28 Weeks Later (2007) | Episode #154

We’re staring into the abyss of 2007’s 28 Weeks Later to see what will gaze back. Billy & Josh fly solo as they wander the ruins of the zombie wasteland in this anthology sequel that hosts some pretty famous faces. In this episode, the duo discusses the mental health of zombie movies, the undeniable plot holes & much more.

If you missed it, check out our episode on 28 Days Later by clicking here. If you or someone you know is reading this right now and struggling with suicide, depression, addiction, or self-harm - please reach out—comment, message, or tweet’ at us. Go to victimsandvillains.net/hope for more resources. Call the suicide lifeline at 988. Text "HELP" to 741-741. There is hope & you DO have so much value and worth!

Abyss Gazing: A Horror Podcast is a production of Victims and Villains is written by Josh “Captain Nostalgia” Burkey (& produced by) & Billy Tabor. Music for this episode comes courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (https://bit.ly/agktheme) & Purple Planet (https://bit.ly/ppcoms).

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hey, you are listening to a biscusing, a horror podcast
where we celebrate all things spooky and mental health.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
This is Billy. I've survived the twenty eight weeks so far.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
I think you survived a little bit more in twenty eight.
My name is Josh Ed, I'm you're the co hosts.
This is gonna be a really chill episode as we
kind of switch in our Summer of Fear series from
Her the Cope, Final and Final Destination to completing the
twenty eight later Blank Later trilogy and so all this

(00:44):
is what we're gonna be talking about the movie twenty
eight weeks later. It's just me and Billy tonight. So
but you guys can also check out our episode that
we did on twenty eight days later back in twenty
twenty three, episode number seventy five, and it features Bashed Rook,
who is the writer director of not only Amy and I,

(01:05):
which is which was one of our most well received
Terrific Hope selections, but he's also the director of Citrin
Citrion I think is how you pronounce it. It is
another feature, sorry, another Horrific Hope Film festival that is
going to be playing with our let's start a cult
block on Saturday, August sixteenth. Tickets are now on sale

(01:31):
wherever you guys get your tickets from, we'll provide a
link in the show's below. I am curious what your
relationship is to these movies, Billy.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
I mean, I love zombie movies, so that was the
biggest thing to me, is just any zombie movie. I
used to try to go watch it. I had to
go rewatch twenty eight days later. I was in here
for the first podcast, so and I didn't realize that
how slow it was to me that I mean, I

(02:01):
love the movie, but the storytelling was kind of slow
and everything on that one, where this one, I enjoyed
the fact that they sped it up.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
I will get into it. I had never seen twenty
eight days later. I also too rewatched twenty eight days
later in anticipation for our episode this week. And I
am not a huge fan of zombie movies. I think
that they're way overdone. Zombies and vampires are like the

(02:31):
two areas of horror that I just feel like are overdone.
There's very little new, and there's something to be said
about that first film. It's this very surreal take on
it on zombies, but also at the same time it
has it kind of reverts back to the core of
what made zombie movies so great that they feel like

(02:54):
a legitimate threat, and b there is an emotional core
to it that I feel like most movies really you
don't get that with And when you go back and
when you watch Pramero's original Night of the Living Dead,
I think that's what makes that film so iconic, so memorable,
so impactful, is that is those two rules. Zombies feel

(03:15):
like a threat and you have an emotional core with
characters that you can actually root for.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, and on the threat part, I mean going back
and watching it now compared to when it came out
and the things that have happened over the years, the
fact that it starts with a virus and then this
was pre COVID and everything. Now we've had COVID all
you can see some similarities of okay, well that kind

(03:44):
of really happened, even though it wasn't a zombie outbreak,
but that's actually how some things were handled. It's just crazy.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
It's always really interesting to watch a movie like this,
or even done at the Planet of the Apes, to
kind of see that this whole thing starts with a
virus that comes from essentially prime abes, you know, things
that don't really necessarily feel that far fetched, and then

(04:13):
you kind of just see how this world progresses. Now,
with twenty eight weeks later, I have my own love
hate relationship with it. This was the first time viewing
for me, and I'm excited to kind of get into
it with you. But I am assuming, being a fan
of the zombie genre, that this is a movie that

(04:34):
you have seen or at least before.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
Now I've seen it before. I'm gonna be honest. I
didn't remember a lot about it because it had been
so long, but I had seen it, so on the
rewatch I was picking out certain things and everything that
I remembered. But yeah, on the rewatch, I was picking
out things that I didn't remember also, So I do
have kind of a after watching it, and I watched

(04:57):
it two three times this week, I kind of have
a love relationship with this movie.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Now I feel that love hate relationship movie. I didn't
love this movie. I didn't hate it. I think that
there are things about this movie that I don't necessarily
want to jump into, like the bulk of this movie yet,
But I felt like there was there were things that

(05:22):
I really loved about this movie and things that I
really hate it, and we'll kind of discuss that, I
guess as we impact, but I kind of agree with you.
I think there's just as much things that I really
love about this movie and things that I really hate
about this movie. Kind of like running part hand in hand.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, And I was picking out like people I recognize
out of the movie and some of their characters and
some of the people the character they were playing were
was similar to characters they played in the things I
remembered them from. So it was like, wow, not going
too deep, but the one that plays the dad this one,

(06:01):
he had rupel still skin in uh our mister Gold
and Once upon a Time had the same character arc
a he did.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
I was wondering why he looks so familiar.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
He had the same character arc where he was so
afraid and everything and he turned against his family and
all that stuff, which I don't want to go too
deep into this till we get to it, but it
was kind of the same storyline. And I'm like, dude,
I don't know if you were type casted for this
or type casted for that, but it was one of
them like once saw the other as like okay, you

