my God, here they come.
Oh, and they stand up.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:And. And. But they caught that on a can. I love that. That's an XL1 just in frame. A layer of dead bodies on the pews. Well done.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:Yeah.
They mixed the fast, shaky cam with the still cam enough that, like, people like me who cannot handle your shaky cam the whole time were like, this is awesome.
Seth:Oh, yeah. Well, that's what I mean by it was purposeful. They knew when they needed to disorient you.
Marianna:Yeah.
Seth:But they made sure that it was very balanced out with very still shots so that you didn't get overdone with the movement. Yeah, yeah, it's. It's so beautiful.
Kyle:Yeah. And last little bit of film history here because they knew they had to use these running they had to hire athletic side actors or back backing actor.
Seth:So extras, as you know.
Kyle:Extras. Sorry, I was looking for the word. I was literally doing every word. But extras. I was like side backing. I was like, no, that's guitar amp talk.
Seth:They are the backbone of this industry.
Kyle:Backbone. That's right. Even when they get replaced by AI, you are still the backbone.
Seth:Yes.
Marianna:Hopefully does not happen.
Seth:Please, God, please, Sean Aston, save us.
Kyle:We need real bar flies and pool players. You know, get Joe Rogan. I wanted to make a whole movie based on people that play, like barfly extras. Oh, yeah, that would be amazing.
And they play the pool players and the people that. Because I was that for a long time.
I had a friend that every time he made a movie and he would get investment for his movies, he'd be like, I need a guy to get his ass kicked playing pool. I'm like, okay, here I come.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:Yeah, here's $10.
Seth:Yeah, I look punchable.
Marianna:That's the funnest role.
Kyle:Are you kidding?
Marianna:You still get to eat the snacks.
Kyle:So good. But yeah, they hired ballet dancers, gymnasts, athletes. Like basically anybody that can move fast.
Marianna:That's what they needed.
Kyle:Yeah. Fast then.
Seth:I mean, it showed because. Yeah, this is. This is probably the most terrifying set of zombies I've ever seen.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:Something else we were talking about that we should definitely discuss. I think the thing that makes this unique from every other zombie situation is the speed at which they can turn.
Because when it first took 10, 20 seconds, I was like, oh, that's a little fast. But then I thought about. It was like, right.
That adds a whole other level of strategy into how you're going to live based on the fact that you don't have days until this person turns. You cannot run with them, you know, maybe cut off the arm or save them. Like, they're gonna. They're gonna turn.
You gotta kill them now while they're docile.
Marianna:Or.
Seth:Or just book it and get out of there. I can't think of another series that's ever done something. Something like that.
Kyle:Yeah. Just the crazies. The crazies are. They're intense.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:My only thing is, is I guess I don't have clear. And this. I found this online too, because I haven't seen all the later films. I've just seen the first two bit.
There's a lot of, like, misunderstanding about the lore. Like, do they.
And the only reason this comes up is because he says he's trying to figure out that the military guy says he's trying to Figure out how long it takes to starve them. But when you watch them, they don't really feast on these people. They kind of. It's.
To me, it felt more like they wanted to spread the virus because they are now a virus.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:And their whole existence is about spreading the virus.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:They don't, like, feast on the bodies. They bite and take a bite and then they move on.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:So it's like there is a little bit of confusion about, like, do they need to keep eating or do they just need to keep spreading? It's like, what do they live for now that they're a virus? It's like, that is a little confusing to me.
Seth:I. Yeah, I guess they didn't really totally explain that. It is a little more explained in 28 weeks because the whole spoiler alert.
The premise of 28 weeks later is that by 11 weeks into it, all the zombies die of starvation.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:Oh, yeah.
Seth:So I. I feel like it's.
There is a balance where they have to eat something, but they might not have to eat as much because, I mean, I don't think any human being could live for 11 weeks without food.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:We hit 30 days and that's kind of the. The limit. So. Yeah, I feel like. I don't know. I think you're right. They.
They could have touched on it a little more maybe if they weren't planning on letting it have sequels or something like that. But, yeah, I feel like they didn't need to eat a ton.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:Just enough because they would eat something and just keep running.
Kyle:Right.
Marianna:I always thought that zombies and whenever there's zombie movies, I feel like they should just be able to be a skeleton and move because, like, whatever it is is like in their bones, but.
Seth:You need muscles to move.
Marianna:Sure. But I mean, it's a zombie. In my head, it's like it's literally changed. There. There is something else now. That's how I've always thought of zombies.
So I'm like, I don't know if they need to eat, but I went 18 years without eating much. So I feel like you can go a pretty long time with just eating a. Like a fortune cookie a day. I did.
Seth:Okay.
Kyle:So the best part about becoming a zombie is you don't have to. About the Achilles injury you got when you play junior high football. That's why you can't lift weights anymore.
Marianna:Yeah.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:That's just always been my thoughts with zombies because I'm always like, I don't know. They're all so different.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:They Never make a zombie the same.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:So the true headline of this story is wasteful Zombies. They take a bite, finish your food.
Marianna:Oh, my God.
Kyle:Damn. You're going to starve in 11 weeks. Maybe you would have thought about all those bodies you left. You left a lot of meat on the bone.
You wouldn't have starved if you would. Ate the whole thing. You're like with the buffalo.
Marianna:I know. You know, there's just rotten meat everywhere.
Kyle:And there was too, like, a lot of the scenery was just bodies. Like, uneaten bodies.
Marianna:Like eat.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:Your skin and bones.
Seth:Maybe they're picky. They can only have fresh.
Kyle:Yeah, Fresh maybe. Maybe that's for the.
Seth:It's turned.
Marianna:Like a vampire.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:They can't eat people that are dead. They'll die. Yeah.
Kyle:Picky. Is that a thing? Yeah. Okay. I can't wait to do Dracula with you because there's a lot of Dracula lore I'm not in on.
