One of the lowest budget but most terrifying horror movies to hit the screens in 2002 was shown on Film4 Wednesday 24th January at 22:45pm.

Director Danny Boyle is the man responsible for creating one of the most disturbing films of 2002 on one of the tightest budgets imaginable. 28 Days later has quickly become a cult horror classic, bringing a whole new take on the Zombie film genre.

The story begins when star of the movie ‘Jim’ (played brilliantly by Cillian Murphy) wakes up from a coma in a London Hospital to find the place completely deserted, no staff, no patients, nothing. He ventures out to the streets of London and finds pretty much the same situation. The city is seemingly void of life, still and completely surreal.

Jim soon comes to learn that for the last 28 days while he lay in hospital a blood-borne virus called ‘Rage’ had accidentally been released from a testing facility and taken over England, New York and Paris turning anyone who came into contact with it into a psychotic zombie intent on killing anyone they come into contact with.

As he makes his way around London, he meets a few more uninfected survivors and together they travel across the city heading for Manchester where they have heard a rumour that other uninfected people are gathering. As they make their way there they must face several horrific scenes and fight for survival against the murderous zombies who will stop at nothing for their love of human flesh.

I loved this movie, plain and simple. It has all the key elements that a successful horror movie requires and many more. Made on such a tight budget the special effects are still believable and as realistic as any other horror movie and the acting is top notch.

My favourite scene in 28 days later has to be where Jim wakes up from the hospital, dazed and confused and heads out into a deserted London city centre. They actually closed down half of London to film this scene rather than attempting to rely on special effects and the hard work has definitely paid off creating a completely surreal and eerie scene that really sets the standards for the whole movie.

The relationships between the characters are solid but brief seeing as not all of them manage to survive together for long, and the acting is of high standards from everyone involved.

Cillian Murphy’s performance as Jim was particularly brilliant and it has been great to watch him go on to higher profile movies like the recent Wes Craven film ‘Red Eye’.

A must watch for horror fans everywhere with a great mix of blood and gore and genuinely scary scenes that will leave you sleeping with the lights on for weeks to come.

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Full cast list for 28 Days Later: Adrian Christopher, Al Stokes, Alex Palmer, Alexander Delamere, Bindu De Stoppani, Brendan Gleeson, Christopher Dunne, Christopher Eccleston, Cillian Murphy, David Schneider, Emma Hitching, Jeffrey Rann, Jenni Lush, Joelle Simpson, Jukka Hiltunen, Junior Laniyan, Justin Hackney, Kim McGarrity, Leo Bill, Luke Mably, Marvin Campbell, Megan Burns, Naomie Harris, Nicholas James Lewis, Nick Ewans, Noah Huntley, Paul Kasey, Ray Panthaki, Ricci Harnett, Richard Dwyer, Sanjay Rambaruth, Sebastian Knapp, Steen Young, Stuart McQuarrie, Terry John, Toby Sedgwick, Tristan Matthiae.