(06:35):
can play this character.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Yeah. The cast of this movie is like really interesting
to consider because it's these like really like big name
actors and actresses that we now know from other projects.
Like you know, Jeremy Renner is still you know, four
or five years away from the MCU Idris Elba has
just kind of had like built a career that are

(07:00):
just doing like you know, really big roles. But these
like also very like strange like roles as well. Then
you have Rose Byrne in this movie, and they're kind
of like the core of trio that like we we
now know. I think the rest of us is like
mostly filled up with like other character actors that I

(07:20):
didn't recognize.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
The girl I think her name's emotionin in real life
or I forget how to pronounce her name. I remember
her from Need for Speed. She was also she plays
in Need for Speed. I knew that I recognized her.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Oh yeah, imag.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, there you go. She plays in Need for Speed
And I picked that one out right away because I
like Need for Speed cars all that it was a
video game movie.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
So I definitely did not recognize her. She also did
Green Room, which we coveredeple years ago. She was also
in the twenty nineteen remake of Black Christmas Be for Vendetta.
I'm trying to think pop star never stopped, never stopping.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yes, she was a pretty big name too.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, I mean she's I don't know necessarily that I
would like classifies her like as a big name. Well,
I mean, but definitely like a recognizable again kind of
going into like one of those character actresses exactly.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
So that was part of the movie of me picking
out all this stuff of like Hawkeye is always on
his perch and h staring at the windows. Just different things,
different characters they played of the similarity of some of
the characters.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
So before we get into like too much of the
spoilers of this, I want to geek out for a
few minutes. You probably won't give a fuck, but I
want to talk about the studio that released this movie,
because the studio did not get does not get brought
up very very often. So now twenty eight Weeks Later

(09:06):
is viewed as a film of both twentieth century Fox
and Disney because of the whole merger a few years ago. However,
this movie was originally released under a now defunct subsidiary
of Fox called Fox Atomic twenty eight weeks Later was

(09:27):
one of eight movies that they released which started in
two thousand and six up till two thousand and nine, Touristas,
The Hills Have Eyes To twenty eight weeks later, the
Comebacks The Rocker Miss March in Twelve Rounds. While also

(09:48):
having shutting down, they also had three films in post
production that also got moved to the main twentieth Century
Fox line Versus I Love Beth Cooper Postcrad and the
now iconic Jennifer's Body. So this movie was a startup

(10:08):
label under Fox search Light head Peter Rice and COO
John Hedgman, as a sibling production division under Fox Filmed Entertainment.
Two thousand and eight. Fox marketing unit was transferred to
Fox search Light in twenty Century Fox when Hedgman moved
to New Regency Productions, Debbie Lemming became president. After two

(10:35):
middling successes and a falling short with other films, the
unit was shut down in two thousand and nine. The
remaining films under the Atomic label in production and post
production was transferred twenty Century Fox and Fox stearch Light
with Lemming overseeing films. So it's this it's this really

(10:56):
weird moment in film history where you had the is
now completely defunct. Like subsidiaries were like brother or sister
companies that you don't really see a whole lot of nowadays.
Revolution Studios is probably another one that came out and

(11:19):
did a lot. They were like the ones behind, you know,
like Daddy Daycare, Darkness Fall, stuff like that, and they
had a pretty good rise in like the early two thousands,
and then I think they died by the year two
thousand and nine. But seeing watching this movie first time
and seeing that Fox Atomic logo like brought back some memories.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, I had no idea about the Fox Atomic to
be honest, But you're naming off movies that I was like,
I remember that movie. I remember that movie, like Jennifer's Body,
Beth Cooper, and a bunch of other ones you named off.
I remember them. I just never realized that it didn't
fall under Fox that I never do.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
It was Fox at Top, which I think is fascinating.
And what I think is fascinating about the eight films
that Fox Atomic actually ended up releasing were that two
of the eight, so a quarter of them were actually
sequels to other Fox Searchlight films. In the Hills of
Eyes remake from two thousand and five, I believe, and

(12:23):
the Og twenty eight days later.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah, I mean knowing that now, that's just crazy, just
not knowing that originally. But yeah, I know that some
of the other movies they had were pretty good too,
from and a lot of them were comedies, to be
honest with.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
You, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
The one that I remember out of that list probably
was Miss March, and that's because I was like a
very horning teenager. I saw that movie quite a lot.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
I remember Jennifer's Body and yeah, Beth Cooper because Beth Cooper.
I watched that because it had the girl that played
the cheerleader.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
Hey, so it was one of them like, Okay, she's
in this, let's watch this too, and it was kind
of funny.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
So getting into twenty eight weeks later though, kind of
shifting from like studio to like product, I gotta say, like,
I really enjoyed this cold opening where we're kind of
getting to see I. Yes, did you take it as
like this like group of survivors, Being that this was

(13:31):
essentially like the beginning of the infection but it was
just told from somewhere else aside from like Jim and
Selene's kind of crew.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
I got it as beginning towards a couple of weeks
and something like that of they started realizing about everything
that's going on and trying to survive and adapt and
became like shuddened kind of. To me is the way
it seemed where they closed the world off and try

(14:02):
to keep everybody out.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
So there's there's two things that I don't understand I
think that threw me off about this cold opening. One
is that I never understood why they like shut light
out from the outside world. Maybe that was something I like,
a detail I missed in my rewatch of twenty eight

(14:25):
days later that's never addressed.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
I don't remember it being addressed. I was assumed that
they originally did that so that it was to keep
the zombies out as far as they couldn't see your
I don't know, smell whatever, to try to give them
a better barrier. But to me, it made no sense
of why they weren't letting light in so they can
least have like the shadows or whatever so they would

(14:49):
know if somebody's outside.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
Yeah, it was like something that like I didn't understand.
I was like, all right, it's it's night. And then
like the when you have the girl that after they
let the boy in and you have the girl his
name I forget, like but she like gets like gets
attacked and then like the zombie comes in and I'm

(15:12):
sorry the infected, which is something I want to talk about. Yeah,
a second.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
The other thing that I'd never I think the other
thing is like the timeline right after the cold open
when they transition from like you know that that cottage
that house to the main storyline with like the brother
and sister coming back into London and you have that
like recap. Like I think that was another thing that

(15:40):
threw me off. Where where the actual events of this
cold open why with the rest of the universe, so
to say.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah, I mean it seemed separated to me versus.

