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Telegraph
3 days ago
- Telegraph
The world's greatest national parks
National parks come in all shapes, sizes, topographies and ecosystems. But they're uniformly great. Why? Because they preserve the planet's best wild bits, encompassing Mother Nature at her most show-off: spewing geysers, massive mountains, rocks in improbable shapes, wildlife in uncountable numbers. National parks are the sorts of places that can turn kids from screen-addicts to outdoor explorers; that can turn all of us into advocates for the planet. National parks are good for us too. It's well documented that spending time in nature can reduce stress, anxiety and depression, not to mention the health benefits of the hiking, biking, paddling, swimming, running, rafting and more we might engage in while we're there. The activity options are as diverse as the parks themselves. No matter if you prefer icy expanses, deserts, jungles, islands, highlands, human culture or utter emptiness, somewhere there's a park for you. While we've extensively covered the UK's top spots, and zoomed in on Europe, here are some more of the best that the world has to offer. Skip to: Water worlds Animal encounters Family travel Wild adventures Superb landscapes Water worlds Best for cruising Fiordland, New Zealand Rudyard Kipling visited majestic Milford Sound in the 1890s, deeming it 'the eighth wonder of the world'. But attention-grabbing Milford – doable on a day-trip from Te Anau – is only one of 14 ice-carved inlets within Fiordland. This vast South Island park is also home to hundreds of lakes, endless rainforest and three official Great Walks: the Kepler, Milford and Routeburn tracks. However, as most of Fiordland's sounds are only accessible from the sea, the best way to fully explore is by boat. Do it: Heritage Expeditions (+64 3 365 3500) offers a 10-day Ultimate Fiordland cruise from £3,825pp full board; excludes flights. Best for off-beat beaches Ko Tarutao, Thailand Many of Thailand's beaches have been loved to near-death. But paradise can still be found within this marine national park. Though only 90 minutes by speedboat from the popular Malaysian isle of Langkawi, the 51 isles of Tarutao (which means, appropriately, 'primitive') are little-developed and pristine. The main islands are Tarutao and Ko Adang; paradisiacal Ko Lipe is a good base for dive trips. Other activities include jungle hikes, meeting the local Urak Lawoi and snorkelling on Thailand's finest reefs. Do it: Bamboo Travel (020 7720 9285) offers a 16-day Island Hopping Kuala Lumpur to Krabi trip, including Ko Lipe, from £3,570pp including B&B accommodation and flights. Best for quirky inhabitants Galápagos, Ecuador There's nowhere like this Pacific-stranded archipelago, both in terms of unique (and fearless) wildlife and scientific import – Darwin developed his evolutionary theory here. Landscapes are volcanic and dramatic, waters clear, the inhabitants quirky: sea-swimming iguanas, northerly penguins, giant tortoises, beak-jousting albatross. Land-based trips are possible, but cruising offers greater variety. Highlights include visiting Santa Cruz's Charles Darwin Research Station, snorkelling with sea lions and turtles, and watching blue-footed boobies perform their comedy courtship dance. Do it: Select Latin America (0207 407 1478) offers a 17-day Full Galapagos trip, visiting all the islands, from £8,763pp full board; includes 14-night cruise; excludes international flights. Best for cascading falls Plitvice, Croatia Water, water everywhere – that's Plitvice. More than 90 waterfalls tinkle between the 16 interconnected lakes and karst canyons of this beautiful blue-green park in Croatia's central Dinaric Alps. Explore via the network of trails, which range from 3km to 18km – medium-length Walk B leads through the limestone canyon of the Lower Lakes and includes an electric-boat ride