Binary System Watch Party – 28 Weeks Later

It’s the return of the Watch Party! With 28 Years Later in theaters now we thought it was high time to sit down and watch 28 Weeks Later. (Only 18 years late, how about that?)

The Players: Elizabeth, Hannah, Kathryn, and Nathan. (With Mom chiming in through Hannah.) 

Elizabeth
Confirming it is 28 WEEKS later we’re watching 😃

Kathryn
Jones, get out of the way.

Jones
Ready to hit play here

Elizabeth
Ready!

Hannah
I think we’re ready, mom’s just pouring more wine
Ok shall we?

Kathryn
Pressing play!

Elizabeth
Pressing play!

Nathan
One of the actors is this film is named Mackintosh Muggleton.
There is also Imogene Poots!

Kathryn
She was in Vivarium, which is NOT a happy movie.
He was in Trainspotting.

Hannah
Omg Begby, thank you. (Also The Full Monty)

Kathryn
(Narrator) They were not, in fact, fine.

Hannah
Heh

Elizabeth
The tension while we wait for something to go HORRIBLY wrong

Kathryn
Don’t open the door Don’t open the door

Hannah
Oh no oh no
Oh OK

Elizabeth
Okay, the virus works AWFULLY fast
So maybe it’s okay?

Hannah
The closeup on his eyes scared me

Elizabeth
Saaaaaame
YIKES!!

Kathryn
AAaaaa!

Hannah
YIKES

Elizabeth
Heeeeeere we go!

Hannah
After what the ONE DROPLET did in Days, this does not look promising

Kathryn
Oh jeez, bye family

Hannah
LOVE the music tho

Elizabeth
SO MANY OF THEM YIKES

Hannah
Hahaha very Holy Grail escape
OR NOT
I really thought for a second there his wife and the kid would get out of there (and seek revenge)

Elizabeth
Yeah I was hoping

Kathryn
“Declared free of contagion.” Bet not.

Nathan
If so, we wouldn’t have a movie

Hannah
“Reconstruction” seems very optimistic

Elizabeth
Yay there’s my boy!

Kathryn
There he is!

Nathan
Damn, he’s young!

Hannah
Jesus, could they be more American?

Elizabeth
Or more Marine?
Army?
Sorry no speak armed forces

Hannah
This is a super fun pairing with Station 11

Elizabeth
Agreed

Kathryn
Eeeeee, so many biohazard bags

Elizabeth
Goooodness the sheer amount of bodies there’d be

Kathryn
“I AM HERE.” shudder

Elizabeth
Just checked, this came out 2007, Hunger Games book was 2008, so this used “district one” first
OH! Missed who the kids were, that makes sense

Kathryn
Oh jeeez, how does he explain about their mom?

Hannah
I like how so many horror stories are just intrinsic to the human experience, so they keep evolving with every generation

Elizabeth
Oh hey Idris Elba

Hannah
Be British, Idris, that’s your only job.

Elizabeth
Hahahaha

Nathan
I, for one, would never set foot in Britain if something like this had happened.

Elizabeth
Saaaaame

Kathryn
“I keep the electricity on, the water running…” Your mother alive OH THAT’S RIGHT.

Hannah
Chekov’s stop button

Elizabeth
Hm, is dad a little bit of a jerk?

Kathryn
Dad’s about to SPIN SOME LIES.

Elizabeth
Chekov’s ID card

Kathryn
GAH. Jump scare.

Hannah
That girl has M3GAN eyes

Kathryn
Yes indeedy

Elizabeth
Definitely some missing details there Dad

Hannah
As someone who fears she is shit in a crisis, I kind of sympathize with him…

Elizabeth
Oh definitely, not sure I’d do any better
Nuther jump scare!

Kathryn
STOP THAT, RENNER

Hannah
YOU DICKHEAD

Elizabeth
Hahahah
AGAIN

Kathryn
Oh boy, dude, you wanna talk about how your insurance lapsed and you’re three days from retirement?

Hannah
British people need curtains

Kathryn
Right? Do not like.

Kathryn
Okay, I wanna know what the eye color thing signifies

Nathan
Immunity to the virus?

Hannah
Half human half zombie (if this were a jurassic world movie)

Elizabeth
Oh they’re doing WHAT??
Someone smack the shit out of those kids

Kathryn
Op, kids gonna be dumb kids.

Kathryn
Gaaaahh, there’s contagion EVERYWHERE you idiots

Elizabeth
Oo splitting up what a GREAT idea

Nathan
Well, they are white people in a horror movie.

Hannah
Movies way overestimate how far anyone can run. A quarter mile is a LOT YOU DICKS

Elizabeth
Hahahah

Kathryn
I don’t know if I can sympathize with characters who are this stupid, kids or no.
Nice cinematography tho

Elizabeth
Yeah bringing home the idea that if you weren’t there when it happened you have NO IDEA how bad it was

Hannah
Is that a lot of decomposition for six months?

Nathan
*shrug*

Elizabeth
I was gonna say exposed skull seems a bit fast but there are things that eat things

Hannah
I just wanna punch that girl in her eyelashes

Elizabeth
Hee, same

Kathryn
Also, would it be that easy to slip out of an armed encampment?
Hey, didn’t they have a similar storyline in The Walking Dead with Karl needing a photo of his mom?

