New horror flick 28 Days Later frightens public

There are tons of horror films. Films from Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th to timely classics like Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist. Horror films, especially ones made before the '90s era of digital mastery, seem to have those vague, scratchy and fuzzy feelings to them. These are the movies that make you wonder if they could become a possibility someday. Directed by Danny Boyle and produced by Andrew MacDonald, their sixth such collaboration, 28 Days Later captures the imagination and fear of modern day biological warfare and total devastation. A group of animal rights activists break into a laboratory in London in an attempt to free monkeys who have been subjected to being chained and forced to watch horrible acts of atrocity and rage on TV screens. A frightened lab technician warns the rouge group about an infection within the animals but the warning is ignored as the first monkey is released from its cage. A horrifying and bloody attack occurs ... the infection has begun. Twenty-eight days later, cycle courier Jim (Cillian Murphy) awakes from a coma in a deserted hospital in London. Confused and distraught at his empty and ruined surroundings, Jim walks the desolate streets of London; passing empty cars, empty buildings and an empty city. As his confusion and fear grow, Jim seeks refuge in a church only to find dead bodies piled on the chapel floor. There Jim finds himself confronted by his fear that something has terribly gone wrong. Jim is pursued by the "infected" which discover him in the church, but he is rescued by two other survivors. Survivors Selena (Naomie Harris) and Mark (Noah Huntley) explain to Jim the nature of the infection and the devastation it has caused. They accompany Jim to his parents home in Deptford, England only to find his parents share in the same fate as the infected, and horrifying consequences follow for the group. Two more survivors are found; daughter Hannah (Megan Burns) and father Frank (Brendan Gleeson). Together the group seeks out a lone radio transmission from other survivors in search of some kind of hope. A Manchester-based division of soldiers find the group and take them to safety at their blockade. The survivors agree to go with the soldiers, not knowing the worse is yet to come. 28 Days Later mixes horrifying imagery with a tantalizing twist for the fearful at heart. Shot in darkened colors, the film captures the picturesque cold and gray skies of London and adds great pronunciation for set design by blocking off some of the most famous sections of London for shooting. Boyle and MacDonald, noted for their collaborations on Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, and The Beach, set the stage for an unbelievably real depiction of total devastation. The lengths which this movie goes to, add the element of real possibility and make this film scary as hell. The film makes use of its name and employs a retrospective reaction to a devastating and horrifying event and allows the audience a chance to unravel the past 28 days of what they now see on the screen. Bits of evidence fill the screen and allow the viewer time to create their own imaginative history of the horror that has occurred. Shot with digital video, an eerie stillness envelops the film as Boyle and MacDonald do away with electricity and human movement. There was only one inconsistency, which showed an electrically lit grocery store in the heart of London. This film brilliantly captures gruesome sound and the muted movement of the "infected" as they prey on the survivors. 28 Days Later will stand as one of the most 'real' horror films ever made. See this movie ... "The end is extremely f***ing high." Grade: A-