Marianna:Oh, my God. Yeah.
Kyle:Perfect. We're doing Bram Stoker's drag a couple next week. Coppola's Sexterpiece next. Yeah.
Seth:Oh, my God.
Marianna:It's called a horror movie. It's not.
Kyle:And maybe you're.
Seth:It's a horny movie. It's.
Kyle:It is. It's kind of smutty.
Seth:It's the 90s. Twilight.
Kyle:It's on the back nine for Coppola.
Seth:We'll get to that next week.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:Come back.
Kyle:Maybe you're filled with rage. Maybe you've left some meat on the bone on occasion when it comes to eating bodies. And you need help because you're not a zombie. You're a cannibal.
Before you turn, before you start just taking bites at a body and wasting them. Send this to your friends.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:You have like four seconds before you return. Send this to your friends. YouTube, Spotify, Apple, especially YouTube.
Marianna:Yeah, we're trying to subscribe.
Seth:Give us money.
Kyle:We're growing that YouTube.
Seth:We're getting there.
Kyle:Love y'. All. Rando randos. We gotta. And I actually stumbled across a really funny article. I think it was by Screen Rant.
There's kind of this now catalog of movies Ryan Gosling has decided not to be in. And there's been a bunch of successful ones.
Seth:Was he supposed to be.
Kyle:Yeah, he was. Jim.
Seth:Oh, my God. Yeah.
Kyle:Before Killian.
Seth:He could have pulled it off. He could have seen him and drive. He easily have pulled this off.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:And especially before anyone knew who he was.
Kyle:Yeah. And then you. And McGregor was also that he was.
Seth:Doing Star wars, though.
Kyle:Yeah. He had A scheduling conflict. Must have been Star wars, apparently. I guess just like anything else, there's all kinds of British accents.
And Killian Murphy originally auditioned with a southern British accent, but because. But during filming, Boyle liked Murphy's natural voice better, and so he asked him to do his Irish accent.
Seth:Hell yeah.
Marianna:That's funny, because I didn't even notice he was. Had an Irish accent at all the whole time.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:I was like, this guy's American.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:Sometimes I can't hear it. And some people told me that's because I'm Southern. And first.
Kyle:I don't know.
Seth:I mean, there is a lot of Southern of Irish influence on the Southern accent.
Marianna:It's. There's something. Something about the way intonation, I think it's like we. We emphasize the same words.
Seth:And I mean, my grandma still says umbrella.
Kyle:Umbrella.
Seth:A lot of Irish people will call it. Yeah.
Marianna:Literally accurate.
Kyle:Yeah. And actually the southern accent, which is associated with white trash now actually was considered. Considered like the high. Like.
Seth:Oh, yeah.
Kyle:It came from high end, fancy British. It's more influenced by that now we can associate with white trash, but it was actually highfalutin.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:Yeah. I can't remember I heard that on a podcast. Podcasts are dangerous because they.
They load you with lots of, like, facts, but you don't have the context. Or, like, you'll, like, say something at a party and someone will dig in a little deeper. You're like, I don't know.
Marianna:That' whole life. That's why I don't talk to anybody anymore.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:Listen to a podcast.
Kyle:No factoids at the party. This would have been interesting.
They probably didn't have budget or time, but Naomi Harris's character, Selena, had a very brutal backstory that they deleted out. They filmed it, actually, and she. Well, I guess they filmed it. So they had the budget probably just.
Seth:Slowed down the story.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:I mean, this was a very compact.
Kyle:Story to begin with, and we didn't get anyone's backstory. I mean, just a little bit of gym.
Seth:I don't think we should, because you kind of need to just get dropped into the middle of the situation.
Kyle:They are zombie food in training. We don't need.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:Hot dogs.
Kyle:But in the scene. Yes, they are.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:Just give me some buns. She had to kill her own parents and then save her baby brother and only to realize the baby was also infected. Rage baby.
Marianna:Oh, yeah. I think I don't want to see that.
Kyle:Yeah. That would have been horrific. That's actually one of those images. I'm. I'm kind of glad. Like I don't, I don't want that.
Seth:Yeah, yeah.
Kyle:Rage baby.
Seth:Yeah. Any. Honestly anything with babies. Like even in the new Fantastic Four movie the baby was animated and was really weird looking. Yeah, yeah.
Kyle:Of course it didn't stop Count Dracula.
Marianna:The weird sisters are always eating babies.
Kyle:Got some bad baby action going there. Bad day to be a baby in Transylvania. 911 impacted the filming schedule.
So at topple the toppled bus white hall scene they did which was 10 Downing Street. It's funny, like all this research I did has like I guess these are prestige streets in London.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:But it was impossible to film because of all the security changes they implemented right after September 11th. So they ended up like right after it happened. They had to implement all these changes.
Marianna:Wow.
Kyle:So thanks Osama. Yeah. You dead guy. Zero Dark Thirty. That's what we say in the south. Rot. Yes.
Seth:Do you have a rando about how they got London to be so empty?
Kyle:Yeah, they. They filmed at 4am yeah.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:And they used. Go ahead.
Seth:English summers are insanely long. Like every day starts around 4 in the morning and so. But everyone's obviously still asleep even though it's sunny outside. So they were like cool.
The only way we're going to make sure London is empty is if we're out there at 3:30 so that when the sun comes up we now have two hours before people come out of their homes. Wow.
So every one of those gigantic wide shots in London they would get in that golden hour of, of between 4 and 6am because they were like, no one's going to be out here.
Marianna:Did they still like have to hold people off or was there like. Because I'd be like the errant jogger at 4am because I got up at 4am like right.
Kyle:There are some cases where they did and they, they said they employed very attractive women. Yeah. To hold off the authorities. Hello.
Marianna:Bad idea.
Kyle:You're one of those 4am attractive girls.
