28 Days Later - Reception

Reception

28 Days Later was a considerable success at the box office and became highly profitable on a budget of about £5 million. In the UK, it took in £6.1 million, while in the US it became a surprise hit, taking over $45 million despite a limited release at fewer than 1,500 screens across the country. The film garnered around $82.7 million worldwide.

Critical views of the film were very positive. Based on 205 reviews collected by the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of critics gave 28 Days Later a positive review. On Metacritic, the film received a rating of 73 (out of 100) based on 39 reviews.

Bravo awarded it the 100th spot on their list of The 100 Scariest Movie Moments with the commentators explaining that the making of the zombies fast in speed for the first time was a bright and effective idea. In 2007, Stylus Magazine named it the second best zombie movie of all time. The film also ranked at number 456 in Empire's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. Bloody Disgusting ranked the film seventh in their list of the Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade, with the article saying "Zombie movie? Political allegory? Humanist drama? 28 Days Later is all of those things and more – a genuine work of art by a director at the top of his game. What's so amazing about the film is the way it so expertly balances scenes of white-knuckled, hell-for-leather horror with moments of intimate beauty."