Aaron Taylor-Johnson Explains Why 28 YEARS LATER Is 'More Horrific' Than Most Zombie Movies — GeekTyrant
In a recent interview with GamesRadar+, star Aaron Taylor-Johnson described the upcoming sequel not as a straight-up horror movie, but as something more intimate and disturbing… a family drama set against the backdrop of a collapsed world. Taylor-Johnson said:
'We played the reality of the family drama, didn't we? We just kind of leant into what our family was sort of feeling and going through in this post-apocalyptic world.
'So the story itself feels very intimate within this big landscape. So you don't really play into the sort of horror theme in a way? You're just playing the reality of the circumstances, and I think that, in itself, is more horrific.'
Directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland, both returning from the original 28 Days Later , this third installment trades the genre tropes for something a little more grounded.
Of course, there are going be jumpscares. Yes, the Infected are back. But the emotional core revolves around Jamie (Taylor-Johnson), his wife Isla (Jodie Comer), and their son Spike (Williams), as they venture from the relative safety of Holy Island into the decaying chaos of the mainland.
What begins as a coming-of-age journey for Spike quickly turns into something far more dangerous. According to Williams, it's that character shift that gives the movie its emotional bite.
'We really see Spike mature throughout this film, and he has to mature to survive. We see him right at the start where, you know, he holds back a lot and he's still got that childlike curiosity.
'Then we start to see… well, he still keeps that but he pushes it back to defend his mother, who's he trying to protect.'
Taylor-Johnson and Williams both avoided watching other zombie films while shooting because 28 Years Later doesn't follow the usual playbook. When asked if he looked to the genre for inspiration:
Taylor-Johnson said: 'I didn't because I didn't feel like it correlated or related to this.' Williams added: 'It's just so unique and creative. I just watched 28 Days Later a lot to try and get the vibe of this one.'
With Jack O'Connell and Ralph Fiennes also on board, and Boyle and Garland fully back in the creative driver's seat, 28 Years Later is shaping up to be more than just a revival, it might be the most emotionally intense chapter yet.
28 Years Later hits theaters June 20th.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jenna Ortega goes all out in goth glamour while promoting 'Wednesday' Season 2
'Wednesday' Season 2, Part 1 will be released on Netflix on Aug. 6. When it comes to gothic style, Jenna Ortega knows best. While promoting Wednesday Season 2 in Paris and the U.K. this week, Ortega stepped out in an array of high-fashion looks that exuded gothic glamour. With the help of Enrique Melendez, Ortega's celebrity stylist of 14 years, the Wednesday star has consistently been clad in couture, with fashion houses like Vivienne Westwood, Givenchy, Ashi Studio and Elena Velez lending dramatic garments for the occasion. 'I definitely feel like I have a bit more Gothic taste than I did when I was a teenager,' Ortega previously told Harper's Bazaar of her evolving style. 'I've always been into dark things or been fascinated by them, but I was a Disney kid, and the whole thing is being bubbly and kind and overly sweet.' That Ortega is once again serving up sartorial perfection — without leaning into convention — should come as no surprise. It seems no fabric is off-limits to the 22-year-old actress when curating her hauntingly romantic wardrobe: Snakeskin-printed latex and strands of blonde-dyed hair play just as crucial a role as Victorian ruffles and delicate lace when it comes to bringing her eerily elegant style to life. Ortega's propensity for dark femininity also comes through in her now-signature makeup look: a soft smoky eye and bleached brows. Below, here's everything she's worn so far during her press tour for Wednesday Season 2, which premieres on Netflix on Aug. 6. Ortega's latest look is the mauve Vivienne Westwood gown with a plunging ruffled neckline that she wore to the Wednesday Season 2 premiere in Paris on July 31. The romantic design was cinched by a sheer corset with exposed boning. On Thursday, while continuing to promote the show in Paris, Ortega debuted a daring garment from Elena Velez's fall 2025 'Leech' collection: a plunging, slinky beige frock covered in blonde strands of hair. For the London premiere on Wednesday, Ortega stepped out in a sheer, pale yellow frock from Ashi Studios' fall collection. The couture garment was made of snakeskin-printed latex and featured a body-hugging bodice, high-neck collar and frayed edges. Archival Donna Karan? Count us in. The same night of the London premiere, Ortega was spotted in a silky, champagne-hued gown from DKNY's resort 2004 collection. While in London, Ortega put an edgy spin on suiting in a subtly striped charcoal suit from Ann Demeulemeester's fall 2025 collection. The actress posted the ensemble to her Instagram on Tuesday. Ortega kicked off the Wednesday press tour with a sculptural number by Givenchy: a leather bullet bra with exaggerated sleeves, padded gloves and a long, high-waisted skirt. She sported the look during the show's launch party at London's Natural History Museum on Sunday. Solve the daily Crossword