across Lake Kozjak (where rowing boats can also be hired) plus either a scenic train ride back, or a walk along the canyon rim. Do it: Regent (0117 453 3001) offers a seven-day Zagreb and Plitvice trip from £1,235pp including B&B accommodation and flights. Animal encounters Best for big creatures Komodo, Indonesia The rugged, volcanic isles of Komodo, Rinca and Padar sit at the heart of the Indonesian archipelago, at the juncture of tectonic plates and the meeting of ecosystems. The wildlife here is extraordinary – and huge. This is the only place on the planet to see Komodo dragons – armoured lizards that grow up to three metres long – and there are big critters offshore too, with dazzling coral reefs attracting turtles, whales, manta rays and whale sharks. As to be expected, the snorkelling is superb. Do it: Seatrek offers a nine-day Whale Sharks, Corals & Dragons cruise from £4,039pp full board; excludes flights. Best for tigers Corbett, India This gorgeous park, scenically tucked into Uttarakhand's Himalayan foothills, has the highest concentration of tigers in India and was named for hunter-turned-conservationist Jim Corbett (whose house – now a museum – can be visited in Kaladhungi). This is where Project Tiger was launched; an initiative that helps protect the big cats countrywide. Game drives explore Corbett's hills, sal forests, marshes, grasses and bamboo groves; other species that might be spotted include elephant, leopard, sloth bear and almost 600 species of birds. Do it: Wild Frontiers (020 3918 4034) offers a Wild India & Nepal trip from £8,350pp, combining Corbett with Bardia and Chitwan, including full-board accommodation and flights. Best for gorillas Bwindi Impenetrable, Uganda Few places offer the chance to meet mountain gorillas. And Bwindi, home to half of the world's population of the endangered apes, is a considerably less expensive option – trekking permits (allowing one hour with the gorillas) cost US$800 (£591) in Uganda versus US$1,500 (£1,108) in Rwanda. Bwindi also offers Gorilla Habituation Experiences (US$1,500), which include four hours with a group still being habituated. The park's lush, Afromontane forest is home to plenty more, too: look for blue monkeys and 345 species of birds. Do it: Rainbow Tours (0203 773 7945) offers a 13-night Uganda trip from £7,260pp including accommodation, most meals, gorilla permits and flights. Best for safaris Kruger, South Africa Covering South Africa's northeast corner, Kruger is the country's oldest national park. It's home to the Big Five and packed with game. Best, it caters to all budgets: save by self-driving and staying at rest-camps, or splurge on luxe lodges within private park concessions (Singita has two of the finest properties). It's also abutted by the Greater Kruger, where night drives and bush walks are permitted, and where you can meet the Black Mambas, the first all-female anti-poaching unit. Do it: Intrepid (0808 274 5111) offers an eight-day Kruger to Vic Falls small-group trip from £1,364pp including accommodation, most meals and Black Mambas experience, excluding flights. Family travel Best for school summer holidays Wilpattu (and Minneriya), Sri Lanka Welcoming and diverse, Sri Lanka is great for adventurous families. For that reason, two top parks deserve a mention, and both are conveniently best-visited during school summer holidays, when the monsoon is hitting elsewhere. Wilpattu, in the north-east, is the country's largest park, and jeep drives amid its scrub forest and villu (shallow lakes) might reveal water buffalo, sambar, leopard and sloth bear. Meanwhile, the grasslands of Minneriya, in the island's centre, host the greatest-known gathering of Asian elephants. Do it: Stubborn Mule (01728 752751) offers a 15-day Sri Lanka Summer Tour from £13,940 per family of four including B&B accommodation and flights. Best for Alternative Alps Pyrenees, France The Pyrenees aren't like