8 Days Later - A Carefully Crafted Piece....

5

Chapter 5 - Thoughts on the Film

This is a really good film. This film definitely had a lot of attention and effort put into it. And I'm gonna give my thoughts on scenes - that didn't really make the plot chapter cut but I think are still worth talking about anyway - that I think are really indicative of such things.

First, the tire-changing scene.

Normally, in zombie films, zombies are kind of slow and brain-dead. Because they're walking corpses. Not in this case. These zombies are fucking fast, they're angry, and they're hungry. Which is what leads to this scene being one of the most memorable scenes in zombie filmographic history. I don't think I've ever felt so much adrenaline and anxiety pumped inside my body over a tire-changing scene. It's indicative of one of this film's aspects, as well as something that this film is really good at representing. It's scary, but not the cheesy, jump-scare kind of scary. It's the kind of scary where, if you move slow enough, or not fast enough, at any moment in time, you're fucked. This whole films really gives the vibe of "you can die any fucking moment." A lot of films do this, zombie flick or murder flick or thriller. Some are good, some are not-entirely-good, some are efficient, others are genuinely really great. None are more fear-inducing, fucked up, or existential, than 28 Days Later.

Next is the dream scene.

It's the scene where Jim takes a pill of valium - or sleeping medication - to sleep more deeply and faster. This, unfortunately, results in Jim dreaming that he had been left behind by Frank and the others to die in the grassy atmosphere of their temporary camp, next to where the horses are - who are absent - which is made foggy, decreasing visibility and giving the feeling that he can be snatched by a zombie at any time when he just doesn't know it. He's more than caught off guard. He has none. All he has is confusion.

He was woken up by Frank from that nightmare so that Frank can tell him "he has a nightmare," to which Jim says "thanks dad," as a kind of joke as well as a compliment to Frank and having a firm grasp of the obvious as well as getting him the fuck out of that nightmare.

That dream scene only amplifies what is already known in this film: hopelessness, loneliness, and if you make one little misstep - one little mishap, get caught off guard, not stay on guard - you are done for. It's what this film has portrayed, as well as other films. None have been more obvious, or as concerning and anxiety-conducive, than this scene. It really gives you this feeling of aloneness in a world that is massive, where it is full of angry zombies. It's honestly disconcerting. It's what could drive a person to nauseation.

Its inverse scene, though, portrays - well, self-referredly - the exact opposite. The horse riding scene.

It gives the feeling of hope and serenity, and that if a family of horses could survive in this harsh climate, why not people?

It also alludes to the conclusion of the film, actually, where, if Jim lost his family, Jim also gained one. Serena and Hannah. And how, they're probably galloping around at some place free of infection, free of desperation, and free of unhappiness. Somewhere, out there, they're happy. One, big, happy family.

Then finally, the dinner scene, which I barely scratched on.

When West argued that since these enraged zombies are really just angry people that are killing people, then today, he had seen people killing people. And four weeks before that, he had seen people killing people. And four weeks before that, people killing people. And four weeks before that, people killing people. And so on and so forth.

It's a revelation that really sticks to your head. If these angry zombies are just people, and people are killing people, then - therefore - West is right. He makes a point. And if that were true, then nothing has really changed. Therefore, Jim and Farrell were right, when they said that things really didn't change, and that rape was still wrong. Thereby, making West and all of his other men more in the wrong, and also making their scheme even fucking worse.

This realization really just makes it clear how far gone their minds have... gone. How insane they had been driven by their services and this pandemic. This makes them... almost worse than zombies. Worse than flies.