Speaker 4 (15:54):
I mean I don't want to go too much into
the future scenes, but one of the future scenes shows
where the kids was staying or whatever, versus where this
place was, and it just seemed like crazy of having
that the place that's in my background here if you're
if you could see it, of uh just out in

(16:15):
the countryside versus being in the city.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah, I yeah, Can we go ahead and just get
the the the whole elephant in the room out of
the room real quick?

Speaker 2 (16:27):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (16:28):
How does this movie never once call the the undead
or whatever they call them the infected? Yeah, but they're zombies. Like,
I have so many questions here, like I found myself.
All of my notes were just like questions that I
was like thinking about.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
So, oh, I've got questions too, Like I didn't. I
watched it a couple of times in at first I didn't.
I didn't remember them addressing the kids not being in
the opening scene. I mean I can't. I think they did,
but it was like quick but well.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
They also never specified like the relationship that like each
person had in in there, so like I never took
Don having a wife like that wife that like the
woman he leaves behind being yeah, his actual wife, Like
that was never something that like registered in my brain

(17:27):
because they don't establish a relationship between everything. You just
to kind of assume it's just like the end where
you have I can never remember the the young girl
from the end of twenty eight's days later, but like
her Jim and Selene, like finding the compound with Christopher

(17:49):
Ekelson's Men, and you know, you're you kind of are
assumed that, like, it's the same kind of arrangement there
where these are just people that just happened to all
kind of find one another. And it's never explicitly like said.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, it's never really addressed. You have to assume that
it's all for survival, and the survival parts. I mean,
I'm gonna go ahead and get this out. There were
the walls made of like palettes or something, because that
seemed too easy for me for them to get through.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yes, yeah, I think what's really interesting here is I
will I have all of my issues with it. I
love the take that this world has on zombies. I
hate the fact that I'll just go ahead to get
this out there. I hate the fact that they never
are addressed as zombies. They're always called the infected, which

(18:56):
makes me to believe that this is a universe where
zombie movies do not exist, which I think it's fascinating
because I can't imagine a world without zombies. And that's
mostly because The Walking Dead was such a huge deal
for so many people for so long.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
I mean, it still is for a lot of people.
They still I mean rewatches and everything else and the
spinoffs and all. It's still a huge deal for some people.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
But it is. But I don't feel like it's the
cultural phenomenon that it was.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
That's why I was gonna say it's not like it
used to be because I used to watch Walking Dead
all the time, and after a certain season, I just
I was like, man, this this is going to be
like this this, I've got to find something else. So
nothing against it. It just became repetitive to me.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
Which is the common complaint. Yeah, but I come back
to how this this few zombies and how they portray zombies,
and that's what I like about this. I think this
is a really refreshing take on the zombies. While I
think they were done better in twenty eight days later,

(20:05):
I love how this kind of continues to feel like
a evolution of those notions or those ideas, whereas this
one you have, you know you have zombies. That there's
a mention in that cold open where zombie screams and
you got to get to hear it scream. They're stronger,

(20:26):
they're faster, they're and they're an actual, like credible threat.
Now like that that opening until don gets on the
boat is like legitimately terrifying and you can't help but
like be drawn to the edge of your seat because
of it. And you know, I think when you look

(20:46):
at like things like other zombie movies, more traditional or
even slashers, having a point, having a threat that is
chasing you and walking and yet somehow always catches up
to you doesn't really terrify me. But if you have
that same threat and they're at normal speed, that shit

(21:10):
is crazy scary.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, I mean, I love the fact that the infected
it just shows the virus as it expands and as
it gets you know, adaptive. And the fact that most
zombie movies you gotta be bit to be a zombie,
and this one I love the thought of. This is
what I've always thought, Well, you get blood on youth, lava, whatever,

(21:36):
how is that not transferring it? Those are bodily fluids,
just like somebody biting you. So they actually address that
in this movie. And I love this movie for that
that it used that to the advantage of saying it's
not just a bite. You know, there's other ways to
get it, not necessarily airborne, but other ways.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
I think it's again, I think it's such a fascinating
look at it. And something that I, excuse me, I
really love about this is that, for as much as
I have complaints about this movie, the zombies are not
one of them, because I think you nailed it on
the head when you're talking about how this is not
just this they call it a virus. They treat it

(22:15):
like a virus. I think about viruses is that they're adaptable,
is that they grow, is that they study and eventually
kind of respond in ultimately what the goal is to
kind of take over. And I love the fact that
that's how they treat them in this, is that this
is a virus that essentially outruns the host until it

(22:37):
is completely in control, and that that's terrifying.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, I mean, and the fact that they use the
rage feeling versus two versus like love sentiment whatever, They
used a rage feeling too. Show the virus or the zombies,
as you know, those are the infected, where the ones
that aren't are the ones that are adaptable, aren't necessarily raged.