other French mountains. This is la frontière sauvage ('the wild frontier'), a jagged bastion of peaks, cirques and tarns on the Spanish border – less chocolate box and less crowded than the Alps. The national park covers a chunk of the range, south of Lourdes, that is home to the waterfall-splattered amphitheatre of the Cirque du Gavarnie, glittering Gaube Lake, 2,877m Pic du Midi (cable car accessible) and traditionally Pyrenean access valleys such as Cauterets and Azun. The hiking is fabulous, and there are plenty of other family activities, too. Do it: Macs Adventure (0141 530 5452) offers an eight-day Walking in the Pyrenees trip from £965pp including B&B accommodation; excludes flights. Wild adventures Best for hiking Torres del Paine, Chile Patagonia isn't short on breathtaking wilderness, but Torres del Paine scoops top prize. This Unesco Biosphere is speared by granite peaks and blanketed in emerald forests, turquoise lagoons, glistening glaciers and wildlife-rich pampas where endangered huemul deer and puma might be spotted. Numerous activities are possible: mountain-biking, 4WD-ing, kayaking among icebergs on Lago Grey. The hiking is sublime, from shorter treks to lookouts (such as Mirador Cuernos) to the full O Circuit, which loops the Paine massif – one of the world's best treks. Do it: KE Adventure (017687 73966) offers a 12-day Classic Paine Circuit small-group trek from £7,395pp including accommodation, meals and flights. Best for rainforest Manu, Peru Ranging from high Andes to lowland Amazonian rainforest, Manu contains a marvellous mix of South American ecosystems. It's remote and relatively hard to reach, which means it's pristine and full of creatures: jaguar, ocelot, giant river otter, spectacled bear, 1,000-plus species of birds. You might see hummingbirds in the cloudforest, macaws flocking at clay-licks and Andean cock-of-the-rocks performing mating displays. The best way to explore is via the 'Manu Road', hopping between lodges in different altitudinal zones to see the full spectrum of life. Do it: Naturetrek (01962 733051) offers an 18-day Manu small-group trip from £7,995pp including full-board accommodation and flights. Best for bragging rights Corcovado, Costa Rica Nosing into the Pacific Ocean, the Osa Peninsula takes up around 0.001 per cent of the planet's surface but packs in 2.5 per cent of its biodiversity. And this is where you'll find Corcovado. It's harder to access than the country's other national parks; visitor numbers are capped and guides are mandatory. But the reward is a crowd-free Eden. Hikes might reveal monkeys, anteaters, sloths and scarlet macaws. A night at La Sirena Ranger Station (the only accommodation within the park) is the ultimate immersion. Do it: Pura Aventura (01273 676712) offers a 13-night Costa Rica Hidden Highlights self-drive from £3,160pp including B&B accommodation; excludes flights. Best for walking safaris South Luangwa, Zambia Zambia offers a lower-key safari experience than many better-known spots, and is richer for it. Especially South Luangwa, a sweeping expanse of riverside plains in the country's east. It was here that conservationist Norman Carr pioneered walking safaris (you can still stay at Carr's camps, such as Mchenja). Bush walks are the most thrilling way to encounter South Luangwa's residents – which includes wild dogs and one of the world's highest densities of leopards – in the company of some of Africa's best guides. Do it: Yellow Zebra (020 3993 3564) offers a nine-day Founders of Zambia's Walking Safaris trip from £8,273pp including full-board accommodation; excludes flights. Superb landscapes Best for dark skies Jasper, Canada In 2024, wildfires burned 96,000 acres of Canada's biggest national park. But don't let that put you off: already, nature is rebounding, and the community spirit is inspirational. Plus, some of the Rockies' most dramatic mountain views are here, as well