In “28 Years Later,” the new zombie movie from director Danny Boyle, the undead all but disappear for a pivotal stretch toward the end of the film. That’s when it becomes a five-hankie movie about a boy grappling with his mom’s mortality.
“It sets out as everybody wants it to, with lots of male action and bonding, and then it begins to shift,” said Boyle. “There’s a spiritual thing that his mother teaches him.”
Hollywood is embracing its archetype of the moment: the “Boy Mom.” While fathers have figured prominently in tentpole pictures—no character ever said, “Luke, I am your mother”—that has often meant that mothers come second. Lately, that’s literally true, with moms dominating sequels to recent hits. In “Dune: Part Two,” a mother (Rebecca Ferguson) and her son (Timothée Chalamet) wrestle with striving and suspicion as the young adult amasses power of his own. In “Gladiator II,” a mother (Connie Nielsen) and son (Paul Mescal) work out their ancient Roman trust issues as the abandoned boy returns to his native home as a warrior.
The movie “28 Years Later” is also a follow-up, returning to the world ravaged by an incurable virus that turned nice British people into the flesh-ripping undead in the hit “28 Days Later,” released in the U.S. in 2003, and its 2007 sequel, “28 Weeks Later.” In “28 Years Later,” a throwback society has taken hold on a protected island while a hierarchy of zombies rules the mainland. Here, men are the zombie hunters and food providers while women protect the hearth.
Maternal themes pervade the movie as it imagines the infected and the uninfected after a generation has passed. It answers (and raises) questions about zombie motherhood, including whether zombie sex makes zombie babies. For roughly 20 minutes toward the end of the film, when most zombie movies reach a crescendo of gore, the picture veers into an emotional exploration of love and loss between the freckled 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) and his ailing mother, Isla (Jodie Comer).
“To be honest, I think Sony was quite nervous about that,” said Boyle. “It would be like, ‘Well, can’t we have an attack during the scene? Midway, perhaps? It could be at any point.’”
Allowing a space for the mother and son to express their almost spiritual connection without anyone trying to kill them was nonnegotiable for Boyle.
An abundance of mama’s boys addresses a central problem in horror and action: Women don’t see these movies in nearly the same numbers as men. Last year, women made up 37% of horror audiences, down from 40.5% in 2020, according to Parrot Analytics. Over the same period, female action-movie viewers went from more than 37% of the audience to under 32%. That’s below the share of female moviegoers overall, which dropped from nearly 44% to about 41%.
In “28 Years Later,” Spike looks past his battle-hardened father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and affirms his loyalty to his mother, who is exiled to a bedroom. Soon, he is dragging her through zombie-infested territory in search of a cure for whatever is slowly killing her. They land at a compound marked by a human-skull pyramid that’s home to the mysterious Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes).
Though Isla spends most of the movie delirious, her son breaks through the haze.
“He hasn’t given up on her,” Comer said in an interview. “I think on a cellular level, she can feel that.”
In the film, even though his father loves him, Spike embraces his mother’s worldview. She makes him laugh and protects him even as she becomes an impossible burden to him.
“The exterior world is so harsh and hostile and it starts encouraging him to meet the world with that same energy,” said Comer. “She wants the opposite, that he doesn’t have to be that all of the time, he can still be a child.”
A follow-up film to “28 Years Later” will see Spike continue to grow up. The Nia DaCosta-directed movie, “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” expected early next year, picks up where this film leaves off while bringing back Cillian Murphy, the bike messenger turned zombie fighter from the first film.
Alex Garland, the British screenwriter behind “28 Years Later” and other movies in the franchise, was interested in shared views of motherhood. “In my experience, we all love our mums, even if our mums treat us badly, and even when we’re furious with them,” he said. “It’s pretty close to universal.”
That’s certainly the case with Boyle. “I am most formed by my mother, without a doubt,” he said. “I understand that if I’m a decent man, I know where it comes from.”
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