https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRzQZvCR11Y Danny Boyle's definitely-not-a-zombie-film from 2002 is perhaps not what landed the Scottish director his part in the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony, what with it beginning with a uniquely disquieting scene of Cillian Murphy's character awakening from a coma to find the capital completely abandoned, the usually tourist-packed streets outside Westminster eerily empty and quiet. Of course by the time the cannibalistic rage-infected monsters turn up, slavering and screaming, you'll rather be missing that quiet. 28 Days Later is a grim, grim film, especially when it gets to the final act where our group of heroes - Murphy, Naomie Harris and the recently-orphaned Megan burns - reach the army base they were lead to believe held their salvation, but actually reveal mankind to be even more monstrous than...well, the cannibalistic rage-infected monsters that have taken the country over. Alex Garland's script originally called for an even grimmer finale, however, right at the point where the group arrive at the base and Brendan Gleeson's taxi drive character accidentally gets infected. The film has a few alternative endings, but this "radical" one was never actually filmed - just storyboarded. As an extra treat for nosy fans, Boyle and Garland provided a reading of the scene of the illustrations for an easter egg on the DVD, and it certainly earns its title of "radical". Instead finding themselves at the medical facility from the film's opening, the group attempt to reason with a terrified scientist who claims to have a cure for the plague and...well, we don't want to spoil it. But it's actually almost happy! How to find it: On the special features menu highlight the "main menu" button, navigate right and select the arrow.
16. Fight Club's FBI Warning, Never Been Kissed
Fight Club is a film that messes with your mind. You probably already know the plot, but we'll just dash over it quickly - spoiler alert, BTW: Edward Norton's nameless Narrator is a troubled man, suffering from insomnia, lonely and isolated, something he puts down to the toxicity of modern culture. He meets Brad Pitt's charismatic Tyler Durden, who establishes an underground group of similarly frustrated modern men who meet up to beat the crap out of each other. Eventually it turns out that the fight club is a front for a terrorist organisation, and the anarchistic Durden is actually a split personality of the sleep-deprived Narrator. Cue the Pixies song. Director David Fincher does some neat things with the film, including inserting subliminal shots of Brad Pitt in scenes before Durden is properly introduced, mirroring Durden's own penchant for inserting frames of porno flicks into kids movies at the cinema where he works as a projectionist. We also get the characters talking directly to the audience, including one striking monologue by Pitt where the very film appears about to collapse, the frame wobbling and warping. This metatextual element is pushed further on the film's home video releases. On the original DVD the main men was preceded by a phony FBI warning - the legit form of which often included on American releases, usually waffling on about piracy and the like - that was penned seemingly by Tyler Durden himself. For the 10th anniversary blu-ray they outdid themselves by booting up first with the menu for Drew Barrymore romcom Never Been Kissed, tricking fans into thinking there was a mistake with their copy of the film. How to find it: Just, like, own the DVD or blu-ray?
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
