History Film / TwentyEightDaysLater

* KickTheSonOfABitch:
** Jim kills Davis at the blockade and at the manor, surprise-attacks Mitchell, brutally killing the soldier by ''[[TheresNoKillLikeOverKill gouging his eyes out and beating him to death]]''. Don't feel bad for [[AssholeVictim him]] [[KarmicDeath though he more than had it coming.]]
** Mailer and Clifton kill both Bedford and Bell who both of them agree with West's plan to have any woman raped and keep as sex slaves.
** Mailer drags and kills West inside the manor after grabbing him from the back of the Taxi cab which though horrific is very well-deserved since West is the one who chained him up then leave him to die by being exposed to the elements, had Farrell murdered and just shot Jim for killing most of his men even though they were about to rape Selena and Hannah.

* AnimalWrongsGroup: The cause of Britain going to zombie hell? Activists releasing infected apes.
* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:[[AffablyEvil Major West]]]] is perhaps the most visible example of a villain in the entire movie. And the movie itself heavily implies that [[SanitySlippage he's just gone completely insane.]] Of course, with the total exception of [[spoiler:[[TokenGoodTeammate Sergeant Farrell]], the rest of the soldiers are really just complete scumbags, with [[SmugSnake Mitchell]] being the most outright villainous]].

** [[AnimalWrongsGroup The animal rights activists]] who got the whole zombie-apocalypse going in the first place may count as well, considering that they weren't above roughing up a mild mannered scientist who was only a PunchClockVillain at best. They also ignored his countless pleas, and didn't think it was odd that nearly all the monkeys were in completely sealed cages.

* NaiveAnimalLover: The events were kicked off by a bunch of animal-rights activists liberating a bunch of infected apes from a lab.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Nice job breaking out those lab monkeys, hippies in the intro!

* ParentalSubstitute: Selena (and Jim, in the theatrical release) become this for Hannah by the end of the movie, her father having died during the action.

* SwarmOfRats: While Jim, Selena, and Mark change a flat tire inside a darkened tunnel, one of these suddenly appears... and turns out to be fleeing ahead of a Swarm of Infected.

* BewareTheNiceOnes:After being subject to a few too many rounds of cruelty and knowing Selena and Hannah are going to [[spoiler:get raped by West's men]], Jim proves why the cute ones are the ones to watch out for. The same applies to Hannah, who backs the cab containing [[spoiler:West straight into the entryway of the house, knowing that his infected soldiers will get him]].

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The rate at which the Infected vomit blood should kill them from dehydration and/or blood loss within a matter of hours. There's also the speed at which the virus infects its victims. A virus that induces intense rage is theoretically feasible, but infected victims are shown to take less than a minute to go from normal to mindlessly enraged. In reality, even an exceptionally aggressive virus would take several days to infect a victim to a point where their behavior would start to change.

** The crimson eyes sported by the [[TechnicallyLivingZombie "zombies"]] appear to take direct inspiration from those appearing on the eponymous living dead in ''Film/TheLivingDeadAtManchesterMorgue''.

** The crimson eyes sported by the [[TechnicallyAliveZombie "zombies"]] appear to take direct inspiration from those appearing on the eponymous living dead in ''Film/TheLivingDeadAtManchesterMorgue''.

** The crimson eyes sported by the [[TechnicallyAliveZombies "zombies"]] appear to take direct inspiration from those appearing on the eponymous living dead in ''Film/TheLivingDeadAtManchesterMorgue''.

-->'''Selena:''' I didn't know he was infected. ''He'' knew. I could see it in his face.

* SyntheticPlague: The Rage Virus, which was originally meant to soothe temperamental persons. [[spoiler: This is similar to the plot of the film ''Serenity'', which it may have inspired]].

* TitleConfusion: in 2000, there was a Creator/SandraBullock film called ''[[Film/TwentyEightDays 28 Days]]'', in which she played [[TheAlcoholic a woman who was court-ordered to go through a rehab program]]. ''28 Days '''Later''''' was released two years later in 2002, leading a few (before they saw any trailers or promotional materials), to initially wonder if a sequel to ''28 Days'' had been made.