as glorious glacial lakes (like Maligne), crashing waterfalls and one of the world's finest drives: the Icefields Parkway, linking Jasper to Banff via a magnificence of peaks. Jasper is also the world's second-largest Dark Sky Preserve – its glittering skies are celebrated at a festival every October. Do it: Trailfinders (0207 084 6500) offers a 14-day Rocky Mountain Wanderer self-drive from £3,699pp including room-only accommodation and flights. Best for a road trip Bryce Canyon, Zion, Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef, Utah, USA Yes, this is a bit cheat-y, but it's hard to separate the 'Mighty 5' that, together, make southern Utah a national park paradise. The best thing is to road-trip between them. Wander through Canyonlands – its beautiful buttes have featured in many a movie; hike trails to some of Arches' 2,000 namesake red-rock curves; explore the lesser-known geological wrinkles and ancient petroglyphs of Capitol Reef; star-gaze amid the curious hoodoos in Bryce; and squeeze into Zion's slender slot canyons. Do it: Bon Voyage (02380 248248) offers an 11-night Spectacular Utah Deluxe self-drive from £3,495pp including room-only accommodation and flights. Best for dreamy desert Namib-Naukluft, Namibia There are big national parks, then there's the enormous Namib-Naukluft, encompassing one of the oldest deserts on earth as well as the rocky, ravine-sliced Naukluft Mountains (great for hikes and horse-rides). Most iconic are the curvaceous apricot dunes of the Sesriem area, the striking-white salt-and-clays pans of Sossusvlei and Deadvlei. Self-drive is also possible with good roads. Seeing the rippling sands from the sky – via small plane or hot-air balloon – is unforgettable. Do it: Expert Africa (0203 405 6666) offers a 14-day Caracal Self-drive, with four nights in the park, from £2,490pp including accommodation and most meals, excluding flights. Best for originality Yellowstone, USA Designated in 1872, Yellowstone was the world's first national park, and has lost none of its lustre. It has 10,000 hydrothermal features, including around half the world's active geysers, plus other geological wonders like the 3,115m Mt Washburn and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. Top wildlife areas include the Lamar Valley (the 'Serengeti of North America', where grey wolves have been reintroduced) and Hayden Valley, home to huge bison herds. Sample the 90-plus hiking trails, go horse-riding or lake canoeing, and enjoy hot-spring soaks. Do it: Journeyscape (0203 733 4413) offers an eight-day Yellowstone Wildlife Adventure from £10,500pp including B&B accommodation; excludes flights. Best for ancient culture Kakadu, Australia Sprawling across the top of the Northern Territory, Kakadu is vast – almost half the size of Switzerland. It's also ancient, both in terms of its striking rock formations (some of the oldest on Earth) and its human history – Indigenous people have lived here for 65,000 years. Guided walks to rock art galleries such as Ubirr and Burrungkuy are highlights, as are billabong cruises (look for crocs and jabiru storks) and hikes to waterfalls such as the 200m-high Jim Jim and gorge-spilled Maguk. Do it: World Expeditions (0800 0744 135) offers a six-day Kakadu Explorer small-group trip from £1,895pp including camping and meals, excluding flights. Best for sheer size Northeast Greenland, Greenland Northeast Greenland is hard to comprehend. The world's biggest national park (it's almost the size of Spain and France combined), there are no settlements or infrastructure, and most of it is permanently covered by ice. But what a wilderness – unspoilt, pristine. Expedition cruises tend to nibble at its southern edges, drifting through Kong Oscar Fjord, with possible landings on craggy Ella Island and flower-rich Botanikerbugt bay. Sightings might include icebergs, muskoxen and, season dependent, midnight sun or northern lights.
