Aim for the head.

Well, my friend Tison and I decided to catch the late showing of "28 Weeks Later." the sequel to the popular horror/survival film "28 Days Later." The original film, 28 days, is remarkably well done. It was a new spin on the zombie genre and fairly artistic while being extremely intense and provocative.
28 Weeks Later takes place, you guessed it, 28 weeks after the initial outbreak of the Rage virus. A virus that turns normal people in hyper-violent man-eaters with complete disregard to bodily hygeine. Here's the kicker, unlike the lumbering, groaning, reanimated corpses of George A. Romero's classic, those infected with Rage are fast, nimble, and often silent. The other kicker is that rage is extremely contagious (through blood and saliva) and symptoms present literally seconds after infection. So there's the setup. At the end of 28 days later, we see that the infected, although vicious, are stupid. They eventually die of starvation and 28 weeks later, the US military has arrived to clean up the mess. (Marines to the rescue!). They've quarantied and cleansed Dogs Island (Britain) and have begun rehabitation. Here's my favorite head slapping moment of the film.
The virus becomes active again after a woman is found who has partial immunity to the disease. They determine that she's a carrier just in time for her to infect one person and thus renew the great epidemiological bloodfest. So, the klaxon's blaze the words "Code Red" are yelled by important looking people in uniforms and the Marines rush in to..."save the day." I use the quotes because, apparently, part of the quarantine procedure is to shove hundreds of people into tiny rooms so that they're standing shoulder to shoulder, lock the front door with chains, and leave the back door wide open for zombies to run through. Oh, but before that, they turn off all the lights. Who's the military genius who came up with this plan? My reconstruction of that dialogue

Jim: What about the civilians, Sir? What should we do with them in the event of an outbreak.
Joe: Well, we want to keep them calm and protected. So let's crowd them into a room, not tell them what's going on, leave the entrances unguarded, lock the front entrance but leave the door leading to the infected zone unlocked.
Jim: That seems like a bad idea, Sir.
Joe: You're right, we should turn off all the lights too.

PAH! I'm going to make a survival film where the protagonists make intelligent decisions at every turn! I mean, they'll still die, but that's what will make it even more frightening. I hate the let's-see-what's-in-the-basement mentality so prevalent among braless babysitters during blackouts.

final word: rent the original. it's great. avoid the sequal.

In good company

What's so special about May 14th?
It's not just my birthday, it's also the birthday of George lucas, the anniversary of the founding of Jamestown Colony, the anniversary of the first human test of the smallpox vaccine, and the day that Lewis and Clark began their now famous expedition across the American frontier.

Huzzah! A happy day indeed.

-SP

Senatus Populusque Romae

I love this show.