Great movies know how to play with one’s emotions. What separates them from average ones, is the way they achieve that. Danny Boyles latest horror-epos, 28 Years Later, is a masterclass in challenging your senses in just the right ways. In just under two hours, writer Alex Garland invites the viewers into a version of Great Britain so immersive and dreadful, that it feels like so much more than your typical horror-movie. Extremely quick cuts, breathtaking, highly experimental visuals and a soundscape I can still feel inside my bones.

The “28”-Franchise has been around for over 23 years. What began as an indie-movie production, filmed with a cheap camcorder and a budget of only 5 million GBP, turned over time into a revolutionary blueprint for modern zombie movies.

In 2002, a highly aggressive rage virus turns Great Britain’s mainland into an uninhabitable, deadly war zone. Zombie-like infected humans roam through big cities and rural countryside alike. 28 Days Later, as well as 28 Weeks later both deal with the first few months after the outbreak. The premise of the third film is a different one though. How did humans the span of almost three decades adapt to their new reality?

The movie follows twelve year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) and his mother Isla (Jodie Comer) on a journey across Great Britain to find a doctor who can treat Isla, who is really ill. No one on the small, protected island they call their home knows, what can be done to make her better again. Spikes father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) doesn’t seem to care much about the well-being of his wive and thus begins a long walk across zombie-infected lands.

The movie feels different than ones from the same genre, through its camera-work, editing and sound design.