Marianna:I've actually been on set where they hired PAs that were these attractive women that were sitting around in bikinis. And I was like, that's not a bad tactic.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:They'll do anything that woman says.
Seth:What's the point?
Kyle:Quiet on set.
Seth:I know. I was just like.
Marianna:I was like, everyone is listening to her.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:One hair flip.
Seth:Excuse me. I need you to go down that street. We're on this street.
Marianna:Excuse me everybody.
Kyle:Lord have mercy.
Marianna:To put their listening ears on.
Kyle:And people wonder how Weinstein happened.
Seth:Yeah. That's what they said the purpose was. They were Just there because everyone was like, oh, cool. Bikini. Bikinis.
Marianna:I know.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:Y' all see the movie. It's out in fall.
Kyle:And when you live in Nashville, you get so many weird casting calls for music videos where bikinis were involved. I remember I was. I gotta. I didn't do it because I just didn't give a. But like there was a kidney.
Seth:Didn't fit at the time.
Kyle:Yeah, I had grown out of it. Yeah. Yeah, I know. I'm in the A range now. I was in the Cs back then, but yeah, the. That was like. I was.
It was an audition to like, like be a guy around a pool. It was an above ground pool and there's a bunch of girls in bikini. I don't want to do that. But it was in downtown, in front of the courthouse.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:So there were gonna. There was like an above ground pool, but I think it was Kenny Chesney. I'm just like, all right.
Marianna:I don't.
Seth:Oh, my God.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:Yeah.
Seth:Sounds almost as miserable as the tequila makes her clothes fall off video.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:Naked granny at the end.
Kyle:Great.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:The question.
Seth:The questions.
Kyle:All right. I can't wait to get into these with your horror expertise. So this. Actually, I stumbled across this in my research. I just didn't real.
Was this like, prolifera proliferation between biological thrillers and zombie undead movies? Does this fit in the zombie genre or should it be treated as a biological thriller?
Seth:Are there definitions?
Kyle:Yeah, I mean, think about like Night of the Living Dead, which literally just the rising dead from the graves and dead people coming back to life versus an infection that turns them into undead.
Seth:Interesting.
Kyle:And I'm only saying this because this came up like this is a thing people are passionate about. I don't give a. You do.
Seth:I didn't know that there was a difference until this day. What I did know was that Marvel actually owned the. The trademark to the word zombie until the early 90s.
Marianna:What?
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:So that's why in all those other horror movies, they're not actually called zombies, they're called undead. Yeah.
Marianna:Oh, my God.
Seth:Thanks.
Marianna:Oh, my God.
Seth:Thanks, Stanley.
Kyle:What do you think? Think I'm most curious about your perspective.
Seth:Yeah, same.
Marianna:So interesting. It makes more sense to call it a biological weapon or like a biological thriller, but I consider it a zombie movie.
But I love that they pin it on the activists.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:I mean, animal rights activist.
Seth: s, early: Marianna:Yeah, it was. And I was just like, man, what a thing to pin on hell.
Seth:Okay. We're gonna destroy England.
Marianna:All right, Alex. Geez. We get it. You don't like animals.
Kyle:Well, they're so bored.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:You know, they're bored and broke, and it's like, let's go be activist.
You know, it's kind of like how recently they've uncovered how, like, with veganism, like, the amount of animals that actually die to make vegan products because they just kill them all when they're picking up the grain. And it's just there's no way to be a pure activist anymore. Not even in this case, unless, like.
Marianna:Make all your own food.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:Yeah, but who does that? Yeah.
Kyle:I mean, I personally don't care about the difference.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:Between them. I think. I think if people are really that passionate about. I mean, I'm sorry, I just don't know how to help you. I mean, it's just.
Seth:I mean, who do you think you're talking about? You're talking about nerds that go to Comic Con that. That know the definitions between the two. They know the differentiations and hang out.
Kyle:On Reddit and hate me, which, I mean.
Marianna:Okay, never had sex.
Kyle:Yes. Yeah.
Marianna:Someone had to say it.
Kyle:Yes. Yes. True. Unless it was with the AI bottle named Chip.
Seth:I mean, I. I will say I. On the most technical aspect of this.
I guess this really does fall under some sort of biological thriller or horror situation, because it did remind me of the movie pandemic. Like, it really did Contagion.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:Oh, yeah.
Seth:It definitely goes along those lines.
I didn't realize that zombies, by the strictest definition, had to die and then not be, you know, dead anymore, but I guess that makes sense since they were called undead. Yeah, I guess I can. I will give. I will give the. The semantics over to the nerds for the moment. Don't take it too much.
Yeah, but I guess they're technically right.
Kyle:Y' all take it. Y' all can have it.
Seth:Y' all have this win for now.
Kyle:Feast in the comments. We don't let it go to your head. Even our horror or horror expert doesn't give a. So sorry. Have we officially run out of zombie idea movies?
Have we tapped. We've had fungal. I'm just thinking of all the ones I know of. We've had fungal infections with Last of us. We have the undead. Had. We've got viruses.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:We. Even my kids now love this zombies Disney musical show. They watch it with their cousins. We've have we tapped out?
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:I mean, what else is there?
Seth:Yeah, I guess so. I don't know. I mean, I. Zombie was really good. I don't know if you guys ever saw that TV show. It was actually really good.
Marianna:I've heard and told dudes watch it.
Seth:That maybe that is the other thing. Going back to the. The first question as well, that also differentiates them. I feel like the original undead also was in search of brains to eat.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:And I haven't seen that in most of the other especially modern versions of zombies. Like, it's always just been. Like you said, it's kind of a virus that wants to spread. As far as ideas, though.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:I just. It's going to take somebody just pulling something completely out of their ass to make something right. Because the.
The quick turn, I feel like, was the new thing for this and. And yeah, I just don't know what else we can cover other than just zombies are scary.
Kyle:World War Z had lots of zombies.