(23:08):
That the fact that they play that in there also
kind of helps you differentiate a little bit.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
Could you imagine like stoner zombies in this.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
Dude, I'm too tired of but.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
My meat will eventually come back to me and it'll
be fine.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
You want to puff here, sit down with me and relax.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
I gotta say one of the one of the best
things about this movie that has one of the greatest
payoffs is Don essentially abandoning his wife and all of
the other like compound survivors and going off into this
like New London safe haven, which opens up a portal

(23:53):
of other plot hole questions that I want to get into.
But he becomes a zombie, and I love the fact
that he eventually dies, Like there was no wody in
this movie that deserved it more than Don. DoD was
a literal heard of a human being.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
And Don was just an asshole. So he put it
out there was an asshole and nothing against the person
in real life. But that's the character he's played a
couple times, so I already felt that way when I
saw his face. But uh yeah, in that opening scene,
the way they use uh the mom was her name Alice. Yeah, yeah,

(24:33):
that they didn't actually show that she was dead. They
showed she was in that bedroom when he ran away,
and that the infected were in there, and then they
showed the window where she got pulled away, but they
never showed her dying, So everybody, you kind of tell me,
everybody assumed that that was the end, that's the way
that they left or where she died at that point.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
Yeah, which I think she brings up kind of some
really interesting notions in Enough herself, where like she is
presented as somebody that is actually immune to the to
the entirety of the like the virus, which I thought

(25:17):
was so fascinating, Like she was infected, but she shows
no signs, and then there's like, oh, yeah, she's got
this like natural immunity, and you kind of see that
go off with her kids, and like I thought that
was such a as that's something that I've never seen

(25:39):
before in a zombie movie, Whereas, like you said, like
typically you have to get bitten, but here they're like, oh,
any exposure to the blood or saliva, any type of
bodily fluids like turns them, which I think is fascinating.
I think it. I think it goes back to this
movie has really good ideas and concepts at place with

(26:01):
does not always execute as well.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
Yeah, I mean, just a couple of things, like we've
already said about her, we thought she was dead, and
then he goes to the city and all I want
to start bringing up some of the plot holes and
everything because I've been dancing around him. So one of
mine is, how did she end up at that house?

(26:26):
Like if she was in that one place out in
the countryside, all of a sudden she's in the city
in like a safe kind of zone I guess, originally
in a house, and then she starts showing little signs
that she's infected.

Speaker 5 (26:41):
If you were someone you know is listening to this
podcast right now and you're struggling with suicide, addiction, self harm,
or depression, we encourage you guys to please reach out.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
This is the heartbeat or why we do what we do.

Speaker 5 (26:55):
Suicide is currently the tenth leading cause of death in
the United States, and as of this recording, there are
one hundred and thirty two suicides that take place each
and every day on American soil, and when you scale
back internationally, there are eight hundred thousand successful suicides. That
is one death roughly every forty seconds. So if you

(27:17):
were someone you know was struggling, you guys can go
to Victims and Filains dot net Ford slash hope that
resource is going to be right in the description wherever
you guys are currently listening or streaming this, There you'll
find resources that include the National Suicide Lifeline, which is
one eight hundred two.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
Seven three eighty two fifty five. You can also text
help to seven seven four one. Also have a plethora
of other resources including churches, getting connected with counselors, LGBT
resources like the Trevor Project, and also a veteran hotline
as well. Please, if you hear nothing else in the show,

(27:58):
understand that you yes to you listening to this right
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mental health. These are hard topics and this stigma around
them doesn't make it any easier. But please consider the
resources right in the descriptions below wherever you guys are listening,

(28:18):
because once again, you have value and you have worth,
So please stay with us. Like I with her plot hole,
it's kind of like, how did she survive for so long?
Because we're kind of led to believe that, like from
the events of the opening up until then it's six months,

(28:46):
six weeks, It's yeah, six months, So like this this
comes back, This opens up the portal to all of
my questions that kind of boils down to one simple
thing is how the hell is all of this being funded?
Like when you think about the safe Haven, like, how

(29:09):
is uh what they call it the they call it
the green Zone or District one, it's the safe Haven
When you see it, there's a there's a scene where
renters on the roof and he's just kind of like
watching everyone, but you're seeing like, oh, these people have

(29:30):
like televisions that work, they have electricity, they have running water,
like even when the kids are coming into there. They
have a like a grocery store and a pub. But
here is the question that I have is like how
are those like if this is a global pandemic, Like

(29:51):
how okay, Okay, that's that's fair. I think I'm just
kind of like how how what were these Like? How
are the lights staying on? How are the grocery markets
at the pubs like constantly being restocked? Which brings me
back to my question of Sarah. How does she survive
on the food that they had for six months? Dude,

(30:13):
we run out of food here and there's only two
of us after like three weeks, Like I so six months,
I can't imagine.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
There's four of us least that long. But yeah, so
I had to read a little bit so I would understand.
You know, you know how we do. We go back
and research some of the stuff about the movie and all.
So one of the things about the movie is NATO
is evolved. That's how the US got involved. It doesn't

(30:43):
that would so that would have that would take care
of your funding and all that. But they do have
planes because they brought the kid over in the plane,
so they can fly shipment some stuff in that way
when they're bringing people. So that's how you would get
the food and all that.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
But here's the thing is that eventually that funding is
going to dry up. Like also, like, let's let's be real.
At the end of the day, I'll be like, I mean,
I guess this is this is two thousand and seven.
But keep in mind too that out of everyone in
the UN, US and Israel were no but we're basically
we're the only nations on the face of the earth

(31:23):
that said that food was not a human right. So
what point does that reality enter into this world.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
I think it kind of did a little bit, not
necessarily food, but when they called the code red. That
was it. I just I mean, life wasn't even a
human right at that point.

