Need more stress in your life?
Geneve and I saw 28 Days Later on Friday night. In retrospect, after a stressful week, this was about the last movie I should have seen on Friday... we were both on edge from start to finish.
It reminded me a lot of a book I read way back in highschool called Day of the Triffids. Both start with a man waking up alone in the hospital after an apocalyptic crisis has occurred, and follow him as he tries to a) survive, and b) make sense of what happened. In this case, the apocalypse is caused by a man-made virus called "Rage", which turns an infected person into a mindless bloodthirsty creature. It is passed on by contact with blood or saliva, and spreads throughout the U.K., where the film is set, like wildfire.
28 Days Later is suspenseful, intelligent, and at moments, horrifying. It is a British production directed by Danny Boyle, who also directed Shallow Grave, The Beach, and Trainspotting. The cast is full of unknowns, but the acting is quite good and the story is told well.
I personally find apocalyptic stories that have elements of urban strife (rioting, mass hysteria, etc.) both fascinating and disturbing, and 28DL definitely filled the bill. Go see it on the big screen.