Seth:Yeah. Yeah.
Marianna:And they were. Yeah, that's. They were like, we're gonna have 100 production companies work together. I remember the. Those titles at the beginning of that movie.
I was just like, is it ever gonna start? Is it ever gonna start?
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:There's a hundred companies involved with it.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:I feel like somebody could get really creative and do a new version of something like this. And I just. It's not me that's gonna write it. They're flying zombies. Yeah. They're monkey zombies. They're cat zombies. They're child zombies, you know.
Kyle:Yeah. They could link it to like, you know, like, one thing I like about the Last of Us lore is, is how it can be airborne.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:The fungals.
Seth:But even then they almost did away with that in the show. Like, it's.
Kyle:Yes. It was foodborn.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:Yeah. I didn't watch the second season yet.
Seth:Yeah, it's fine.
Marianna:Yeah.
Seth:It's not as good as the first and it's not as good as the game.
Kyle:Yeah. Neither season I don't got to the game.
Marianna:See, that's the thing. I don't necessarily like anything that's based on a game because I feel like there's not a lot to go on.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:Unless they rewrite a whole story for. Or unless the game had already had so much lore with it. There's a lot to go with.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:So I guess it depends.
Kyle:But that was the thing with the Last of Us is it changed gaming. It was like one of the first games is like, we're gonna be. We're gonna Actually be cinema level storytellers.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:And it accomplishes you, actually. I don't know about you. I know it's my favorite game of all time.
Seth:Until Dawn's my favorite game, but this is a very, very close, like, top five.
Kyle:I. I teared up and I felt like a complete. Tearing up at a game, but it. It nailed me. My heart.
Seth:Yeah. Both. Both games. Oh, my God.
Like, the choices you have to make at the end of the second game, like, really test how you view what is right and what is wrong in.
Kyle:This kind of world.
Marianna:Oh, I love that.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:I take those mushrooms. Cordyceps. I. I take cordyceps mushrooms.
Kyle:Really? Anything weird happening with the brain?
Marianna:Yeah. No. And I also take scorpions now. Take scorpion pills.
Kyle:I've heard about this.
Marianna:It's rebuilding my brain from the brain damage for the migraines.
Kyle:Oh, yeah.
Marianna:Seems to be working.
Kyle:Hey, you're sharp as ever.
Marianna:Tentatively saying it's working. I would.
Kyle:You're. You're so smart. I would take your brain damage over my mo. My fully functional brain.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:So if that's a compliment, I don't know if you.
Marianna:I think you. You might want to live with my brain a couple of days before you make the decision. You're like, oh, actually, there's only 10% working.
Kyle:I just hand it back to you. Be like, I can't handle. I can't live this life.
Marianna:It's like what Elon said.
Seth:Speaking of tearing up with. With the Last of Us, I think the scene that got me the most in this was when the dad turns.
Kyle:Yes.
Seth:Oh, my God.
Kyle:Very.
Seth:So well done.
Kyle:Very difficult scene. Gleason's a fantastic actor.
Seth:So good. Yeah, he was.
Marianna:Oh, man.
Seth:Perfect in that role.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:Oh, he's always. Whenever he's in anything, I'm like, oh, I'm so down.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:I love Gleason.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:Gleason's in this. And his daughter.
Kyle:I know.
Seth:Know Christopher Eccleston as the. The military commander. Like, played such a good balance of. Yes. I have military discipline, but I'm also crazy as.
Kyle:And dumb and just dumb.
Marianna:Yeah. And I believed him.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:I was like, yep, this guy.
Seth:The whole elegance of his situation, but also just like, how stupid he was.
Kyle:Yes.
Seth:Yeah. So well done.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:Great job on all the casting.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:That's a great segue into a thought I haven't had a chance to discuss yet.
But one thing I think that separates us from a lot of movies in the genre, let's just say lumping all zombie and biological, we're throwing out the window.
Marianna:It.
Kyle:They found a lot of moments to. For serenity and beauty. Which is wild. And they're not long.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:But they take with those cameras even.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:The. And if you've ever been to the UK or Ireland, like you don't have to travel far outside of Dublin just to see the most beautiful landscape. Right.
Seth:Every time I'm there, I always take this hike from Sutton around the peninsula over to a fishing village called Horse. And I'm literally like walking hundreds of feet above the ocean. Like right on the cliff face.
Marianna:It's crazy.
Kyle:It's gorgeous. And the moment where they're eating on the blankets and you know where the dad is like he's. He's kind of just this funny guy. Like.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:It gives you these little moments and. And when Selena kind of lets her hair down and she's no longer this hard ass survivor, like you see that she really wants to connect. Yeah.
And it didn't. And what I loved is it didn't over indulge at all. And that's where like the walking Dead has fallen is like they have overindulged in the.
It's the humans.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:Not. But you know, but here it's like 30 second stretches of just refreshing humanity and beautiful scenery.
And the fact that they captured it with $4,000 cannons. Yeah. It's stunning.
Seth:Well, I think the whole point of the movie was you are a survivor. There is now no longer right or wrong. It is survive or die.
And so because so much of the movie puts you at a 10 of anxiety and like always looking over your shoulder, having those moments where the characters are reminded that there is still goodness and beauty left in the world. I mean it's those moments that I really feel like contribute to what I mean when I say this movie just has a vibe.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:Like it. It has a very specific tone that no other movie in the genre I think has ever touched. Especially 28 weeks.
I'm excited to see 28 years and the Bone Temple.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:Just because I know that Alex and Danny both came back to write and direct for those two. So that's where I'm like I'm. I'm really interested to see where.
Kyle:Yeah. The music was tailored to every scene.
Marianna:Oh yeah.
Kyle:That guitar.
Seth:Oh my God. Yeah.
Kyle:It was like a haunted version of. What is that? The fireworks band. What is that all instrumental band. Fire.
Seth:Oh, explosions.
