The first critique of this movie is understanding as I had the same problems with this movie, but the fundamental direction and cinematrography, acting were so good that I overcame the movie's short-comings. This movie is one of the best horror movies I've seen, yes even lacking the constant (and for me) obnoxious blood and gore. This movie made up for its weaknesses with a brilliant, underlying constant dreaded fear that horror movies must contain. This cerebral movie was more true to life (yes, excepting for clean grocery stores and our anti-gun group of survivors, and super cars bouncing over tunnel wrecks).

The feel of isolation, the feel of the collapse of organized government and civilization, the feel of powerlessness, and being alone were all well-captured on screen. Man and sex is a primitive emotion, the need to re-populate. Of course I wouldn't personally unleash a trapped zombie-like person without protecting my woman or women - but well one takes one's chances in the big mansion.

"Psycho" didn't seem to require all that much blood and gore to be effective and that fear didn't have to jump out at every corner. "28 Days Later" is a classic return to something much more difficult to achieve, poor horror of silence and the mundane. The empty streets and cooridors (cleansed of the evil and rage by the monsters that take their dead apparently away from the pure light of day) provoke a much more primal fear than anything I can imagine - a Twilight Zone of emptiness.