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'28 Years Later' review: Zombie sequel is warped and fantastic

movie review 28 YEARS LATER Running time: 115 minutes. Rated R (strong bloody violence, grisly images, graphic nudity, language and brief sexuality). In theaters June 20. It takes some skill to pump new life into the undead. Every possible twist on the zombie movie has been tried in the past 20 years, from deadpan road trips with Woody Harrelson to a bloody British Christmas musical. Advertisement I've just found one I'll be skipping called 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.' Apart from the send-ups, though, there has not been a strong serious example in the genre for a long time. But nobody does it better than the British post-apocalyptic '28' series — especially the original filmmakers of 2002's '28 Days Later,' director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland. Advertisement They're back at it 23 years later with '28 Years Later' — an arresting, sneakily emotional and wildly weird third installment in the franchise. Never has the near-annihilation of mankind felt so good. Fans of the original might, at first, be taken aback by the madness. If you revisit 'Days' today, the influential forebear comes off as awfully quaint. 5 Alfie Williams stars as Spike, and Ralph Fiennes plays the doctor, in '28 Years Later.' ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection Advertisement Instead of the eerie calm of a desolate Piccadilly Circus, 'Years' bids adieu to the big city for the spooky forest. The main character isn't a corpse-like Cillian Murphy, as close to a real-life zombie as we have, but a sweet kid trying to save his mom. And there's the movie's biggest talker: A depraved, disgusting ritual conducted by an orange-painted Ralph Fiennes had me questioning my own sanity when I teared up at it. 5 Zombies continue to ravage the UK. ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection Advertisement I rip into the black hole of creativity that is endless reboots and sequels all the time. Can't stop, won't stop. Fantastic 'Years' is the happy exception. Almost three decades after the 'Rage Virus' ravaged Britain, turning most citizens into snarling beasts, the UK has been quarantined from the wider world. Nobody in, nobody out. Evoking 'A Quiet Place Part II,' an enclave of survivors live on a safe island town surrounded by rocky water — except during low tide when a narrow path to the mainland is revealed. Little Spike (Alfie Williams) has just turned 12, and village tradition says he and his dad, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), must head to the danger zone to net him his first infected kill. You know, a bit of family fun. 5 On Spike's 12th birthday, his dad Jamie takes him zombie hunting. ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection The bow-and-arrow excursion goes haywire, but Spike gets his feet wet, albeit with the blood of cannibalistic monsters. When the boys get back to town, his mother Isla's (Jodie Comer) already poor health has worsened. So, Spike escapes with her to the wilderness to find a physician rumored to live out there (Fiennes, practically a talking tangerine). A straightforward story, right? Over the river and through the woods to witch-doctor's house, we go — shooting and stabbing all along the terrifying way. Advertisement 5 Jodie Comer plays Alfie's mother Isla, who is suffering from a mystery illness. ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection On the surface, yes, it is. What skews 'Years' so seductively and grotesquely — in a good way! — is Garland's sadistic flair that must be making his therapist a fortune and Boyle's punk-rock direction. The pounding music and archival footage of violence in England through the ages that contrast with beautifully shot, pastoral nature make the infected much scarier. Breathtaking serenity gives way to spinal cords being ripped out by hand. Boyle has a knack for what makes his homeland tick. The gruesome, forceful anarchy brought to mind British writer Edward Bond's severe plays of the 1960s, and also the novel and movie 'A Clockwork Orange.' There's some major Alex DeLarge in the last five minutes. Advertisement 5 Ralph Fiennes is the most warped part of '28 Years Later.' ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection And the director has always worked very well with kids. He directed 'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'Millions.' He gets a determined and altogether riveting turn out of young Williams. His Spike is a heartbreaker as he tries to be a grown man for his father, but melts with mum as he's racing to save her life. Steely Taylor-Johnson and intense Comer are both terrific. The fact that Fiennes went right from playing a cardinal in Best Picture-nominated 'Conclave' to a nearly-naked hermit with a hobby that would raise Hannibal Lecter's brow makes me wish we could send the actor's brain out to be analyzed by scientists. Advertisement Speaking of Fiennes' character's arts and crafts projects, a follow-up, '28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,' is due out next January. If it's anywhere near as good as this one, sign me up for four more 'Years.'