Kyle:Explosions the sky. It was like a hot. It's like a horror version of that.
Marianna:Yeah.
Seth:Just a little more hard rock. But no, totally the. Again like explosions in the sky is such an atmospheric, vibey band.
Like, having music like that in this just makes so much sense.
Kyle:What were you gonna say? Sorry, I just.
Marianna:I love that.
Something I've always thought about, like, if this were to happen and zombies were to take over the earth, I do feel like there would be long stretches of the time where you would just be, like, sitting there, just kind of, like, finally appreciating how beautiful wherever you live is. Yeah.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:Like, when you're not being chased by zombies. And I feel like it did a good job at, like, making it realistic in. In you feeling like, what you said, like, you're a survivor too.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:You know, like, it brings you into the story because I was like, yeah, this would be kind of what a lot of it's like. It would be very quiet and peaceful a lot of the time.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:When life's no longer about. Can I pay a credit card bill with another credit card?
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:Yeah, exactly.
Seth:Technically, you can.
Marianna:What? What is this? Neck glue. I'm being advertised on Facebook. Why am I being advertised? Ten neck glues.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:Are my brows too big?
Seth:I think. I think having that balance, because I feel like most zombie movies try to lean into the chaos, and this did the opposite.
Marianna:Yes.
Seth:This was like, let's. Let's focus in on.
I mean, especially because anyone that tries to do day zero with zombie turns skipping that first 30 days go into 28 days later, and you're now waking up.
You have been in a coma, and you have missed all of the actual chaos of those first 30 days, and now you're discovering what everything's going, and you have no idea that any of this has happened. I think it's just such a unique way to look at the situation.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:Oh, sorry.
Kyle:No, you're good.
Marianna:I didn't even realize he was in a coma. I thought he had had brain surgery and they just left him on the table. Like, they sewed him up, left him on the T table.
And then, like, because I guess I wasn't listening to the dialogue at that point, which I was tuning in and out.
Kyle:That actually cuts right into my next question, which is amazing. You did that. We're getting. We're getting on the same way. I love it.
Seth:One of us.
Kyle:Tacoma plot hole. How did Jim survive for 28 days in a hospital without fluids, food, a catheter? I mean, he's just ready to go. He really is one captain. He's good.
Marianna:I know.
Seth:I mean, my. My assumption was that the hospital was probably the last place to get abandoned.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:And so he might. He might have only been there alone for a couple of days because, I mean, his parents knew he was in the hospital.
Like, people knew he was there and they all just assumed he was going to die once everything got shut down.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:So I don't know. That would. That's just how I think I explained it away because I didn't really totally consider that, but.
Because it kind of puts you in it so quickly.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:Oh, man. You wouldn't be able to keep me away from a family member that was in a coma in the hospital.
If something happened with a zombie apocalypse, it was my brother or somebody in my. Like, I would be there protecting their body. You know what I mean?
Like, they wouldn't just be naked waking up to zombies and I would be dragging their body with me.
Kyle:You know, Jim's parents just gave in. They're like, it, good luck, Jim. Good luck with the coma.
Marianna:They killed them themselves and left a.
Seth:Note like that, said, we'll sleep with you soon.
Marianna:Yeah. But I do think that speaks to whatever happened in that 28 days was like, oh, shit.
Because like, when they show the monkeys part happening, like, that's all very quick.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:That is all very you. If you can see.
If you see 100 people getting killed in front of you and then eaten or turned into zombies, like, immediately, like, I could understand shooting yourself in the head.
Seth:Yeah. So.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:But, yeah, you would. You. I mean, I would die on the way to the hospital to my brother or my family. My son. Oh, my God. If it was my son, I imagine you would know.
I don't have. If it was Hans, my cat.
Kyle:Oh, yeah. Oh, sprinting.
Marianna:There are not enough. There are not enough guns in this world.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:John. Wicking your way through a bunch of zombies.
Kyle:I'm getting my cat.
Marianna:I fell asleep during that movie, but I will.
Kyle:Yes.
Seth:How did you fall asleep during John.
Marianna:Wick and I saw it in 40 with the. With. With the. You know how they have the. The air whizzes by you. Yeah, yeah. It's like I fell asleep. I was like, this is so relaxing.
Kyle:Yeah. The rhythm of the bullets. Yeah.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:I don't know. I'm almost 40. I don't know. I'd just be like, I'm too old for this. I'm going to turn in. I'm going to be like Jim. I'm going to be like Jim's parents.
Like, I'm too old for this Titanic.
Marianna:Go to sleep.
Kyle:Eat one last orange chicken and crab rangoon and call It a day.
Seth:Yeah.
I feel like if I saw this was happening, I would immediately go to sleep to Dairy Queen, get a blizzard myself and puke myself for the next six hours and then call it quits. Be like, that's how I'm going out, y'.
Marianna:All.
Kyle:I love Seth is just like one more Reese's Blast I've got.
Marianna:Every 10 years, I've got every guy to my body, and I'm like, I'm not going down with this.
Kyle:Just a spoon and a little chocolate on my lip.
Marianna:Blizzards.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:Yes.
Kyle:Last question. Does the. And this is another one that surfaced from research in the. The Reddit world, which. I hate looking at Reddit because it just.
I walk away feeling like a bad person.
Seth:So you should feel away feeling. Walk away feeling like a good person.
Kyle:Oh, it's true. Maybe that's what it is. I'm just like, I can't survive in that world.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:Does the happy ending at the Lake District ruin the film's bleak tone? Because it's the whole kind of silver lining of hope, trust, hope. I mean, there's.
Seth:I don't think so. It made me want to watch the sequel.
Kyle:Oh, really?
Seth:Like, literally the next night we watched the sequel again.
Kyle:This is a complaint I read. I don't have an opinion. I like the ending.
Seth:I mean, remember, Reddit hates themselves, so it makes it happy. They hate.