Gizmodo
36 minutes ago
- Gizmodo
Zach Cregger Breaks Down the Year's Most Twisted, Surprising Horror Movie
Writing and directing a breakout hit can be both a blessing and a curse for some filmmakers. On the one hand, you've just achieved your dreams of success and adoration in the world of cinema. Well done. On the other hand, now you have to do it again. And again. And again. Some filmmakers fail at this. Others, especially the great ones, rise to the challenge. George Lucas followed THX 1138 with American Graffiti and Star Wars. Steven Spielberg followed Duel with Sugarland Express and Jaws. Fast forward a few decades, and Quentin Tarantino followed Reservoir Dogs with Pulp Fiction, Wes Anderson followed Bottle Rocket with Rushmore, and Paul Thomas Anderson followed Hard Eight with Boogie Nights, just to name a few. It's not an exact science, but usually the real measure of a filmmaker is not that first movie; it's the one (or two) that follows. Zach Cregger made his mark with the 2022 film Barbarian. The shocking horror ride made it clear he was a force to be reckoned with, and when his next film was ready to go, several major studios wanted it. That movie, called Weapons, shows what happens to a town when a group of children mysteriously vanish. It releases next week, and as we've already written about on this site, it's fantastic. A level up on par with those aforementioned filmmakers, to be sure. Recently, io9 spoke with Cregger about the pressure to follow up Barbarian. We talked about putting together this much more complex, layered movie and his writing and directing process, as well as a tease of what to expect from his third movie, a new take on Resident Evil. Read all about it below. Germain Lussier, io9. After Barbarian, I know you said you wanted to go bigger, but did you feel pressure to deliver something equally horrific and surprising again? And were you worried that by doing that the audience might kind of become to expect the same type of thing from you? Zach Cregger: Um, no. I don't really think that way. I just kind of wanted to write a story that was on the story's terms. If I'm thinking result-oriented or what are people gonna think, then I'm doomed. That's not the right way to be creative. The right way to be creative is to just do it for fun and just do it because you love to do it. To write it because you love to write. So I was able to kind of seal out that sort of result-based thinking. io9: I read in the press notes that you kind of just sat down after the death of your friend and just wrote this movie. But it's a pretty complicated movie. So once you had the rough idea, how'd you kind of settle on this structure, when to reveal what, and all the intricacies? Cregger: Yeah. So look, I sat down, and I kind of puked out a first draft. There are like 70 pages of just emotion on there. And the structure was the structure. So I had the structure in place, but it didn't really work. It definitely didn't connect right, and certain things were absolutely broken. And so then I got my 70 pages; it's time to actually roll up my sleeves and use my brain and fix it. So the first pass is definitely like a really subconscious kind of transcendental state. And then the second pass is like, 'Okay, time to get brainy here and make it function.' And that was like a three-week [process]. I went to my manager's house in the woods on the East Coast, and I didn't do anything for three weeks. All I did all day was just work on it. And I got it in shape. io9: You also mentioned in the press notes that when you sat down to write the script, you had the idea of the missing kids but didn't know the why of it yet. Cregger: Right. io9: That's obviously the whole point of the movie, and we're not going to spoil it, but I'm curious, what was the process of figuring it out? Did you get to the point in the script and you're like, 'Now I need to have this answer?' Did you make a list? Was the process of settling on what you were going to do? Cregger: No, I hadn't gotten to that moment of truth yet. I hadn't hit that point of no return. So I was kind of just like hoping it was going to come to me, and it did. Like, about 50 pages in, I got the answer, and it was a really joyful moment. I was like, 'This will work. Like this is a satisfying reason.' And, and then I was able to kind of like bend the story toward that. So yeah, it worked. io9: By the end of the movie, it's very clear why it's called Weapons, but I'm wondering, were there ever any other titles, and when did you come up with Weapons as the title? Cregger: I don't remember when. I might've come up with Weapons when I started writing. It's very possible. I think it was like always there, but I'm not sure. I should go on my computer and see if there are earlier documents that have a different title. I doubt it, though. You know, it just felt right. It was just one of those things. I really try not to think about anything when I'm writing. I don't want to intellectualize anything. So it's just kind of like, 'Bleh, that's it.' io9: Similar to Barbarian, there are a lot of surprises in this movie. How involved are you with the marketing to say, 'We can show this, we can't show that?' Because as a young filmmaker, usually you wouldn't have a lot of say in that, but this seems like it's got your fingerprints on it a little bit. Cregger: Yeah, [Warner