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I saw Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later yesterday and I loved it. Although it’s being promoted as a zombie horror film, it falls more into the British post-apocalyptic tradition with a nod towards J.G. Ballard. Brilliantly shot on miniDV, it creates a compelling portrait of a group of characters after a plague devestates England. The film was beautifully shot by Anthony Dod Mantle who manages to pull incredible images out of a prosumer camera. Mantle previously worked with Boyle on the darkly humorous Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise that pushed the visual envelope even more (maybe a bit too far). There is a great visual grammar used by the film with high-shutter speeds, quick cutting and an eerily beautiful soundtrack. The editing by Chris Gill alters the pace dramatically in an instant and holds every shot just long enough. It was also interesting to see the quality of the images from the blowup to 35mm from miniDV. Overall it seems that closeups and low-light material works great with a fairly stable camera helping. The high-shutter speed footage is great for isolating quick images that magnify the horror by providing fleeting, sharp images. A horror film that isn’t really about zombies, but humanity and morality.