India.com
5 days ago
- India.com
Discover 10 Most Beautiful Forests In India You Must Visit For Nature And Wildlife Adventure
photoDetails english Updated:Jun 25, 2025, 01:43 PM IST 1 / 12 India, a land of rich biodiversity, is home to some of the most stunning and diverse forests in the world. From mangrove ecosystems to dense rainforests and tranquil hill woods, the country's forests offer unique experiences for nature lovers, wildlife enthusiasts, and adventure seekers. Here are 10 must-visit forests in India that showcase the true beauty of the wild. Sundarbans, West Bengal 2 / 12 Why Visit: Largest mangrove forest in the world and home to the elusive Royal Bengal Tiger. Highlight: Boat safaris through intricate tidal waterways, spotting crocodiles and exotic birds. Wayanad, Kerala 3 / 12 Why Visit: Lush tropical rainforests nestled in the Western Ghats. Highlight: Trekking through the forest, visiting ancient caves, and spotting elephants and deer. Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand 4 / 12 Why Visit: India's first national park and a haven for tigers and birdlife. Highlight: Jeep safaris, river rafting, and rich biodiversity in the Himalayan foothills. Gir Forest, Gujarat 5 / 12 Why Visit: The only place in the world to see Asiatic lions in the wild. Highlight: Safari tours through dry deciduous forests and rugged hills. Kaziranga National Park, Assam 6 / 12 Why Visit: UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to the one-horned rhinoceros. Highlight: Elephant-back safaris and birdwatching in lush floodplains. Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala 7 / 12 Why Visit: Evergreen forests surrounding a beautiful lake in Thekkady. Highlight: Boat safaris with views of elephants, wild boars, and exotic birds. Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh 8 / 12 Why Visit: Inspiration for Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book. Highlight: Sal and bamboo forests, tigers, and swamp deer (barasingha). Silent Valley National Park, Kerala 9 / 12 Why Visit: One of the most pristine and undisturbed rainforests in India. Highlight: Rich flora and fauna, including endangered lion-tailed macaques. Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh 10 / 12 Why Visit: Highest density of tigers in India. Highlight: Majestic forested hills, ancient fort ruins, and wildlife photography. Namdapha National Park, Arunachal Pradesh 11 / 12 Why Visit: A biodiversity hotspot in the Eastern Himalayas. Highlight: Dense tropical forests, rare species like red pandas and clouded leopards. 12 / 12 India's forests are not just travel destinations—they are living, breathing ecosystems that inspire awe and respect. Whether you seek thrilling wildlife encounters or peaceful retreats into nature, these 10 forests promise an unforgettable experience.
Daily Mail
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Story behind 28 Years Later's terrifying 'Boots' poem: How 110-year-old recording of Rudyard Kipling verses that scared viewers is used in US military training
When the first trailer for 28 Years Later was released last year, fans were immediately struck by the theme of sheer terror that ran through it. And part of what made it so scary was its use of a 1915 recording of one of Rudyard Kipling's lesser-known poems. The rendition of Boots by American actor Taylor Holmes sends a chill down the spine of anyone who listens to it - a fact that explains why it has featured for decades in the US Navy's training programme. Last week, it received more exposure with the release of Danny Boyle 's 28 Years Later. It reveals what has become of Britain nearly three decades on from the outbreak of the 'Rage Virus' first seen in 2002 film 28 Days Later. Holmes' Boots recording is played at the start of the film, when Jamie and his son Spike - played by Arron Taylor-Johnson and Alfie Williams - arrive on mainland Britain after leaving the sanctuary of the virus-free island of Lindisfarne. Reflecting the repetitive actions and thoughts of a British soldier marching in South Africa during the Boer War, Kipling's poem was published in 1903 - the year after the conflict had ended. It builds from a calm, monotonous repetition of 'boot, boot, boot, boot', to a crescendo of screaming. The final verses include a plea to 'keep from goin' lunatic' and the poem ends with the words: 'There's no discharge in the war!' In full: Rudyard Kipling's poem 'Boots' We're foot—slog—slog—slog—sloggin' over Africa Foot—foot—foot—foot—sloggin' over Africa -- (Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up and down again!) There's no discharge in the war! Seven—six—eleven—five—nine-an'-twenty mile to-day Four—eleven—seventeen—thirty-two the day before -- (Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up and down again!) There's no discharge in the war! Don't—don't—don't—don't—look at what's in front of you. (Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again); Men—men—men—men—men go mad with watchin' em, An' there's no discharge in the war! Count—count—count—count—the bullets in the bandoliers. If—your—eyes—drop—they will get atop o' you! (Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up and down again) -- There's no discharge in the war! We—can—stick—out—'unger, thirst, an' weariness, But—not—not—not—not the chronic sight of 'em, Boot—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again, An' there's no discharge in the war! 