Speaker 1 (31:44):
Yeah, because I mean I feel like I've worked for
enough like big corporations that just see me as like
a replaceable, like dollar kind of person that like, you know,
I'm also like, okay, like we saw during the pandemic,
like yes, like you have these national organizations that we're saying, hey,

(32:05):
you know, you guys are inside, so like we're going
to offer you know, free internet like comcasted or we're
going to offer you like you know, free entertainment or
like you know, whatever you want to say in there.
But like at the end of the day, like that
only lasted maybe two months, So like I can't imagine

(32:28):
that like eventually somebody from the electricity electric company or
television studios or somewhere one of these big corporations are
gonna want to start seeing a return on investment there.
I feel like kindness only goes so far. That's a
really fucked up way of looking at things. But that's

(32:49):
that's how I felt during the pandemic. That's how I'm
magic it feels here for this world.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
I don't I don't disagree, and I mean even the
television stuff and all, I mean a lot of it
was streaming for us at a certain point to where
it never it never addressed that to where this was
pre pandemic and all. Again I'm pointing that out, so
you didn't Netflix was still DVDs. I think at this

(33:15):
point if I remember, right, are they were just switching
over So how much of it was media that they
had hard media versus even so that would take that
stuff out. But again, yeah, you're electric, your water, you're
all that stuff. Yeah, at a certain point, you've got
a people are gonna be hey, we're losing too much money,

(33:38):
even though we're trying to be nice.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
Like the source of that stuff like has to go
at some point. I really hate like looking at a
movie where you're seeing kindness and being like super cynical.
But we've lived through like some pretty like genre like
generation defying, like trauma bonded experiences, and so like now

(34:03):
I watch a movie like this and I'm just like,
I have all of these technical questions, like like with
with twenty and that's again that's probably one of my
complaints with twenty eight Days Later. It felt like it
felt like how you would expect it to where it's
it's bear there is a bunch of you know, there's
that scene where they all go grocery shopping and that,

(34:25):
like you know, really kind of plays into it. Like
we see other things that are also explored during like
a quiet Place is a great is a great example
of that as well, whereas here there's like you gotta
you gotta, you gotta suspend like your disbelief just a
little bit. The first film feels really grounded and this

(34:48):
film just feels like it's a crater that's just like zombies.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Yeah, I mean again, you said trauma bonded and all
that stuff. We've all had the experience now where when
this came out, we didn't have the knowledge or anything
we have now, so we wouldn't have been asking those questions.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Now.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
I'm like, okay, yeah, having a gene to where you're
a carrier but you're not affected. Yeah, we've seen that
in real life. I can believe that. And just certain
things where some movies you're like you go back and
rewatch them and like, nah, that that's not even believable anymore.
We've done this, We've seen this. This isn't how it works.

(35:31):
I didn't have to go to college or school for it.
I lived it, so.

Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah, it's I don't know, like I feel like for
some of like some of these movies, these types of
movies have definitely made me more cynical, but they've also
kind of welcomed me up into like what it's like
for what it's like for an experience like this to
have an effect on your mental health. And it's something

(35:58):
that I feel like I never really considered before looking
at a movie like this, and you know, considering the
fact of, you know, mental health, whereas like you know,
say what you will issues aside. I think one of
the things that these movies get right is that there's
a layer of survival that kind of serves as like

(36:20):
the new language that we all communicate with in these
tough times. And so as a result, you have this
community that's birthed. You know, you look at the the
end of twenty eight Days Later, and it's this big,
gorgeous community that is kind of been birthed from it.
And I feel like you see a little bit more

(36:43):
in the idea of you see it more in the
idea of the beginning of this movie rather than some
of the way you know, kind of throughout. Like I
would probably say the last act of this movie definitely
kind of embraces that idea. But community is important for survival,

(37:03):
not just for physical but for mental health.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
Yeah, I mean, I cannot think of the guy's name
that jumps at the bottom of the helicopter hanging on,
but yeah, him alone, he shows the fact of the
survival part of There's both sides of it. There's the
community side and then there's the I want to survive
no matter what, and he was I want to survive

(37:29):
no matter what. I don't care what's going to happen
to anybody else. And the mental health of that of dude,
I gotta survive. I don't want to die. I want
to I just want to be here. You know, it's
crazy because a lot of people dealt with that when
we were shut in for COVID. Of it wasn't as extreme.

(37:52):
I don't think it may have been, but not to
the fact of, oh I'm going to turn into a zombie.
But a lot of people were scared of, you know,
contracting COVID and everything. So people even at a Walmart,
somebody would cough and everybody would turn around, and like,
for instance, one of my sons. He has allergies, has

(38:14):
had allergies most of life, and we were fighting with
this before COVID that he was having problems smelling because
he lost the sense of smell because of his allergies.
And he that son and I would be the one
that would go to the stores together, like he would
be my runner with me and I'd leave to other
kids at home with my wife. And we were having

(38:34):
a conversation one time, and I'm like, are you okay?
I was like, man, Son stinks. He's like, I can't smell,
so it don't bother me. I can't smell. And when
he said I can't smell, everybody turned around and back
the way because the first thing they thought was COVID.
I'm like, no, it's allergies. It's not COVID. He's got
his mask on. Anyway, you have nothing to worry about.

(38:54):
But just the thought of the thought process in this
movie and conveying it to that people automatically saying, Okay,
I gotta protect myself versus even looking out for anybody else.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
So I laugh because the same thing happened to Erica
all the time when she would go grocery shopping. But
this this movie kind of reminds me of that. The
survival aspect reminds me of that monologue from The Joker
that has in the Dark Night where he's telling one
of the cops in the interrogation. He's like, you know,

(39:29):
people show you who they really are in their last moments,
and you know, so the people that are like very
genuine are going to be the ones that are going
to help their fellow man and keep pursuing even in
the face of danger. And then you're gonna have people

(39:50):
like Don that it's gonna be every man for himself.
Like there was plenty of time in that opening, and
I feel like we've spent a lot of time talking
about the opening to this MO and our issues with Don.
There's so many times that he could have gone back
for Sarah, and in retrospect, you kind of look at it,
they're like, oh, well, for one, he's supposed to be

(40:11):
the villain of this story, so we need we need
him to be an asshole right out of the gate.
But for two, we need this like big important plot
point later on. So but I digress to say that,
like he literally had all the time to save his wife,
and you know, husband is to save his wife or

(40:32):
his partner or their partner sickness and the death.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
So here's I already know what I think about the scene.
So I'm gonna ask you. The wife strapped up, they
just told her blood. He walks in the room, he's
talking to her. She doesn't communicate that much. She barely
told them that she wants to see her kids. Does
she know right away that if she kisses him she's
gonna turn him?

