Our prayers have been answered because Sony has finally released “28 Days Later” on digital streaming. Starting today (December 18), you can rent or purchase this iconic horror on Amazon. This is huge news, especially since “28 Days Later” has been unavailable to stream for quite some time after Disney lost the rights.
But this release isn’t just random timing. It’s all thanks to the incredible fan response to the “28 Years Later” trailer, which dropped last week and has been living rent-free in my head ever since. According to Deadline, the trailer not only became the most-watched horror trailer of 2024 with 60.2 million global views, but it’s also now the second-biggest horror trailer of all time (behind “It Chapter Two”). As of now, it’s racked up 140 million views worldwide.
It's an impressive figure, but I’m not surprised. This is a well-known franchise making a comeback 17 years after “28 Weeks Later”, and fans like me couldn’t be more hyped. Now that “28 Days Later” is streaming on PVOD, it’s the perfect time for a refresher before “28 Years Later” arrives in theaters on June 20, 2025.
Here’s why you need to stream ‘28 Days Later’
There are countless reasons why “28 Days Later” is a must-watch, and honestly, I could write an entire essay about it. But to put it simply, this movie is one of the most influential horror masterpieces of the last 25 years. It change the “zombie” genre, injecting it with fresh, terrifying ideas that redefined what apocalyptic horror could be. If you’re a fan of gritty, apocalyptic flicks drenched in fake blood and packed with tension, “28 Days Later” is absolutely worth every dollar on Amazon.
However, if you’re not familiar with this movie, I can give you a quick rundown. “28 Days Later” begins with animal rights activists accidentally releasing a highly contagious virus called “Rage” from a laboratory in Cambridge, England. The virus spreads rapidly, turning those infected into violent, zombie-like creatures within seconds. The story follows Jim (Cillian Murphy), a bicycle courier who wakes up from a coma in a deserted London hospital 28 days after the initial outbreak. As Jim ventures through the eerily abandoned city, he discovers the catastrophic extent of the infection.
The abandoned London that Jim wakes up to at the start of “28 Days Later” is one of the most masterfully crafted horror movie openings ever. While the movie delivers thrilling, blood-pumping horror, it truly stands out because you actually care about the characters. Unlike most horror movies, where characters are simply fresh meat for the plot, “28 Days Later” makes them feel like real, relatable people you could encounter on any street corner.
Beyond its memorable characters, terrifying threats, and brutal gore, “28 Days Later” stands out as a smart and genuinely unsettling movie that feels eerily real, which is exactly why its horrors land so powerfully. The infected aren’t traditional zombies who die and reanimate (although they’re scary too). Instead, they’re living people, driven by an overwhelming rage that makes them a deadly force against ordinary humans. The movie’s premise becomes even more believable with time, especially in today’s world, where the concept of societal breakdown and the loss of humanity through rage and aggression feels all too plausible.
Again, I could easily go on and on about the brilliance of “28 Days Later”, but at its core, it’s a masterful horror-thriller that will not only scare you but linger in your mind for days (maybe even 28 days). Cillian Murphy delivers a standout performance as a man grappling with loneliness, trust, and loss in an unforgiving, post-apocalyptic London. He embodies the raw, human reaction most of us would have if faced with such a dire situation.
Watch ‘28 Days Later’ now before the sequel arrives in 2025
Now is the perfect time to watch “28 Days Later” before the sequel hits the big screen. “28 Years Later” picks up, as you might guess, 28 years after the world was plunged into chaos by the “Rage” virus. This marks the first chapter of an exciting new trilogy, with the second installment, “28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple”, already filmed back-to-back with the first.
Cillian Murphy is back of course, reprising his iconic role, but this time, his character may not be the same once-ordinary bicycle courier who woke up to find London devastated (some thought he was a zombie in the trailer, but that seems unlikely). Big names like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, and Ralph Fiennes will also anchor the sequel, with director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland.
Fiennes spoke more about the plot with IndieWire: “Britain is 28 years into this terrible plague of infected people who are violent, rabid humans with a few pockets of uninfected communities. And it centers on a young boy who wants to find a doctor to help his dying mother. He leads his mother through this beautiful northern English terrain. But of course, around them hiding in forests and hills and woods are the infected. But he finds a doctor who is a man we might think is going to be weird and odd, but actually is a force for good.”
As the apocalypse’s aftermath continues to unfold, fans can expect even more thrills and fake blood. And if you want to binge the entire franchise, don’t forget to stream “28 Weeks Later” on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney Plus in the U.K. The second movie takes place six months after the events of the first one. It focuses on the attempted repopulation and recovery of Britain, where the government has declared the country “safe” after the virus seemingly burned itself out. However, the virus quickly resurfaces when an infected person escapes quarantine.
Buy/rent “28 Days Later” on Amazon now before “28 Years Later” arrives in theaters on June 20, 2025.