'Taint—so—bad—by—day because o' company, But night—brings—long—strings—o' forty thousand million Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again. There's no discharge in the war! I—'ave—marched—six—weeks in 'Ell an' certify It—is—not—fire—devils, dark, or anything, But boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again, An' there's no discharge in the war! Try—try—try—try—to think o' something different Oh—my—God—keep—me from goin' lunatic! (Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again!) There's no discharge in the war! When Kipling wrote the poem, the loss of more than 20,000 British troops was still very fresh in the memory. The poem's precise metre - the first four words of each line are read at a rate of two per second - matched the time to which soldiers marched. American actor Holmes, who died in 1959, appeared in more than 100 Broadway plays. His delivery in the 1915 recording begins relatively measured, but then ramps up to wild, terrifying abandon. For decades, it has been used in the US Navy's Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) course. Recruits are subjected to it as part of efforts to put them under pressure. Former naval aviator Ward Carroll previously said: 'Anyone who has ever attended the US Navy's Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) school will never forget the poem.' Holmes' rendition was also used last year in the marketing campaign for video game Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Fellow British poet T.S. Eliot chose to include Boots in his 1941 collection A Choice of Kipling's Verse. For every year from an initial holiday in 1898, Kipling visited South Africa. The author wrote several poems to support the British cause in the Boer War. Britain won the conflict but more than 20,000 British troops were killed. Kipling's most famous works include the Jungle Book and his Just So stories. His 1910 poem If— also remains hugely well-known. The author died in 1936 aged 70. He was left bereft after his son Jack was killed in the First World War. The first trailer for 28 Years Later was released last December. It sparked a flurry of publicity in large part because of the appearance of what appeared to be a zombified Cillian Murphy, who starred as lead character Jim in 28 Days Later. However, it later emerged that the figure was not Murphy but art dealer Angus Neill, who was given a part as an extra by Boyle after being talent-spotted. Murphy, 49, is though an executive producer on the new film and is set to star in upcoming sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. The Mail's Brian Viner gave the new film five stars in his review. He wrote: 'With the terrifying and electrifying 28 Years Later, director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland have delivered the best post-apocalyptic survivalist horror-thriller film I have ever seen. 'Which sounds like limited praise, yet it's a much more crowded field than you might think. 'Boyle also made the 2002 film 28 Days Later, setting up the story (written by Garland) of a terrible virus rampaging through Britain, which in those days was more the stuff of science-fiction than it seems now. British troops seen aboard Cunard liner SS Catalonia as they arrive in South Africa during the Boer War, 1899 'There was a sequel, 28 Weeks Later (2007), but that had a different director and writer. 'Now, Boyle and Garland have reunited to mighty effect. 'There's no need to have seen the first two films – this one stands alone.' Boyle's original film famously showed Murphy's character walking through a deserted London after waking up from a coma in hospital. The director opened up earlier this month about how the scenes were shot. Admitting the crew did not have the money to be able to afford to formally close the road, he said that he instead enlisted his daughter to help. He told The Times: 'We didn't have the money to close the bridge, but had a plan to be there at 4am. 'The police can't ask the traffic to stop, but they will allow you to ask drivers. 'So we hired a lot of girls, including my own daughter, who was 18. 'Anybody driving at that time is a bloke, so we had the girls lean in, saying, "Do you mind?" And it worked fine.'
