10 Best Horror Movie Opening Scenes Of The 2000s

When most of us think of the opening to Danny Boyle’s indie horror masterclass, we think of Cillian Murphy waking up in a hospital to find his country has been ravaged by the rage virus, and walking across an empty London. But we forget: there is a whole scene before this big, empty world takes hold. In short, this is what happens 28 days earlier.

The film begins with a jumbled reel of clips from around the world of violence and aggression, showing police brutality, mob justice, and other public atrocities that are happening daily. The camera pulls away, and we see this is all playing on monitors in a research centre, to a chimpanzee tied to a bed with cables attached to its head. A group of activists breaks in and discovers animals in all states of agitation and decay, and finds they can’t leave without releasing them. But the chimpanzees are infected, and the first one out of its cage bites one of the activists, she spits blood in the face of another, and then everyone is doomed…

While an empty London is a clever piece of worldbuilding, this scene is where Boyle and writer Alex Garland get to stake their claim on a new kind of zombie, one not supernatural but scientific, borne of humans playing god. The sequence is seamless and shows the best and worst of humanity before throwing its hands up and crying, "Here we go!"