Marianna:I don't know why this needed to have a bad ending. The whole thing is, like, horrible. It's horrific.
Seth:Also, it's still technically not a happy ending because they didn't solve the zombie crisis.
Marianna:Right.
Seth:There's still zombies everywhere.
Marianna:Thirty years later, there's still zombies. You know, Like, I feel like it. I love the way it ended. I'm really happy with the way it ended.
Kyle:Sure.
Marianna:The way it ended to me, because the first hour stresses me out beyond belief because I watched it twice and I kind of cut it up into two halves the first time. And the first hour stresses me out a lot. The second hour is, like, very relaxing, and I love the ending.
But then I rewatched it again and I was like, oh, yeah, I need to fast forward through a lot of the beginning because this is the stressful part that's too real for me. So, yeah.
Kyle:Something you said reminded me of a thought I had. Is that probably my least favorite trope? Not just in this movie, but any zombie whatever movie is the obsession with. With reversing the infection.
Because it's kind of like when you find out your friend does something really weird or has A really weird habit and you kind of have a hard time. Like. Like, you find out, like, they go to a restaurant and do a weird thing at Papa John's for some reason.
Like, you just don't want to go back to papa. Like, because you do that in the bathroom. Yeah. You know?
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:Like, if you've seen most of humanity.
Seth:Just eat other garlic. Yeah. Yeah.
Kyle:You've seen, like, a lot of people eat other people and, like, running around with, like, their skin hanging off. Like, like, what are you bringing them back to?
Seth:Yeah, that's.
Marianna:Yeah. You don't come back from that.
Kyle:I don't understand the obsession. It's like, I want them all back. But you just saw him eat a deer's head. It's just like, why do you. What are you bringing it back to?
His arm is hanging off and he doesn't even feel it. Like, what are you bringing him back to?
Seth:I mean, it definitely plays into that kind of irrational thing that happens when, like, a very old and sick family members on life support. Support and the family refuses to pull the plug.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:Because, like, for whatever reason, some people just can't get past the fact that that person's not coming back.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:And. And it's in situations like this, it actually really plays out in 28 weeks later where, like, you have that question of, can we bring them back?
Do we even want to bring them back? Like, and. And, yeah, I feel like it's just that. That irrational part of our brain that wants to go back, back to before everything was.
Kyle:Yeah.
But this is even worse because first of all, if you were a zombie and you were just chasing food for miles across London, you don't know where your house is, society's fallen. You don't have a bank account. You don't got any money. Yeah. It's like the food is rotted. It's like all there is is dead bodies everywhere.
It's like, where are you coming back to?
Marianna:I know.
Kyle:Just let them be. Enjoy being a zombie.
Marianna:I know. I do like the idea, though, at the end of zombie movies that they could create a new, new society. Yeah, I do like that idea.
Kind of like Midsommar maybe. Yeah.
Seth:Because I am legend. I think touches on that a little bit with. Yeah, like, how do we now move on?
Marianna:Yeah.
But then, I guess, you know, the zombies, I guess if we didn't know that they die in the next movie, it's like, I don't know, are they gonna come crash the. The farming parade or whatever that you come.
Kyle:Yeah, yeah.
Marianna:Farming parade.
Seth:Well, yeah, the second movie is where they find out out one person has immunity.
Marianna:Okay.
Seth:And that person had a kid that also has immunity. Okay. But they're also carriers, so they end up re spreading the virus.
Marianna:Okay. Yeah, because 28 weeks wasn't on Netflix too. So I.
Kyle:That one's on Hulu.
Seth:Yeah, it's on Hulu.
Marianna:Oh, okay, I'll watch.
Kyle:Which makes total sense. Let's just put all the sequels on different.
Marianna:Yeah, because I just got rid of Hulu, so I'm like, I have it until the end of the month, so I'll watch it.
Kyle:There you go.
Seth:If you have Disney Plus Plus, Hulu and Disney plus are the same thing now.
Marianna:I don't have Disney Plus 20, 28.
Kyle:Weeks later is different. It pulls you in and it's right off the bat it's like, woo, 45.
Seth:Minutes is really good. And then everything after that it. It starts to. To lose itself. But it's definitely not a bad movie.
Marianna:Yeah, yeah, I just want to see.
Seth:There's one. I think you know the helicopter sequence I'm referring to. I'll leave you to watch it because it is hilarious and insane all at the same time.
Yeah, that's the, the sequence where it started. The losing me. I was like, oh, okay, cool.
Marianna:He's S. Killian.
Kyle:No Sicilian.
Marianna:No Sicilian.
Seth:No, Silly boy Killian.
Kyle:Jeremy Renner though. A young Jeremy Renner.
Seth:And Robert Carlile.
Marianna:Wait, who's Robert Carlisle?
Seth:Rumple Stiltskin from Once Upon a Time.
Marianna:Why have I never seen that?
Seth:Did you ever watch Stargate Universe?
Marianna:Yes.
Seth:He was the long haired Dr. Rush.
Marianna:Look at that.
Seth:Yeah, he's really good in it. Like he does incredible job.
Marianna:Yeah. Love Jeremy Winner too.
Seth:Rose Byrne. She's in it too.
Marianna:Oh my God. Okay, well that's all you had to say.
Kyle:I mean, 28 weeks later, sunshine Girl. I'm obsessed with Roseburn and our usual closer. Who or what won and who or what lost the movie for you?
Seth:There wasn't anything, See? Yeah, there was not anything that lost it for me. Okay. This, this was for what it was trying to do. It nailed it. It was so well done.
The thing that really like over the top wanted for me was the fact that it achieved that vibe that I've just never felt watching a movie before. I have felt similar vibes watching other movies, but nothing like that. Specific.
Like I said, it was so specific and such a interesting vibe that I literally wanted to like just immediately rewatch the movie. I was like, oh no, I need to. I want to see this again. Like, this. It was cozy, even. Even with the stress of it all. Like, it was. I don't know.