Speaker 1 (40:58):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (41:01):
Didn't think about that, did you?

Speaker 1 (41:02):
I didn't, But I really like love that to where
it's kind of like this like ultimate revenge type of thing.
It's like, you think you're gonna leave me, think again?
Fuck her?

Speaker 2 (41:12):
Yeah, pretty much that's what I thought. I mean the
first time I watched it, I'm like, all right, she's
one of the few people that with this virus she
can still think. I mean, she acknowledges her kids and
all that stuff. So she kind of acknowledges him when
he walks in the door, even though she's not communicating much,
and he kisses her, and she kisses him back, and

(41:33):
they within the scenes like it's intertwined in the scene
where the what is it the major's talking about that
it's gonna be passed by Salava and all. And they're kissing,
and I'm like, does she know she's doing this or
it's just that's her husband she's kissing them.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
Yeah, No, I think she kind of had this like
a little bit of knowledge. I mean I would like
to think she has the knowledge because I mean she
also like self isolated now whether or not that he
is like out of instinct or out of fear that
she's been turned like again, Yeah, but I really wish

(42:13):
they would have done more with that. Like I will
say though, with Andy, it's really interesting to kind of
see this world through the eyes of a twelve year old,
which was something that I really appreciate it. I thought
they did really well was kind of getting to see

(42:34):
this world kind of really through the naivety of a
young boy. And one of the things that I wrote
in my notes, I was like, Dude, this guy's gonna
need so much therapy getting through this. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
I don't want to get to the ending yet, but
it involves him so but yeah, technically he would need it. Yeah,
needs it now.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
I mean this kid, like he was told his mom
died then like finds her again. So like he's got
this like you know, this like piece that he's like
psych He watches Renner get like literally burnt alive, one
of the worst deaths that he one could experience, and
then like also was like tried to be eaten by

(43:25):
like his father. Like I mean, this kid man, like
he's just he's just been through a lot in his
twelve years and it's really only been like six months, so.

Speaker 2 (43:34):
But not even just twelve years. And it seems like
in like twenty four to forty eight hours he had
been through a lot. Because you think about it, my
question is did they know their mom was there? Is
that part of the reason why they went back? I
know they originally the concept was to get a picture,
because he said he went a picture he was forgetting
his mom. But did they actually know she was there?

Speaker 1 (43:57):
I don't think they did. I think I think they it,
and I think they believed. Don I also think that
they were just kind of nostalgic, you know, and really
wanted a reason to see him again, like or not,
just to kind of see that familiarity of being home.

(44:19):
I mean, having traveled and towured you know, off and
on and over the years, Like there's nothing quite like
coming back to the familiarity of home, you know, when
you've been gone a long time.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
Yeah, home is always a safe place to where you know,
you can let your guard down and totally relax, where
not being at home sometimes you're on guard a lot.
So yeah, I get that. Yeah, and all right, so
I'm gonna bring up another one that came up to me. Okay,
the kids were in the interrogation box, is how I'm

(44:53):
gonna put it. You know, the room that's locked up.
Why the hell would you take them out of that?
That's a plot holding me right there. The other the
guard couldn't get to them. Why would you take them
out of that box?

Speaker 1 (45:08):
How would you guys like to help us get mental
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you can simply go to patreon dot com for Sage
Victims and villains for as little as one dollar a month,
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(45:31):
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Speaker 5 (45:44):
All it takes to get started is to go to
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Speaker 1 (45:52):
Wherever you guys are currently listening or streaming this episode,
pick your tear and get started today. Yes, it's that
simple selected tier that you want and help us get
hope into the hands of the depressed and the suicidal today,
because the movie needed to keep progressing because there there

(46:13):
are and I will say this too, like there are
there are moments within this movie that felt like it
should have ended, and it would have been a satisfying ending,
and yet they just kept kind of keep going. And
I wrote in my notes at one point too, I
was like, oh, if we would have ended at the
seventy minute mark, like I would have been content with

(46:35):
how this movie ends. But then it drags on a
little bit longer, and again I think, again, you bring
up a good point. The movie literally could have ended there.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
Well, I mean I do bring up that point with
also saying they hadn't got the code read yet, so
they didn't know if they were gonna blow up the city.
Yet I could see that Oh, they knew they were
gonna blow up the city and they had leave, but
they hadn't got that far yet. They literally it had
just started happening and they were in a safe place.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
Yeah. So yeah, I I will say like also, like
we brought these guys up earlier, but like a lot
of like the the characters that are like the colonel

(47:27):
rose Burn's character Doyle, like like some of his like
other guys, like they just felt like they didn't really
have any idea what to do. They didn't or the
screen ars didn't know what to do with those characters.
This movie felt like, and I wrote this in my notes,
like overall, this movie feels like it was greenlit without

(47:50):
a real idea. Like they had like notions of ideas,
but not quite a fully fleshed out idea. Because there
are all of these so we've spent less forty five
minutes talking about uh there. They kind of just don't
really give a lot of these big actors anything to do.
I mean, Renner literally spends the majority of the entire

(48:14):
movie looking through a I forget what that like that
like lens on the gun the rifle gun is called yes,
I just called it a rifle, goap the scope. Yeah,
Like he spends like the majority of the movie like
doing the scope and then like even when they give
him something to do that's not perched above the city,

(48:37):
like there's just there's no development here. Like these characters
just feel really one note and.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
He got to pop the clutch though he got he
did he did the clutch, but uh, yeah, no, I'm
with you. It's some of these characters that I've seen
them in, like like we with established seeing them in
other movies, other shows, whatever, and you can see how
they are when they're fully developed and all. Where in
this one it seemed like it was an idea where

(49:10):
they started off and then some of them just dropped off.

