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28 Days Later (Movie)
28 Days Later
In this latest film from director Danny Boyle, a massive epidemic has swept the world, leaving in its wake a host of rabid humans seething with hatred and bent on destroying anyone untouched by the disease. Four seemingly unaffected people—a young man, a young woman, a father, and his daughter—flee London through an apocalyptic landscape as they try to reach the coast, beset along the way by attacks of “Infected” at every turn. When they arrive at an isolated house in the country, inhabited by a small group of soldiers, they think they have found a haven from the violence outside. But they soon find they’ve jumped from the frying pan into the fire.
96 pages, Paperback
First published April 17, 2003
5 people are currently reading
2891 people want to read
About the author
Alex Garland
25 books1,761 followersAlex Garland (born 1970) is a British novelist, screenwriter, and director.
Garland is the son of political cartoonist Nick (Nicholas) Garland. He attended the independent University College School, in Hampstead, London, and the University of Manchester, where he studied art history.
His first novel, The Beach, was published in 1996 and drew on his experiences as a backpacker. The novel quickly became a cult classic and was made into a film by Danny Boyle, with Leonardo DiCaprio.
The Tesseract, Garland's second novel, was published in 1998. This was also made into a film, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers. In 2003, he wrote the screenplay for Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, starring Cillian Murphy. His third novel, The Coma, was published in 2004 and was illustrated with woodcuts by his father.
In 2007 he wrote the screenplay for the film Sunshine—his second screenplay to be directed by Danny Boyle and star Cillian Murphy as lead. Garland also served as an executive producer on 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to 28 Days Later.
Garland also wrote the first screenplay for Halo, the film adaptation of the successful video game franchise by Bungie Studios.
He made his directorial debut with Ex Machina, a 2014 feature film based on his own story and screenplay.
His partner is actress/director Paloma Baeza.
Garland is the son of political cartoonist Nick (Nicholas) Garland. He attended the independent University College School, in Hampstead, London, and the University of Manchester, where he studied art history.
His first novel, The Beach, was published in 1996 and drew on his experiences as a backpacker. The novel quickly became a cult classic and was made into a film by Danny Boyle, with Leonardo DiCaprio.
The Tesseract, Garland's second novel, was published in 1998. This was also made into a film, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers. In 2003, he wrote the screenplay for Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, starring Cillian Murphy. His third novel, The Coma, was published in 2004 and was illustrated with woodcuts by his father.
In 2007 he wrote the screenplay for the film Sunshine—his second screenplay to be directed by Danny Boyle and star Cillian Murphy as lead. Garland also served as an executive producer on 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to 28 Days Later.
Garland also wrote the first screenplay for Halo, the film adaptation of the successful video game franchise by Bungie Studios.
He made his directorial debut with Ex Machina, a 2014 feature film based on his own story and screenplay.
His partner is actress/director Paloma Baeza.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
December 19, 2011
Watched the movie, which counts as reading this script, right?
Yes.
Yes.
April 24, 2011
I bought this thinking it was a book that the film was based on.... well done! It's actually the script of the film, so I think if you haven't seen the film (which is great) you don't want to read this.
The concept of the film was great, taking the zombie genre to a more "realistic" level, and looking at how an epidemic would affect the few survivors left in the country and how they cope with the hopelessness of the situation. So in that way it's a great script. Just more fun to watch rather than read.
The concept of the film was great, taking the zombie genre to a more "realistic" level, and looking at how an epidemic would affect the few survivors left in the country and how they cope with the hopelessness of the situation. So in that way it's a great script. Just more fun to watch rather than read.
September 4, 2025
Preparing for the 28 years later movie.
January 29, 2025
28 Days Later is finally available to rent online, so after years of trying to find a copy of the DVD at a reasonable price, I was actually able to watch it! I loved it, as I had hoped. Cillian Murphy was the original draw for me but the overall story was enjoyable too. It was violent and depressing at times yet also had moments of real beauty and wonderful human connection. I ended up watching it twice in the space of three days and would have considered watching it again, except that my rental period ended.