It just hit so many highs as far as just providing an experience you will never find in another movie. So that's especially what wanted for me. I could say so many other things that won it, but I think that's the number one thing.
Kyle:Love it.
Marianna:Yeah. What won it for me is, like, the originality of it. And Alex Garland's, like, writing. I'm just kind of obsessed with him in general. General.
What lost it for me, honestly, is how stressed out and realistic the first hour is. And, like, honestly, the first hour, I was just like, I hate this movie. Like, I hate this movie so much. And then I watched it again.
I was like, I hate this movie.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:And then I think back to it, like, I did not hate the movie. I hate how I feel during the movie. You know, how you separate your feelings from how you actually feel, which, to.
Seth:Me, I feel like is a win on their part.
Marianna:Yeah.
Seth:They delivered what they were trying to deliver.
Marianna:Very. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I had a very authentic experience.
Kyle:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Love that. Did you say what wanted for you?
Marianna:Yeah, the writing.
Kyle:The writing.
Marianna:Yeah. Alex Garland is just one of my favorites. Annihilation. Like, we picked all of our wedding music.
Kyle:That's amazing.
Marianna:The new movie Annihilation and Black Klansman.
Kyle:Yeah. At this point, I don't even know why I do a movie podcast. You are so much more. You are, like, leagues above me in terms of your love at this point.
Marianna:No, I. I'm insane, and I don't know how to work all this stuff.
Kyle:And you brought your midsummer shower thing.
Marianna:Shower curtain.
Kyle:I'm just like, I'm not a movie fan. I got a couple of posters, but compared to you, I'm. I'm failing.
Marianna:You didn't have a black Klansman themed.
Kyle:I'm sorry. Well, that. Yeah, no, I'm sorry.
Marianna:Crazy.
Kyle:What won it for me? A couple of things. It's a win for independent filmmaking and guerrilla style filmmaking. A couple of handheld cameras, in fact. I mean, I was.
I had a question. We did have time for where I was like, I were the monkeys the scariest thing in this movie?
Because the way they're filmed and the claustrophobia of those handhelds right now. I think the monkeys were the scariest thing in the movie.
Marianna:They were.
Kyle:And the music won it. I. I loved how tailored, and I didn't realize how tailored the music was until they find the store. Yeah.
And then it turns into a Brit pop Song and it's got some glee and they're running around and they're pushing baskets. I was like, wow. They were really intentional with that sound. But it never sounded like it was different music.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:It just had different tonality, but it sounded like the same instruments, the same musicians, and it just was so consistently tailored. I loved how it set the mood.
Seth:Oh, absolutely.
Kyle:So that was fantastic. What Lawson.
Seth:For me.
Kyle:And it's not even a big thing. It's just going back to the. The difference between like the starvation, the lore. I just kind of wanted to know a little. Not.
I didn't need like an over explanation because realistically we're 28 days in and it's not like we're gonna have.
Seth:Have.
Kyle:But like they're starving, but they don't eat whole bodies. You know, it's a virus. You know, I'm just kind of like trying to figure out like, what is this thing?
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:And so. And I feel like maybe they were beholden to the whole starvation thing for the sequel and so that kind of came into play.
And so I don't know, I just could have used a tad bit more of that. But it's a small thing overall, like you said. Like, another thing that won it for me is just.
I was reminded of how fresh this was the first time I saw it.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:First time I saw it, I was like, I don't know why. I just found it so refreshing.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:As a. As just a new film, an indie film, something that was changing a genre. It just felt like you were like seeing something big happen.
Seth:Oh yeah.
Kyle:And it was only 8 million dollar budget and made 82 million. So. Nice.
Marianna:Love money.
Kyle:Love money, Love money. Yeah. You can spend it on shower curtains.
Marianna:Put my Venmo on.
Kyle:Just a QR code. Yeah. Tip jar. As usually we close out with our scorecards. Four categories. Cast, directing, writing. What? And film composition.
I always want to call it what's in front of us, but go ahead.
Seth:Yeah. Acting. Everyone nailed it.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:Not us. Down to the children. Like amazing. So well done, everyone. You could tell everyone was just 100 on board with the project.
So acting, incredible writing. This is where I a little bit disagree with you on the lore side of things. Because I. I would rather leave a movie wanting more answers than.
Than being like, okay, you can stop explaining. We get it. And this I think really found a balance because you're. You're watching characters who are living it in real life.
They don't have the scientific answers that you would want that you're like I feel like that's one of the stumblings of the Walking Dead was like somehow all these people ended up being experts on everything. And I'm like, okay, but how, how would you know if you're not. Not a biologist?
So I feel like they really nailed the real world response to something like this. Directing flawless. Like just. Oh my God. Every choice that was made was perfect. Move the story along. Beautifully made.
You feel the feels, but also get terrified when you needed to. And then the composition of everything was just insane, I think. I mean, being able to.
To seamlessly utilize three different filming medium films in a way that you don't question it, I think was absolutely amazing. Utilizing making a very specific choice to go with DV tape instead of with straight up 35 millimeter film.
While it may have been influenced by the budget, I think is also one of the reasons this movie stands the test of time.
Kyle:Yeah.
Seth:Is because it set its own visual vibe so well that it just, it does, it feels timeless. The sounds were insane. The music was perfect. Like everything. The edits were done so well, so.
Kyle:And all very simple. Yeah, it's all very simple.
Seth:And that, that is where modern indie film making needs to get back to is, is finding the simplicity in all the chaos. And I think this movie does it perfectly. So it's four yeses for me all the way around.
Kyle:Bazam.
Marianna:Yeah. I always write it off in the list.
Seth:Cast.
Marianna:I love the cast. I just believed them all. I felt like they were all really in the zombie apocalypse. And Gleason's my favorite.
