28 Years Later

 P

Oscar-winner Danny Boyle returns to the director's chair for the third installment in the "28" series about the walking un-dead, which began more than 20 years ago. The second film in 2007, which was a worthy sequel, was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.

Boyle knows well how to match the visceral with the cerebral, and this continuing story of a viral catastrophe that has wiped out most of human life in the British Isles offers audiences bucketfuls of blood and gore but also the biggest of beating hearts at its center.

On an isolated Scottish island that has been converted into a fortress against the ravenous zombie hordes on the mainland, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) takes his young son, Spike (Alfie Williams giving a nicely assured performance), across the channel so that the boy might kill his first infected resident with bow and arrow. They left ailing, delusional mother Isla (Jodie Cromer) in the care of a neighbor.

As one might expect, the expedition is dreadful and the lad only successful is making one kill, his tenderness getting the best of him. While hiding from the pursuers in an empty loft, young Spike sees a fire burning in the distance and wonders about its source. After narrowly escaping a swift and determined alpha male, the boy learns from another man in the compound that the fire is quite likely tended by a mad physician who has lived on the mainland for decades.

After seeing his father keeping company with another woman, Spike decides to sneak his mother out of the encampment, across the channel and to the doctor, who he hopes can determine what is wrong with her and make her better. 

Their journey is not without peril, and Boyle masterfully ratchets up the tension while simultaneously putting essential meat on the bones of the relationship between the boy and his mother.

Fans are undoubtedly curious if 28 Years Later will be the end of the run. The final five minutes of the picture strongly suggest much more is in the wings, waiting to spring out on audiences.