Reading the script just a short while after that, I was pleasantly surprised that all the suspense was there. Despite having every moment fresh in my mind, I flew through this, reading whenever I had the chance in the middle of a busy few days. I have read The Beach by Alex Garland, which I did like, although this particular story I enjoyed far more. I am looking forward to the newer movies in this series.
February 1, 2012
The story line is great and reading the book was just as good if not better than watching the movie. Watching the movie added a realistic experience to the read. When I read about the military camp and all the discourse that went on, I could just watch the movie over in my head and get a vivid perception of what it would have looked like. It was a book worth reading and I would reccomend this book to zombie book lovers out there.
February 16, 2010
Awesome and sick book. Glad that it wasn't really zombies, it was actually a virus that changed people, making them hostile and animals. It's a virus that controls peoples' mind to bite others and spread the virus. It would also suck if I woke up one day and find my self in a deserted city.
January 27, 2008
Haven't read the book but have seen the CleanFlix version of the movie. Really well done. Not so much about fighting the zombies, but more about the people dealing with the situation. Refreshing. No hollywood prepackaged ending.
July 8, 2010
I would love to see this in novel format, but the screenplay will have to do. The movie is awesome!
October 13, 2012
Ha, ok never read this "book", but it's one of my favorite movies of all time....
May 10, 2025
one of my all time favourite zomibie films
February 29, 2008
A worldwide epidemic occurs and apparntly only four persons ar unaffected the first one highlighted is a young man who wakes up in a hospital. Well they try to flee London but are attacked by everyone infected by this virus that has taken over.
November 21, 2019
Some small differences between this script and the finished film—few snippets of dialog here that were cut and/or addressed visually; a line here and there spoken by a different character; actions occasionally staged in slightly different ways that lend themselves here better to being read, whereas the film, rightly, presents them in a more visually and cinematically appealing way. But largely this screenplay is just what you get in the film, and it stands on its own extremely well.
Garland’s themes are substantial and his precision and focus excellent. He draws on some wonderful sources of inspiration (several mentioned in his intro) and reworks them into his own thing to brilliant effect. It makes perfect sense that 28 Days Later helped usher in a new interest in zombie stories. It remains one of the best of the genre.
Garland’s themes are substantial and his precision and focus excellent. He draws on some wonderful sources of inspiration (several mentioned in his intro) and reworks them into his own thing to brilliant effect. It makes perfect sense that 28 Days Later helped usher in a new interest in zombie stories. It remains one of the best of the genre.
February 8, 2021
This was actually quite a fun reading experience. It's the screenplay of the movie and i've only seen it once years ago, so it felt like I was reading about a dream or memory I once had, weirdly familiar yet new.
It being a screenplay made it really straight to the point and that was a breath of fresh air honestly. No long descriptions of sceneries here that fill up an entire page, no sir. I like this style of writing in general, just straight to the point.
Alot of fun for what it was.
It being a screenplay made it really straight to the point and that was a breath of fresh air honestly. No long descriptions of sceneries here that fill up an entire page, no sir. I like this style of writing in general, just straight to the point.
Alot of fun for what it was.
November 27, 2020
This scary post apacoliptic book is interesting. The ideas could affect us all and during this pandamic, we have seen food disappearing off our shelves.
June 16, 2021
Fantastic screenplay for one of my favorite horror films. The differences between the script and the final product are slight, but it was interesting to see where they veered.
May 6, 2025
Couldn’t find anywhere to stream the movie so read the screenplay instead lol
July 4, 2025
Great fun, for what it is - entertaining, chilling, but not full of details. Remembering the film while reading fills in the pieces.
July 5, 2024
great book it's very good and it totally catches you
April 23, 2020
Of course I loved this. Alex Garland is a genius, even though he admitted that 28 Days Later was influenced by a bunch of different things.. especially Day of the Triffids. I haven't read Day of the Triffids, but it's definitely on my reading want list.
June 9, 2015
Zombiefied, rabid, infected humans try to kill last few living uninfected humans... Been there, done that.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews