‘28 Years Later’ Arrives With An Incredible Rotten Tomatoes Score

It has not quite been 28 years since Danny Boyle’s original 28 Days Later, which came out in 2002, but now 28 Years Later has arrived in theaters, and it’s reviewing amazingly.

With 95 reviews in, 28 Years Later has a 94% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes ahead of its theatrical release this weekend. That makes it the best-reviewed entry in the “28” series, the best major zombie movie since 2016’s Train to Busan, and the second-best horror movie of 2025. Here’s the 28 series list:

• 28 Days Later – 87% critic score, 85% audience score
• 28 Weeks Later – 72% critic score, 66% audience score
• 28 Years Later – 94% critic score, N/A audience score (too soon).

And here’s the list for all of the 2025 mainstream horror movies so far:

• Sinners – 97%
• 28 Years Later – 94%
• Companion – 93%
• Final Destination Bloodlines – 92%
• Heart Eyes – 81%
• The Monkey – 79%
• Clown in a Cornfield – 74%
• The Gorge – 63%
• Borderline – 56%
• Wolf Man – 49%
• The Woman in the Yard – 42%
• Opus – 42%

Here’s the official synopsis of the new film, which reunites the key figures behind the original 28 Days Later:

“Academy Award®-winning director Danny Boyle and Academy Award®-nominated writer Alex Garland reunite for 28 Years Later, a terrifying new “auteur horror” story set in the world created by 28 Days Later. It’s been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.”

The film stars Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes, with Comer and Fiennes in particular being praised for their performances in the film (no offense to Taylor-Johnson). 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy does not return, despite previous theories that he would.

We don’t talk all that much about 28 Weeks Later because it wasn’t quite as good, and it also did not have Alex Garland writing or Danny Boyle directing, but rather an entirely new crew. I only just now remembered that Idris Elba was in that, so that was a bonus, at least.

Will 28 Years Later be a box office hit? With a relatively low budget of $75 million, it seems likely to surpass that, even if we can remember the original film was made for only $8 million. Regardless, we now have gotten one of the best zombie movies of all time, and I cannot wait to see it this weekend.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.