Elizabeth
Maybe?

Hannah
WHY DO THESE CHILDREN HAVE NO SURVIVAL INSTINCTS

Nathan
WHITE PEOPLE IN A HORROR FILM!

Elizabeth
Look here you dumb kid RUN

Kathryn
WHOA. His mom?

Hannah
Oh it’s his mom
See

Elizabeth
Interesting

Hannah
We definitely stapled that plot in there, but sure

Kathryn
Slightly less subtle with the storytelling than the first one for sure

Elizabeth
Had to be some way to put some uncertainty in the story
Oh crap her EYE

Hannah
Listen, we don’t need a plot about America being overly aggressive militarily, we get it

Kathryn
Eep. Bite mark.

Hannah
Yes, less subtle
(I will say that 40 minutes of this movie have FLOWN)

Elizabeth
SERIOUSLY
Ohhhhhhh I bet Dad is shitting bricks right now

Hannah
See, I knew there’d be revenge

Kathryn
Oh my god are you gonna split hairs with your kids? About their mom?

Elizabeth
Man alive it’s already called a Rage Virus when she sees him she’s gonna go BALLISTIC
Crap now it’s Dad’s turn to be incredibly dumb

Kathryn
Typhoid Mary

Hannah
Oops weirdly specific hospital nightmare, being held in a garage, excuse me for a sec

Elizabeth
Oohh yeah, sorry about that

Nathan
*hug*

Kathryn
Should we give you a heads up when the hospital bit is done?

Hannah
Nah it’s good, I had to pee anyway, just the one shot was like… familiar

Elizabeth
Oh NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING WHY IS THERE NO SECURITY IN THIS PLACE

Nathan
Cause movie has to happen.

Kathryn
Here we go…

Elizabeth
INCREDIBLY LONG DEATH SCENE

Kathryn
WHY IS THIS GOING ON SO LONG WHERE IS SECURITY

Hannah
JFC mom and dad are going to be so mad at you…

Elizabeth
Oh man when it goes bad it goes bad fast
So in case you’re not still in the room the action is no longer in a hospital room

Hannah
Yep I’m back haha
It’s always interesting to get the British perspective on the American military but I’d still prefer fewer yanks

Elizabeth
Jump scare!

Hannah
Yeah, they can’t do these lights anymore, people without epilepsy get seizures

Kathryn
Nope nope nope, I am not getting in a crowd, I’m locking myself in a cupboard until I starve

Hannah
Omg yes the Station Eleven thing with the elevator
YIKES

Nathan
Gee, maybe crowding everyone one in a confined space with the lights off was a bad idea?

Kathryn
I think this is the kind of scene they only MENTIONED in the first movie
Hyperventilating here

Hannah
Yeah, it’s a tricky thing to pull off, I don’t think that makes it more cinematically compelling

Elizabeth
Get em Jeremy!

Hannah
“Oh man this is FUBAR” wrote some guy from Westminster

Kathryn
Ha!

Elizabeth
Yeah I was waiting for this to happen, just take everything down indiscriminately

Kathryn
We’re now at the “mowing down the crowd” stage
Heh, Jinx

Hannah
It’s not a great sign that I’m not invested in any of these people

Elizabeth
Heh
And yeah I keep thinking “you know technically this is all the kids’ fault.”

Hannah
The music doesn’t help v the drama the way it did in the first one. At least I knew wtf was happening there (and they kept that drama until the very end)

Kathryn
And I don’t know that they really set up why the female officer is SO invested in keeping the kids safe

Elizabeth
I thought maybe she thinks they’ll have what the Mom has? A means to a cure?

Kathryn
That makes sense, but she’s putting a lot of emotion into it

Hannah
It’s good music! It’s not a plot device!

Kathryn
I was about to say, the music really works

Elizabeth
I’d be curious to see how that scene would’ve worked without the music

Hannah
I remember how much that music works during the escape in the first one. It’s fucking hooked in

Kathryn
Holy plot convenience, Batman

Nathan
Seriously.

Hannah
Girl’s eyeliner is still on point. Shoot her immediately

Elizabeth
Hee
Doyle knows you, lady, he was spying on you

Kathryn
No, wait, why would you leave a secure area and wade back into infection or gunfire

Elizabeth
Trying to get out of range of both?

Nathan
CAUSE MOVIE HAS TO HAPPEN!

Kathryn
I know I know, don’t logic the plot Kathryn 

Hannah
This feels like what Zombies Run became so quickly. Like, I love a fundamental survival story. The absurd postapocalypse involvement of EVERYONE is less engaging

Kathryn
Okay, having to escape a firebomb is more plausible

Hannah
Why what?
DID SHE JUST SAY IT’S JUST A FLESH WOUND

Nathan
Yes, she did!

Monty

Kathryn
The soldiers would be shooting the people running, is why it didn’t make sense to run for it

Elizabeth
Oh wait hang on that’s not really his Dad he just saw is it?

Kathryn
You wanna TELL somebody the dad was there, kid?

