8 Smartest Decisions In Zombie Movie History

4. Hello - 28 Days Later

Shaun of the Dead
Fox Searchlight

Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later is a smart zombie movie, period.

Released back in 2002, this was a picture that helped to reinvent the zombie movie. Rather than shuffling, groaning undead sorts, 28 Days Later served up frenetic, terrifying infected beasts who were unlike anything film fans had ever seen before.

Not just was this a smart choice to make by director Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland (who would go on to pen Sunshine, Dredd, and direct Ex Machina), but the central protagonists of 28 Days Later were likewise presented as not just your average dunderheads.

As the film comes to a close, with Cillian Murphy's Jim, Naomie Harris' Selena and Megan Burns' Hannah having escaped to the sanctuary of a Cumbrian cottage, the trio have the brilliant idea of sowing giant letters spelling out HELLO.

Not necessarily your usual cry for help, but this was more a way to make any passing aircraft aware of their location and survival.

Elsewhere, the first act of 28 Days Later makes you instantly realise that some of the characters here have quite the smarts on show. For example, Selina starts the film alongside fellow survivor Mark (Noah Huntley), yet she doesn't think twice about immediately killing Mark after he becomes bitten - taking swift action, rather than contemplating how Mark can be saved from his inevitable fate.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.