Bros.] was definitely very collaborative, and they were interested in keeping the mystery intact. And so there was never any roll up your sleeves and duke it out things. There were a couple of moments where they showed me cuts. I was like, 'Can we lose that shot and that shot?' And they're like, 'No problem.' So they're wonderful. And I think they did an amazing job. io9: Next up you're making Resident Evil. And after doing two movies that you conceived of yourself, was there any trepidation about doing not just a movie that's a major IP, but one that has so many other movies and games and stories that fans are used to? Cregger: Yeah. I mean, you, you have to respect the IP, and you have to take it seriously. I'm a natural, huge fan of the games. I've played them all. I love them deeply. So I feel like I know how to tell a story in that world. It's an original story. I'm not telling a story that's been told in the games, but it's a story that lives in the world of the games and obeys the rules. And so, look, as long as you're telling a really good story, then I think you're going to be okay. I'm not breaking the rules. I don't think people are going to come crucify me for this. io9: Since it's in the trailer, I feel safe asking about this, but the eyes. Those unblinking eyes. Those bloodshot eyes. How did you go about doing that practically? Or was it… Cregger: It was VFX. We researched Graves' disease. And so we had a lot of reference material from that. And then, you know, it was an iterative process in post of like, how big is too big? And you want that thing where it looks wrong, but it's not immediately obvious. And so yeah, we dialed it in slowly. It's pretty wild. io9: This is a horror movie for sure, but it's got detective stuff, family drama, and mystery too. How did this mishmash of genres come to be, or was that sort of a result of you just kind of like throwing this whole story out there? Cregger: It was that. This is just kind of what came [out], you know? I knew I had all these different characters that were all going to kind of dive headlong into this mystery, but all from different places. So you got a cop; you're going to get a cop way in. You've got a drug addict, you're going to get this like seedy way in, and you've got the teacher, and she's going to get preyed upon. So I was able to kind of do like five different horror movies, or seven, as it were, in one. It was really fun. io9: We're at a place now where this movie is coming out, and I think it's going to be a real big hit, but it's been a great summer for horror overall. Horror has really seen a resurgence in the last couple of years. Do you feel like you're carrying the torch at all, now having two movies as part of that? Do you feel like an ambassador in any way? Cregger: I don't know. I don't think that way, of like, my place in the broader framework of horror. I'm more than happy that there seem to be people excited to see the movie, and that's enough for me. io9: The movie allows us to see scenes from multiple points of view. How'd you go about that? Did you shoot them all at the same time? Cregger: You got to shoot it all together because of the limitations of time and money, and it's such a big machine making a movie. So it's like when you're at the gas station, you're going to shoot all the gas station stuff. I'm not coming back to the gas station for that person's chapter. We're going to do it all together. And it's confusing, but if you're really organized and you've shot it out, like you storyboarded it and you have a plan, it's not so bad. io9: And my last thing here is when the movie was first announced, Pedro Pascal was playing the Josh Brolin role. Ultimately he had to leave, and now it's Josh Brolin. How would the movie have been different with Pedro than with Josh, and why was Josh ultimately the right person for it? Cregger: I have no idea because I didn't make the movie with Pedro. I can't really answer that. I can just only say that I adore Josh's performance in this movie, and I'm so glad he's in it. He's amazing. Weapons is amazing too. Check it out on August 8, and come back next week for more from Cregger about a few spoilers in the film. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
CNET
36 minutes ago
- CNET
'Final Destination Bloodlines' Is Now Streaming. Here's How to Watch
HBO Max was previously a streaming resting place for Final Destination films, and Death isn't done with its subscribers. As of Friday, Final Destination Bloodlines is available on the streaming service formerly known as Max. The new movie revolves around Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), a college student whose disturbing, recurring nightmares lead her to find her estranged grandmother and try to stave off Death. At the time of this writing, Final Destination Bloodlines has a killer Rotten Tomatoes score of 93%. If you can accept the fate of watching Bloodlines (enduring another grisly round of ridiculously elaborate deaths), here's how to stream it. How to stream Final Destination Bloodlines Excited for Bloodlines, the first Final Destination movie in 14 years? You can stream it now with an HBO Max subscription. HBO Max also carries the first five films in the franchise: Final Destination (2000), Final Destination 2 (2003), Final Destination 3 (2006), The Final Destination (2009) and Final Destination 5 (2011).