Kyle:Yeah. So good.
Marianna:Cilian.
Kyle:He's a Cilian Air.
Seth:Matt, if you could just edit a whole like, compilation of us saying Cillian and Killian. Cilian, shout out to Matt York, our. Our editor who's gonna be editing the.
Kyle:The episodes and our social media manager.
Seth:Yeah. Yeah.
Marianna:Thanks, man.
Kyle:Thanks for taking it off my plate.
Marianna:Dude.
Kyle:I hate my life when I' I don't even look at it. I check on the data. I. I like look at the numbers, but I don't even. I don't scroll. I don't do anything. I'm not even on social.
Marianna:So, yeah, I mean, follow me, send me money.
Kyle:But like, yeah, if you are leaving me bad comments, which I know you are, I cannot read them because I don't. I don't read them anymore.
Seth:I read them and then read them to him.
Kyle:Thank you.
Marianna:I mean, I comment back to you.
Kyle:QR code.
Marianna:I know. Again, send me money.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:Cass, love the cast. Iron said that directing perfect. I can't imagine it being any different.
Honestly, I cannot imagine them going in any different direction than they did.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:I feel like they.
I feel like they were just like, all right, we turned off everything that we could for six months to actually get in the mindset of a zombie apocalypse to direct this properly, you know, like, that's how realistic it felt to me. The writing I love because it's not overdone. It's not like this again, it's simple. It's simple, simple.
It's simplistic in the, in the way that an indie film used to be.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:So simple. Again, children listen.
Kyle:Yes.
Marianna:They won't. I know. 20 year olds. I was one once. And the film composition's just beautiful.
I do the first hour though, it does have that like kind of music video, like slap dash here and there, which kind of drives me a little crazy because I'm sort of OCD and I'm like, why is it, why is it this way?
Seth:Lot of Dutch angles.
Kyle:Yeah.
Marianna:Is that what it's called?
Seth:Yeah. So when the camera's tilted like that, but it kind of adds to the uneasiness.
Marianna:It makes sense for the film.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:But it's also like for me, I'm just like. Yeah, you know, because you're like turning your head.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:No, I'm. I'm like, I'll fix it.
Seth:I'll fix it in post. Post.
Marianna:Don't worry. I fix it myself. 27 years later. Is it 28 years later than. Okay, I can't count.
Seth:Not quite yet.
Marianna:Not quite yet anyway.
Seth:Yeah.
Marianna:Yeah. So I think that's four yeses. Boom.
Kyle:Cast perfect. And I, I feel like no one, it felt like no one was trying to out act anybody.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:Everyone was just like they want. It just felt. You said this earlier, it felt so realistic.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:And I think a lot of that is just because the acting. Like I don't feel like I was being sold anything.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:Like they're, they're, they seemed. Even Killian, who's now an Oscar winning world class actor, felt just so organic.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:Here I just don't feel like anybody was on set arguing like I wanted, you know, no one had their jar of green M M's. Yeah. Like everyone was just. They got it directing. There's literally not a choice that I could argue with here in terms of, of what was in the film.
The pace, the style. Like everything about this is just such a short, refreshing, groundbreaking, cohesive piece of art. I love it.
Writing, I mean, aside from just a little bit of confusion about the Lore, like it's just very natural. It's just organic. And I. And again, I thought the.
The human moments were some of the most brilliant in the film where they're connecting as humans and remembering. Even though. And what I love it's. It's in writing and writing novels, we call it show vers tell. Like they're showing us.
Instead of like trying to tell us with a lot of exposition what it was like to be human. They're just showing us little moments that you can actually. They're 30 seconds long, but you can relate to like man. Like that just what it was.
Was like to be human. So.
Marianna:But also we know what it's like to be human. So they don't even have to tell us that part.
Kyle:Exactly, exactly. And they didn't. But they didn't drown us with exposition and monologue. And it was just very show versus tell. And I love that.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:And what's in front of us. I mean the one thing that we've hit on everything.
But I think because it was such a low budget, one thing I was picking up on this re watch is that they couldn't really show us a ton of like violence and gore. Like. Like.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:Like, you notice there's not a lot of visual representation. But where they made up for that was with the sound.
Seth:Oh yeah.
Kyle:The sound of eating. Did you guys notice that?
Seth:The theater of the mind is incredible.
Kyle:Yeah. Like hearing the nar and when they're like in the blood. The blood spitting.
Marianna:Yeah.
Kyle:The sound of it was more visceral than the vision. And I was trying to think, like, I'm not seeing a lot, but like, why am I terrified?
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:It's because they. They ramped up the audio.
Seth:Yeah.
Kyle:And the. I don't know if it was ADR imposed where they captured it, but wherever they captured the sound of the. The zombies eating.
Seth:Oh, yeah.
Kyle:Perfection.
Seth:Sound design teams are very underrated members. Members of. Of the film crew. And they get their respect.
Kyle:And I think it defined this film.
Marianna:And for horror movies especially the show don't or the here don't show.
Seth:Yeah, it is.
Marianna:So you make up more in your mind. That's way more terrifying than anything they can ever show you.
Seth:Yeah. Absolutely.
Kyle:Huge win. I mean, just whoever. I don't have it pulled up, but whoever was responsible for sound should have gotten an Oscar. But.
Marianna:Yeah. Well, we could Oscar.
Kyle:We couldn't be. Yes, yes, yes. I hope this is enough for you. I'm sure you've done a few things since this movie came out.
Seth:Ye.
Kyle:But. Well, we couldn't be going in a any weirder direction after this. For next week's episode, we're going to be recording Copa's Bram Stacker. Yeah.
Marianna:The next movie we're doing is porn.
Kyle:Yes. So pray for us. I'm Kyle.
Seth:I'm Seth.
Marianna:I'm Mariana.
Seth:See you next week.
Kyle:Love y'. All. Movie Wars.