Hannah
This is how I would feel playing first-person shooter games. “WHERE AM I WHAT’S HAPPENING WHERE DO I GO WHAT DO I SHOOT”

Elizabeth
Hee, same
SPLOSIONS

Kathryn
Honestly, after what the first movie told us about the Infected, I’d have carpet bombed the whole country a LONG time ago

Hannah
HAHAHA mom saw the person napalmed and went, “Well that’s no fun”

Elizabeth
Hee

Hannah
“Was that necessary” Is any of it?
Mom: “28 weeks is too soon! I could’ve told you! “

Nathan
Again, MOVIE HAS TO HAPPEN!
St. Paul’s!

Elizabeth
Story quibbles aside this is really nicely filmed

Nathan
What an opportune comment!

Comment

Kathryn
Hee.

Hannah
Heh
Free women from eye makeup and contacts what the hell people

Elizabeth
Yep, called it
Eeeeep

Hannah
Too much handheld cam in quiet moments

Nathan
Guarantee the Dad will be in this mob.

Elizabeth
Oh yeah absolutely
I knew blue shirt was gonna be a problem

Kathryn
Well this is a giant CF

Elizabeth
hahahah I don’t think you can use a helicopter that way

Nathan
Probably not.

Kathryn
THIS IS RIDICULOUSLY HORRIFYING

Elizabeth
SO INTENSE

Kathryn
And ONE DROP of blood is enough to infect, I’d recommend getting AWAY from all of thaf

Hannah
I really want James Harkin to weigh in on this on behalf of his wife, the helicopter pilot

Elizabeth
Heh, James never watches movies so it’ll never come up 😃

Hannah
Hahaha mom is just laughing at this scene

Elizabeth
Ooo, biologics?

Hannah
So the military are always sometimes the bad guys in these movies

Kathryn
And the hero is the one who betrays the rest of the squad

Hannah
Jesus that was dumb

Elizabeth
Awwww

Hannah
Hahaha that looks like that scene in Brazil

Kathryn
See, what I really can’t get behind in this film is that people KNOW how the infected act, so in a one-on-one situation you don’t shoot the people who aren’t acting like that!

Nathan
MOVIE. HAS. TO. HAPPEN.

Elizabeth
Hee

Hannah
Heh, but maybe it shouldn’t have, tho

Elizabeth
And the watch party thread isn’t as much fun if we don’t bag on it

Kathryn
Sooo many ways to have movie happen without ignoring the rules set up in the first movie

Hannah
I mean, I love an observational praise fest, but this ain’t gonna be that

Elizabeth
Agreeeeed

Nathan
Well, that was inevitable.
Who broke an ankle?

Kathryn
Jump scare in 3, 2, 1

Hannah
Now we just straight up ripping off Silence of the Lambs

Nathan
It’s Dad!

Elizabeth
Hahahah because of course it is

Hannah
This movie is the photo-negative of Christmas Shoes

Elizabeth
Hee

Kathryn
SO MUCH DEATH

Elizabeth
Final Girling it all up in this place

Nathan
DON’T DROP THE GUN, YOU IDIOT!

Hannah
Even crying, still with the post-apocalyptic eyeliner

Elizabeth
Hope they at least sponsored the film

Kathryn
Oh my God if she Mice and Men’s him Imma riot

Elizabeth
Hee

Nathan
Tell me about the rabbits, George.

Hannah
Mom: “TOO EARLY! YOU CAME BACK TOO EARLY! “

Kathryn
Okay, cinematographer, I think we all know we’re in England now

Hannah
Are they trying to fly that helicopter over the Atlantic? Cause I think France is the other way…

Elizabeth
Ut oh

Kathryn
WELL

Nathan
Well, that was an uplifting ending 🙄

Elizabeth
Sets us up for the sequel 18 years later

Nathan
Jesus, they did a 28 Months later.
Two stars.

Kathryn
Hang on, there’s literally no info on imdb for 28 Months Later

Elizabeth
Hee. I’ll pass.
Thanks everybody, I’d been meaning to watch that one for ages

Nathan
Intense. Great musical score. Plot holes you could drive a semi through.
Excuse me, drive a lorry through.

Kathryn
Just bugs me when someone has a plot device with REALLY SIMPLE RULES and they ignore a lot of them in the sequel.

Elizabeth
I wanted to ask, in some of the scenes we saw zombies that’d been cut up and still walking around, was that a thing in the first movie?
Like horror movie zombies will have severed limbs that still go after you but I didn’t think these were superpowered, just really fast and strong

Nathan
I don’t think so.

Kathryn
Not really? The infected die like uninfected people

Elizabeth
Got it. Director must’ve really liked the imagery

Nathan
That’s a zombie movie trope, though.

Kathryn
Maybe they can just ignore wounds longer.
Glad we saw this before 28 Years Later, even if it was a tad silly

Elizabeth
Kinda impressed that nobody spoiled it for me, honestly thought Renner was gonna make it out alive

Kathryn
I may have heard about the Eiffle Tower at the end, but it was still a cool image to end on.

Hannah
That definitely sniffs of a sequel cash grab
When at all possible keep the story small small smal