Gizmodo
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Danny Boyle Explains How '28 Years Later' Got its Creepy Poem
Before 28 Years Later's release, you probably saw its trailers, which featured a recording of man performing a military chant alongside visuals of the film's destroyed world and infected. That would be 'Boots,' a 1903 poem by Jungle Book creator Rudyard Kipling (and performed by Taylor Holmes in 1915) inspired by the monotony of British soldiers marching hundreds of miles in southern Africa. But it's not just in the trailers, it's also in the film when Spike and his dad Jamie leave their isolated community for the infected-filled mainland. Speaking to Variety, director Danny Boyle explained the team wanted something like a song or speech that could 'suggest the culture that the island was teaching its children,' and one that 'looked back to a time when England was great.' Such behavior, he continued, was 'regressive' and 'very much linked to Shakespeare,' in particular the Saint Crispin's Day speech from Henry V, which tells of 'the noble heroic English beating the French with their bows and arrows.' During this search, Sony sent Boyle and writer Alex Garland the first trailer for 28 Years Later, and it was like a lightbulb moment. 'We were like, 'Fucking hell!' It was startling in its power,' he recalled. 'The trailer is very good, but there was something more than that about the recording [and] poem. We tried it in our archive sequence, and it was like it was made for it.' 'Boots' has been previously used by the US military in SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) schools, and that's ultimately how it came to 28 Years Later. Megan Barbour, a music director at ad firm Buddha Jones, heard of the recording from a SERE trainee and later sent it to the film's trailer editor. According to Sony's David Fruchbom, that first trailer needed to 'work off the strength of the visuals,' and Buddha ultimately gave them three versions to choose from—of those, the 'Boots' one was 'clearly the way to go.' Audiences would certainly seem to agree, since fans have animated the 28 Years Later or used Holmes' dramatic reading into videos for Star Wars or other films. Boyle called the entire situation a 'reverse osmosis,' saying it 'came into the film and seemed to make sense of so much of what we'd been trying to reach for. […] It's amazing how it still maintains its impact.' 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.
ABC News
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
28 Days Later kickstarted the zombie revival, now its back for another bite
Welcome to Cheat Sheet, where we give you all the intel you need about iconic shows and films. In honour of its new addition, this time we're looking at the film franchise that revived the zombie genre, 28 Days Later. Have you ever heard of a movie trailer so popular that it forced a studio to re-release a 23-year-old film? That's what happened at the end of 2024, when fans got a first glimpse of the third film in Alex Garland's revolutionary 28 Days Later zombie series. Chillingly set to Rudyard Kipling's poem Boots — itself about the horrors of war — the teaser for 28 Years Later quickly broke the record for most-viewed trailer of 2024. Soon after, it became the second-most-viewed trailer of all time (just behind 2019's It: Chapter Two). The demand from fans was so thunderous that, two days later, Sony announced they were re-releasing the original film — which hadn't been available digitally for years due to rights issues. But 28 Years Later wasn't done gathering steam just yet. After a single day on sale, the film broke the record for most advanced tickets sold in the US for a horror film this year. Here's what you need to know. The concept of the animated undead has been lurking in cinema for almost 100 years, and has been terrorising folklore for centuries more. George A. Romero's influential 1968 flick, Night Of The Living Dead, gave silver screen zombies the reputation of being slow-moving and dim-witted — threatening because of their numbers or lack of personal protection. But the zombies in 28 Days Later presented a curious alternative. Inspired by the relentless ghouls in Japanese video game series Resident Evil, writer Alex Garland envisioned a different kind of zombie: agile, angry and lightning fast. But Garland still yearned to rid zombies of their "magic". Enter Trainspotting director Danny Boyle, who infused Garland's script with the concept of rage. Instead of being supernaturally reanimated corpses, the zombies in 28 Days Later are actually infected with a "rage virus" unwittingly released onto the British population after a test monkey escapes his lab. With a refreshing concept and a minuscule $US8 million budget under their belts, the team gathered a cast of then-unknowns and began filming in mid-2001. Beyond briefly explaining how the virus was unleashed, 28 Days Later has little interest in the lore of the infected, instead capturing the human reaction of societal collapse. Bike courier Jim (Cillian Murphy, 20 years before his Oscar win) wakes up from a coma 28 days after the initial outbreak to an empty hospital. After wandering around London, Jim eventually stumbles upon a handful of fellow survivors. They then must battle not just hoards of infected, but