REVIEW: 8 Days Later

8 Days Later is a short film made by Trevor Wild and Daniel Smith. And when I say short, I mean short. It’s less than eight minutes long. It is obviously inspired by 28 Days Later, in terms of its name, berzerker-style zombies, and the tone of the story. The film follows a lone, nameless U.S. soldier as he wanders around in a zombie-infested world. When he isn’t running from zombies he’s either killing zombies, or scavenging for supplies. There’s not much more to the story than that. Fortunately, the bare-bones story is as much an excuse to play the accompanying music as it is anything else.

The music is pretty good, too. Most of it isn’t the kind of stuff I’d go out of my way to listen to, but it fits the movie and none of it is bad. When there isn’t action, there are narrations from the point of view of the soldier. The narrations give you a sense of the futility that the soldier feels, despite his conviction to keep surviving. But none of it prepares you for the ending. Trust me when I say it’s going to hurt.

And, that’s it. The movie is divided into four chapters, called “sessions,” which consist of the three elements “run,” “shoot,” and “narrate.” It would get to be an old formula after a while, but the film is just short enough that it ends before that happens.

Bottom Line: 8 Days Later isn’t anything you’ll be adding to your DVD collection, but it’s definitely a must-see for any zombie fan, especially fans of 28 Days Later.