Watch the Ultra Creepy First Trailer for 28 Years Later

We’re already on the record as having some serious doubts about the artistic viability of director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland tackling not just a return to the world of 28 Days Later, but an entire trilogy of new 28 Years Later films. In recent memory, it’s rarely the cynics who haven’t been vindicated in the end, and this kind of overambitious universe building has already crippled the attempts of so many franchises to grow beyond their humble means. But at the same time: Wow, that first trailer for 28 Years Later actually looks pretty promising! Unveiled today, the first footage from Boyle’s film captures its characters embarking on what looks like the most disturbing traipse through the English countryside you’ve ever seen.

More than a quarter of a century after the Rage Virus descended on London and turned the world upside down, it’s clear that almost all of 21st century human society is now a thing of the past. We see a few isolated, medieval-esque walled villages in the trailer where some kind of order is still being imposed, but the implication is seemingly that large swathes of the countryside belong to the roaming infected, or crazy humans who have formed some kind of zombie-adjacent death cult. The giant obelisk made of skulls makes this fairly clear, and would seem to provide a preview of the second entry in the series directed by Candyman‘s Nia DaCosta, which is titled The Bone Temple.

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28 Years Later stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes and young actor Alfie Williams, who can be seen in the trailer accompanying Taylor-Johnson’s bow-wielding character on the journey. One face not actually seen instead has his presence felt: Cillian Murphy’s Jim, the protagonist of the original 2002 film. We have a feeling he may only appear briefly in the first 28 Years Later installment, but take a look at the prominent graffiti scrawled on a brick wall around 52 seconds into the trailer, which mentions a “JIMMY.” Hmmmm. Regardless, the trailer is really quite effective, particularly in its droning sound design, which features a recording of American actor Taylor Holmes from 1915, reciting the Rudyard Kipling poem “Boots.” Enough to make you feel like your hold on reality is slipping, perhaps?

28 Years Later is currently scheduled for a June 20, 2025 release. You can check out the first trailer below.