Before I knew there was a word for them, I was watching a lot of mockbusters. Snakes on a Train, Paranormal Entity, and Transmorphers are just a few of the “classics” I took in as a young and credulous cinephile. Nowadays, I’m fully aware of what I’m getting into if I turn on the likes […]
Image: The posters for 28 Months After and 28 Years Later side by side.
28 Months After has already led to a handful of “What I Ordered Versus What I Got” type of reviews. In all likelihood, though, the mockbusting on display here is the work of the distributor, not the creators. (I caught myself chuckling at the line “I used you; that’s the fact of the matter, and now I’m done with you”.) That said, the movie definitely delivers its on-paper plot: “In the wake of the apocalypse, a small band of survivors struggles to start over while fighting off violent hordes of both the living and the dead.” That’s more or less what happens. So the real problem with this movie is the quality, or rather its lack thereof.
In mere seconds of hitting PLAY, you should know what lies ahead. There is nothing resembling the deliberate lo-fi aesthetic of Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later here; 28 Months After looks cheap because it is cheap. In the rare case you’ve never seen something like this before, this is one of many do-it-yourselfers filmed in people’s backyards, offices and any public spaces they could find, access and afford. All scenes, including ones where characters are simply standing around and talking, are always accompanied by a generically foreboding, and possibly lifted, music score. The editing is disjointed at worst, and awkward at best. In all frankness, there’s nothing too positive to say about the filmmaking other than the fact they turned the camera on and got every actor in the shot. Even that last part could be arguable at certain points of the movie.
So, yeah, this shoestring mockbuster — if you can call it that — is going to fool some folks. Plus, with 28 Years Later now out in the wild, a person is bound to think “Hey, this is already streaming?” and then click on 28 Months After before realizing their mistake. Talk about hard lessons in life. Anyhow, unless you’re a die-hard enthusiast of homemade horror movies, especially ones that elicit memories of the SOV era, 28 Months After is difficult to recommend. And chances are, you’ll be zombie-dashing for that STOP button. However, if you’re anything like me, you’ll throw caution to the wind and watch anyway. Do as you wish, but also remember: You were warned.