Speaker 1 (49:13):
Yeah. I will say though that like one of the
things that I thought this movie did really well. Kind
of want to get into the last act. Yeah, So
the last act gives us probably the greatest scene in
this entire movie, and that is the helicopter gag where
the guy like the pilot like tilts it down when

(49:34):
you have this like horde of the infect it coming
through and the blades are just like chop it through
them like Swiss cheese.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
Man, it is so good it's with that guy hanging
on the bottom too. Yes, and and that was like
one of my favorite scenes. I'm like, I've always asked
for that in other movies and they actually gave it
to me.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
This it's such a cool scene and it's like it's
really bloody. It's I feel like it gives me like
what I want in terms of like violence, because there's
there's not a whole lot that happens here. This doesn't
even really feel like there's a lot of like zombies
which or i'm sorry, the infected or as a habit,

(50:14):
which is fine, but I need to be able to
connect with the characters and you don't have that to
the to the way that you had twenty eight days Later,
and twenty eight days Later also had this like diy
surreal feeling to it where it felt it just felt

(50:37):
really like gnarly and like not quite grimy, but like
just almost like a fever dream. And this one looks
just like polished, Like you have a little bit of
those looks in there during like flashback sequences, and also
the like the very very end after you get like
the twenty eight days Later, I notice like that final

(50:58):
shot of them in Paris. Like, I loved that shot.
It's one of my favorite like visuals in this movie
because it goes back to that very surreal, fever dream
esque shooting the way that the first one was.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
Yeah, I mean in that final shot and everything, it's
when it kind of shows that it's hopped out of
where it was and goes over to Paris, wasn't.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
It Yeah, because you have the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Speaker 2 (51:27):
Yeah. And I just again reading a little bit because
I wasn't sure, and it's believed that the kids made
it there and Andy passed the infection. I didn't know that.
It doesn't convey that, but I mean that was something
I read online, So it was like, I don't know

(51:49):
how true that is. And I know that. I think
there's a two versions of this movie because I was
looking at IMDb and there's two different covers.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
I believe that, and I believe that because there's a moment.
So I watched this on Hulu. There's there's a moment
at the end after Don bites Andy where you can
clearly see that there's like something wrong with his eye,
and the camera is very intentional about like never showing

(52:20):
us the eye, which makes me believe that not only
does he have the immunity of his mother, because they
made such a big freaking deal about him having two
different eye colors at the beginning of the movie when
he's going through the kind of like onboarding like tests
to make sure that he's not infected, right, and like

(52:42):
the very intentional thing about saying like, hey, we're not
going to show this, Like I think very much that
like he was infected, So it really wouldn't surprise me
to like hear that, like, oh, yeah, he's he's done for.

Speaker 2 (52:57):
It did show him getting bit so yeah as him
as him being infected. It did show a quick thing
on the eye and the one I saw where so
that to me was the sign, Oh he's infected. That's
why he started running down the the tracks and everything
to run away from his sister. But uh yeah, it
doesn't address of how the how the virus skift over

(53:20):
to Paris, And that's that was the part that was
confusing me, how it got over there so quickly.

Speaker 1 (53:27):
I mean, I I think it's funny because we keep
comparing this virus back to COVID, and you think about
COVID where you know, and I don't know about you.
But when you know you're reading the news and you're
you're hearing, oh, there's a COVID outbreak, there's this new
strand this this new sickness that's coming out in China.
I'm like, China's on the other side of the freaking world.

(53:48):
Like it's not coming over here, there's no way. And
you know, a month and a half later, like you
were seeing a lot of that ship come back to
a man. So it's not unheard of to go somewhere
get infected with something and then you know, in its
natural environment, and then bring it as into another environment.

(54:11):
We read about stories about that all the time.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
I mean, that's so true. But the difference between COVID
and this virus was COVID was also airborne. This one's not.
They established that this one was an airborne So that
that leads to believe that somebody might been kissing, somebody,
drinking after somebody something like that blood has been transferred
or somebody bit somebody. That's that's basically how it's transferred.

Speaker 1 (54:36):
That's sad, that's fair, that's fair.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
So that that's where my confusion was. If it was airborne,
like you're saying, oh, yeah, all day long, we've already
lived that. But this one, this one, this one instead.
It is specifically the major says this is not an
airborne virus.

Speaker 3 (54:54):
Sure, okay, that's fair, I will say, though, uh yeah,
I also will say I'm kind of You could definitely
tell that there were that felt like there had been
plans for this movie for so long, for like a sequel,
because it just makes sense to, you know, do a
trilogy like especially, you know, when you're doing it in

(55:17):
increments of time to wur you're saying twenty eight days later,
twenty eight weeks later.