also the ruthless leaders who have survived by brute force. The production was consistently hounded with monetary issues. Christopher Eccleston, one of the only actors on the cast with a name, agreed to take an emergency pay cut for his work. Until one day it all caught up. "I just had to say one day, 'We haven't got any more money,' and we packed up and left. We didn't finish the film," producer Andrew Macdonald said. They soon returned to cobble together some sort of an ending; after showing the studio their efforts, they ponied up for one last reshoot. Released in the UK at the end of 2002, 28 Days Later became an unexpected hit, quickly breaking even and then eclipsing its budget with ticket sales. The film then became a sleeper hit in the US market, pulling down $US45 million despite an initial limited release. By the end of its original theatrical run, the movie had made back its small budget ninefold, grossing $US72 million worldwide. It was praised by critics for the political analogy hiding behind the blood and gore. Filmed while the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred and released just a year after, Boyle says the film grasped onto a larger uneasiness in a seemingly less safe world. "The film was the first one out of the blocks that touched — not directly, but aesthetically and morally — some of the residue of what 9/11 had done to us," he said in 2018. "And, in our particular case, it made cities, which feel so immense, suddenly, they were utterly vulnerable." Many commentators point to the critical and commercial success of 28 Days Later as one of the catalysts for the zombie revival of the 2000s and early 2010s. The boom saw the release of other familiar undead fare: 2004's Dawn of the Dead remake; Spanish-language Rec (2007) (as well as its 2008 US remake, Quarantine); and World War Z (2013). But, just like a mutated virus coursing through a corpse's veins, the boom also opened the door for zombie sub-genres. There were zombie comedies like Shaun of the Dead (2004), Zombieland (2009) and Black Sheep (2006). Films like Warm Bodies (2013) even gave the zombie rom-com a crack. The zombie craze leaked into TV as well: 2011's The Walking Dead features protagonist Rick Grimes waking up in a deserted hospital. Reverberations of Boyle and Garland's fast and infected creatures can even be felt in 2023's The Last of Us, which features an unknown fungal infection that transforms the world's population into surprisingly fast monsters. In the midst of it all, Boyle and Garland (now acting as producers) had another bite at the apple with 28 Weeks Later in 2007. Following a different family caught up in the devastation, the film tracks the slow attempt at rebuilding and sinks deeper into the political ramifications of an apocalypse. Then, in 2020, 28 Days Later had a cultural resurgence no-one saw coming. One of the earliest tableaus in the original film sees Jim, disoriented and clad in hospital scrubs, stumbling around the eerily empty streets of London. It was an arresting image at the time but as cities around the world emptied due to COVID-19 lockdowns, many recognised the similarity between what Boyle captured and their current reality. Speaking to the BBC, Boyle said the world's collective experience with COVID made 28 Years Later "feel possible". Set nearly three decades after the original, 28 Years Later shows a UK that has been quarantined by the rest of the world. The action shifts from cities to a small surviving community who have barricaded themselves in their island home, following strict, traditional rules to keep the peace. "In the last 15 years, the world has become regressive and it's very preoccupied with looking backwards. It's all about making things great again," writer Alex Garland told The Screen Show's Jason Di Rosso. "So [this film] is something to do with a misremembered past and what things survive, what notions survive, what things are lost." Like its predecessors, 28 Years Later uses the still-ravaging hordes of infected as catalysts for emotional pathos, as 12-year-old villager Spike (Alfie Williams) is taken to the British mainland for the first time by his blood-thirsty father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Boyle's affection for unusual camera rigs has also returned. Parts of 28 Days Later were filmed using a small digital video camcorder, which gave the film an almost home-movie look. This time around, Boyle turned to iPhones, binding eight, 12 and 20 phones together. "We used [the rigs] for the violence … you could whip inside the action almost like in a 3D way, or pause it, or go back on it, startle with it. That's what we were trying to do, put beauty and horror together, which is a great combination for this kind of movie," Boyle told The Screen Show. "It also gave us a chance to keep a light footprint in the countryside — we wanted it to look undisturbed." Although not acknowledged in the title, 28 Years Later is actually the first part in Jamie and Spike's story. A sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple — which will see a heavier focus on mysterious cult leader Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell) — will be released in January 2026. A third, untitled, reportedly final film is currently in the works. 28 Years Later is in cinemas now.
