Film fans have been left with ‘genuine fear’ after watching the chilling first trailer for Danny Boyle’s much-anticipated horror film, 28 Years Later.
Unveiled just yesterday (December 10), the teaser plunges audiences back into a harrowing dystopia where a virus has transformed the bulk of humanity into ferocious, zombie-like beings.
This latest chapter follows on from the iconic 2002 hit 28 Days Later and its 2007 successor 28 Weeks Later, picking up the story nearly 30 years after the initial outbreak of the ‘rage’ virus.
The official synopsis reads: “It’s been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway.
“When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.”
The trailer has left viewers terrified (Image: Sony Pictures)
Don’t miss… [TRENDING] [TRENDING]
While the trailer’s visuals are undeniably disturbing with a blood-splattered television playing the children’s show Teletubbies and a horde of twitching, zombie figures cresting a hill, it’s the haunting soundtrack that has truly sent shivers down viewers’ spines, reports .
The footage is accompanied by a haunting recording of Rudyard Kipling’s 1903 poem Boots, which tells the tale of soldiers marching towards a gruesome fate. Recorded by American actor Taylor Holmes in 1915, the audio starts calmly before escalating into screams.
This very audio is utilised by the US Navy in their Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) programme to test the mettle of military personnel.
Audio from the Teletubbies plays before the reading of Boots begins (Image: Sony Pictures)
Participants are subjected to the eerie recording on repeat while detained in a cell, as part of their training to withstand hostile environments.
Those who have claim to have undergone SERE training shared their harrowing experiences with the audio on . One user recounted: “Did SERE and didn’t remember this. Found it on YouTube and now I remember it and wish I hadn’t looked it up,” while another shared: “It’s not just the poem. It’s the voice of the person reading it. More than 20 years later, and I have chills thinking about it.”
A third person revealed: “When I did SERE in 1991, this reading was on loop with Boots and Electric Orgasm by Yoko Ono for pretty much 48 hours while being interrogated, put in ‘stress positions’ and locked in a tiny box.”
28 Years Later releases in cinemas on June 20, 2025