Speaker 1 (55:22):
You know, now we're getting we'll be getting into twenty
eight years later next week. But I mean even there
was a short fan film that was also released in
conjunction with the DVD release of this called twenty eight
Seconds Later, So you know, you can definitely tell that
they had this on their mind to want to grow

(55:43):
this franchise, and I could definitely get behind that. Also.
Twenty eight Seconds Later was a pretty dope little horror movie.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
Oh yeah, yeah, you said it to me, dude. I
watched it. I'm like, wait, it's over already. I mean yeah,
it was quick to the point, but it also showed
the point of everything I've said about being bit or
blood trans or whatever. It showed all of that in
that twenty eight seconds later. And then my curiosity now

(56:13):
because you've brought up twenty eight years later, is all right,
these were all we've established shot pre COVID. Now it's
post COVID and they're doing a movie. How different is
it gonna look because we've been through this and they
have something to base it off of.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
That is true. Also, keep in mind that twenty eight
weeks later, sorry, twenty eight years later is also going
to be the start of a new trilogy. So we
get the first of the next next week, and then
we'll be doing the uh, we'll be doing The Bone
Collector Part two in January, and I don't know about

(56:52):
part three. Danny Boyle, the director of the first film
and twenty eight years later, is coming back to do
That'll so said that they're right now in the midst
of trying to get funding for the third one, but
does confirm that part two and part three will also
kind of be a continuation of Gim's journey as well.

Speaker 2 (57:13):
Gotcha, see, I didn't know that I've been avoiding like
reading anything until I go watch that movie, because I'm
like you, I know how you are with your spoilers.
As far as the theaters, there are some that slip
by that. All right, I've seen it, I've seen little bits,
but there are some that I'm like, dude, I'm not
trying to watch this. I know we're going to be

(57:35):
covering it. I don't want to ruin it for myself.
So that's one of the ones I've been trying to
flip the channel or fast forward through whenever I see
advertisement it.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
The way that this one, also, too, like establishes and
especially the fact that this teases a third chapter in
this world, and I feel like you could have even
taken the Terrifier route with this, where like when you
look at the first Terrifier film, it's very self contained,

(58:07):
and there are elements of that movie that seep through
in subsequent sequels, But when you look at Terrifier two,
it really starts to tell this continued story of Siena
and the relationship with Art, Like you could have done
that same exact approach here WI twenty eight weeks later

(58:30):
and told the story of Andy and Tammy and kind
of had that continue into its own trilogy. I think
that would have been like, that would have been something
that I really would have latched onto because you know,
they they're them in general, they are kind of the
emotional core of this, you know, And I think it

(58:51):
goes back to that idea of like having one person
that will stand in your corner regards wardless of whether
it's family, friend or loved or you know, a spouse
or partner, does does wonders for your mental health. And

(59:11):
I think there are so many times in this movie
where you see that practice throughout here.

Speaker 2 (59:17):
Yeah, no, I agree one hundred percent. And I mean
that's the storyline, not even just them being the core,
just the storyline of the two of them and building
off of that. I definitely could have latched onto that
to see because it's kind of like, Okay, I want
to see where their future goes, what happens to them
versus where they left it off.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
And we will never know because I was like, I
like looked it up too, like because I was curious,
so like I got a letterbox after this movie and
I was like, all right, is Aaron Taylor Johnson the
adult version of Andy in twenty eight years later? It
is not? And I was like very sad. I was like,

(01:00:00):
I was like, we could have taken followed the story.
But again, these stories are very anthological, and so the
idea that we are getting Jim to come back in
future installments, I think is really fascinating to me. But
I'm also very excited to kind of see what Danny
Boyle and Alex Garland after golly twenty three years, you know,

(01:00:25):
what they bring back to this world.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
And so next week I want to you nerd it
out on one thing, I'm gonna nerd out on something else.
There's certain things out of the series, out of the
twenty eight days and twenty eight weeks later that crickled
into a well known video game, The Last of Us,
which they started shooting the series, and some of that

(01:00:49):
stuff kind of not not side for side, but some
of it kind of went in, like the subway scene
where they're going through the subway and all that that's
in Last of Us, the way some of the virus things,
that's the Last of Us, the way that they shot uh, London,
it was London right the way they shot London, so

(01:01:09):
bear that that was in there, and how they showed
some of the countryside and so the fact that to
me it seemed like this movie was one that kind
of helped Last of Us get an idea of what
they do. So I love it for that. Also because
I didn't realize that till the rewatch I started picking

(01:01:29):
things out, I'm like, oh wow, that was in the
game and in the series. So that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:01:36):
Okay, and get behind that. Well, I think I think
that's all that I have on this movie.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
I think we hit it as hard as I can.

Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
So all right, Well, we're gonna be wrapping up the episodes,
the trilogy of episodes next week with twenty eight years Later,
which means we will also be covering parts to IT
three and their subsequent watches. Mark has no choice in
that matter.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
No, no, we still own the rights to Mark, so
he has to watch it with us.

Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
But once again, you guys get to check out our
episode twenty eight days later. It's episode number seventy five.
We'll fight at link in the show it's below that
once again is with Bash and Rook. He is the
writer director on Amy and I, which we showed a
couple of years agot Her Coke twenty twenty three, as
well as Citrion we're going to be showing this year

(01:02:35):
in August fifteenth and sixteenth at the Aluma Draft House
in Winchester, Virginia. Tickets are on sale now. So one
more time, where can people find you online?

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
Everybody can find me at Letterbox at v A Boy
ninety nine and always find Mark here when he's here.

Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
Yeah, Mark may or may not be back in a
couple of weeks, we'll find out. Well, we've got some
cool surprise guests coming in to fill in for Mark
in the coming weeks. But you guys can find me
also in Letterbox. I'm at Captain Nostalgia. You guys can
find our parent company, Victims and Villains. We are on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube,
and wherever you guys get your podcasts from. Also, that

(01:03:15):
is where you guys can find our backlogs and all
of our episodes that we've been covering all since twenty
twenty two. So it's so next time, remember the longer
that you gaze into the Abyss, the more the Abyss
gazes back into you.