Danny Boyle's low-budget, viral horror 28 Days Later was one of the surprise hits of 2002 on both sides of the pond. Hence the sequel 28 Weeks Later was spawned, this time with Boyle producing and up-and-comer Juan Carlos Fresnadillo directing. Robert Carlyle plays the anti-hero of this "pacy Saturday night shocker" which was only slight less successful than its forerunner.

Weeks In The Making

Regarding that decision to make a sequel, producer Kevin MacDonald says, "It was obvious." However, coming up with a decent storyline proved a bit of a sticking point as revealed in the Code Red featurette. Initially the pitch was 29 Days Later, but the filmmakers realised they needed more distance from where Cillian Murphy left off and introduce some fresh ideas. Danny Boyle hypes up the re-jigged premise and, along with Fresnadillo, puts a heavy emphasis on family values. MacDonald also throws in a few notes about shooting large-scale action scenes on the streets of London on a "relatively low budget."

Getting Into The Action delves a little deeper into how Fresnadillo achieved a sense of reality using handheld cameras to weave in and around the actors. He says that crafting what he calls a "horror documentary" was the biggest challenge he faced. Thankfully a certain Mr Boyle was on hand to shoot some of the second-unit action. Meanwhile the cast were trying to get a handle on the motion of the Infected. A featurette on this sees hundreds of extras being workshopped in the art of running like apes, writhing around and groaning. "It's like a weird Saturday Night Live sketch or something," muses Rose Byrne.

Slice And Dice

There's more of Byrne (aka Scarlet) in the deleted scenes section sharing a quieter moment with Don (Carlyle). The second of two off-cuts is a dream sequence, or as Fresnadillo puts it in his commentary, "an oneiric moment". It sees the tormented young Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) come face-to-face with his mother (Catherine McCormack) who supposedly has perished. The director and his co-writer Enrique Lopez Lavigne explain that, although this scene encapsulates what the film is about, they simply couldn't find the right place for it in the final edit.

Fresnadillo and Lavigne expand on issues of story development in their main commentary, citing a bizarre range of influences. Chiefly these are the surrealist works of Luis Buñuel and "submarine films" - the latter for sweaty claustrophobia and Buñuel because of the "weirdness". The director also talks about making a feature of the gritty, low-budget visuals, but admits that he did splash out on a helicopter for an aerial shot (of Carlyle running from an attack). It was only a "mini" radio-controlled helicopter though, so Michael Bay can rest easy...

Rounding off the extras are two very slick, hardboiled, animated shorts that expand on the mythology of 28 Days Later. Horror freaks will surely eat all of this up like Ebola on a flesh wound.

EXTRA FEATURES

28 Weeks Later DVD is released on Monday 10th September 2007.