20 Horror Movies From The 21st Century That Didn't Actually Suck

20. 28 Days Later (2002)

Although many think the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake was the first 'fast zombie' film it's actually Danny Boyle's excellent film that introduced us to sprinting hordes. Granted, they're 'infected' and not 'zombies' but you'd be hard pushed to see too much difference between the two when they're chowing down.

When animal liberation activists release 'rage' infected monkeys, society breaks down within a month leaving only a few survivors in the big cities including Cillian Murphy's Jim who, Day of the Triffids style, has been in a coma through the whole thing and has missed the epidemic.

The story details his attempts at survival from a broken down London city to a military-run mansion outside of Manchester. Similar to many zombie films, it's quickly obvious that the monsters aren't the infected but the humans that still walk the streets. When you get an excellent film-maker like Danny Boyle entering the horror genre, the results are clearly going to be good but it's obvious from the opening, desolate shots of an empty London to the brilliant score by John Murphy that this is a particularly special entry.

Although Christopher Eccleston's military major is a little bit too obvious a villain, the film never really descends into cliché and Jim remains a viable everyman character on which to place our emotions. Alex Garland's script hits many good notes as we follow him through an epidemic which has destroyed the country and, at every point, we really feel for him and his journey.

An honourable mention must go to the Juan Carlos Fresnadillo directed sequel, 28 Weeks Later, which managed to be an interesting and original take on a society trying to rebuild itself. Armed with an excellent cast, the film actually makes the fans want to see proposed trilogy-ender 28 Months Later made some point soon.