This film is apparently based on the cult 60s movie 'The Omega Man'. It is directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave) and written by Alex Garland (The Beach). The DVD cover has the quote "The best British Horror film for 30 years" which sounds impressive until you try to identify another British horror film from the last 30 years (yes - OK, there is 'Dog Soldiers' which has some passing similarity to this film). But really I would put it more into the Sci-fi category even though horror is something it has plenty of.

We now see the caption "28 days later..." and cut to a scene of Jim (played by Cillian Murphy) waking from a coma in a hospital operating theatre (completely naked for some inexplicable reason). Jim wanders out of the hospital and through the streets of London which are totally deserted. He finds a giant billboard at Eros with notes pinned to it from people searching for lost loved ones. He wanders around for some time and then eventually walks into a church where he finds mounds of dead bodies and has his first encounter with 'the infected' (as those who have the virus are referred to throughout) who chase him. He is then saved by Mark (Noah Huntley) and Selena (Naomie Harris) who fill him in a bit on what is happening.

Mark and Selena reluctantly take Jim to his parents house where he discovers that they have committed suicide rather than face the infected. Mark then parts company (in a way I wont describe for risk of spoiling) and Jim and Selena move on. They then meet up with cabbie Frank (Brendon Gleeson) and his teenage daughter Hannah (Megan Burns) who are holed up in a block of flats. Frank has heard a broadcast on his wind up radio from a group of soldiers who claim they have the 'answer to infection' and they are at a blockade near Manchester. So the foursome set off to Manchester in a taxi. There are some good bits en route - an overnight stop at an old ruin is full of lurking suspense. They do find the soldiers but all is not as it they had hoped. I will reveal no more of the plot but there is a good twist near the end.

Yes, I can see that it does have some similarity to the zombie genre but these are not zombies. They are living people infected with a virus that makes them murderous. There is a lot of violence and blood but given the subject matter it would be difficult to avoid. However, the violence is mostly not graphic and due to the use of digital video is usually too jerky to see in any detail anyway. Often the most sickening moments of violence are not shown but just suggested (as when Jim is forced to kill a young boy).

2) Where are all the dead people? The city is totally deserted but we are led to believe that almost all the population have been killed by the infected - so where are the bodies? Alternatively, if we are to believe that the population are all infected then how is it possible to walk through deserted streets for hours without encountering any of them? OK, there are some scenes where piles of bodies are shown with holcaust like horror so I assume that in the very limited time that was available to shoot the deserted London scenes there was no time to place bodies.

4) Why don't the infected attack each other? Even though they seem totally crazed their intent seems to be to organize themselves into groups and search out uninfected with the sole purpose of infecting them, not eating them as you might expect. It seems they would starve to death before they would consider cannibalism.

There are many other such holes which some reviews I have read seem to dwell on but I felt that overall none of them detracted from the fact that film was gripping, genuinely frightening and thought provoking.
I did however feel that the group of soldiers were badly stereotyped in a way that is slightly insulting to our forces.

Overall I would say the acting was very good. Christopher Eccleston as Major Henry West was excellent. Cillian Murphy as Jim was very good. Brendon Gleeson did a good job of Frank, the man next door. Naomie Harris as Selena was quite poor and reminded me of something out of Blakes Seven. The real letdown was Megan Burns as Hannah who was wooden and generally dreadful.

In summary I enjoyed this film (if 'enjoyment' is the right word) and found it chilling and genuinely scary. It provoked thoughts of what could happen especially in these times of the threat of biological warfare or terrorism. It raised issues about how in a post apocalyptic scenario morals could go out the window. The filming was moody and atmospheric. The soundtrack was excellent and the acting was good.

It is rated 18 for horror, violence and very strong language. That said, I did not find the violence was gratuitous and often was only suggested (with the exception of a particularly nasty bit of eye gouging).