''28 Days Later'' avoids using the word "[[NotUsingTheZWord zombie]]", and it also avoids a number of common zombie tropes: once the Rage virus takes over, those infected with it become fast-moving, mindlessly violent killers (without a hunger for brains). Infectees are "transformed" almost immediately, preventing them from hiding their condition. The Rage infection itself devastates society and causes an apocalypse due to the ease of transmission and the overall panic. Despite precautions to avoid the appearance of a zombie movie, the film ended up getting pigeonholed as a zombie movie anyway. It did fairly well at the box office, received several comic prequels (which explore the period of time between the initial outbreak and the film), and managed to spawn a sequel (''Film/TwentyEightWeeksLater''). The creators has planned a third installment in the series called ''28 Months Later'', but it has been stuck in DevelopmentHell ever since the release of ''Weeks''.

* MercyKill: [[spoiler: Sergeant Farrell [[PetTheDog gets shot by Jones before Mitchell can bayonet him.]] Funny enough, [[TookALevelInBadass Jim]] later kills Jones by bayonetting him.]]

* TechnicallyLivingZombie: The Infected are a poster-child for this trope, and in many ways ''28 Days Later'' started the wave of interest in this new "zombie" (really, Crazies). Anything that will kill a human can kill them, i.e. riddling their chest with bullets that are *not* expertly aimed. They've got a strong "mind-over-matter" adrenaline rush, though, so don't wait for them to get right on top of you. They're not smart enough to use weapons, and aren't explicitly trying to "eat" people (though they do animalistically bite people to attack). The real danger is that they'll easily infect you from close contact, what with all of their mucous membranes disintegrating into a bloody mess and puking up torrents of blood with little or no provocation.

* MirrorCharacter: [[spoiler:Jim's brutality during the climax]] was designed to draw parallels between the infected and [[spoiler:Jim's own intense rage towards the soldiers]]. It shows. So much that [[spoiler: Selena for a moment thinks he's Infected]].

* SoleSurvivingScientist: There is a tie-in comic covering events between [[Film/TwentyEightDaysLater both]] [[Film/TwentyEightWeeksLater films]] with a scientist who played a role in the creation of the [[HatePlague Rage Virus]]. He admits this to a girl that he had escaped a holding facility with, [[TheAtoner and plans to atone]] by becoming one of these, being that he's one of the few people alive (maybe the only one) who knows anything about the virus and has the best chance of curing it. Unfortunately, she had lost her parent earlier during the initial outbreak, and lost her brother during the escape. Apparently learning that the guy she'd been helping was the root cause of those things is too much for her, so first she kisses him, then grabs his gun and shoots hims. Then lets herself be killed by the soldiers pursuing them. [[SubvertedTrope So much for that.]]

* MirrorCharacter: [[spoiler:Jim's brutality during the climax]] was designed to draw parallels between the Rage virus and [[spoiler:Jim's own intense rage towards the soldiers]]. It shows. So much that [[spoiler: Selena for a moment thinks he's Infected]].

* MirrorCharacter: [[spoiler:Jim's brutality during the climax]] was designed to draw parallels between the Rage virus and [[spoiler:Jim's own intense rage towards the soldiers]]. It shows.

In this 2002 post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Creator/DannyBoyle and written by novelist-turned screenwriter Creator/AlexGarland, a literal {{hate plague}} begins taking over Britain after animal rights activists set loose an infected chimp in a lab at Cambridge University. While scientists had designed the [[TheVirus "Rage" virus]] as a way of neutralizing violent impulses, it ended up having [[GoneHorriblyWrong the opposite effect]]: once freed, the chimp starts to excarnify its would-be rescuers. Cue the cut-away.

* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler:Jim's brutality during the climax]] was designed to draw parallels between the Rage virus and [[spoiler:Jim's own intense rage towards the soldiers]]. It shows.