BLU-RAY REVIEW

28 Weeks Later

Featured In Issue 126, December 2007

Picture4
Sound4
WSR Score4
Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
(Studio/Distributor):
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
(Catalog Number):
47110
(MPAA Rating):
R
(Rating Reason):
For stron violence, gore language and som sexuality/nudity
(Retail Price):
$39.98
(Disc Type):
Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
(Widescreen Edition):
Yes
(Full Screen Edition):
No
(Running Time In Minutes):
100
(Color Type):
Color
(Chaptered/Scene Access):
Yes
(Closed Captioned):
Yes
(Regional Coding):
Not Indicated
(Theatrical Year):
2007
(Theatrical Release):
Yes
(Direct-To-Video Release):
No
(Disc Release Date):
10/09/07
(THX® Digitally Mastered):
No
(Director):
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
(Screenplay/Written By):
(Story):
(Music):
(Director Of Photography):
(Production Designer):
(Visual Effects):
(Costume Designer):
(Editor):
(Supervising Sound Editors):
(Re-Recording Mixers):
(Executive Producers):
(Co-Producers):
(Producers):
(Academy Awards):
(Principal Photography):
(Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
(Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
(Disc Soundtrack):
Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS HD Lossless 5.1
(Theatrical Sound):
(Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
(DTS Bit Rate):
(Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
(Additional Languages):
(French Language):
(Spanish Language):
(Chinese Language):
(Subtitles):
(Cantonese Language):
(Mandarin Language):
(Japanese Language):
(Italian Language):
(German Language):
(Portuguese Language):

The devastating rage virus that infected the citizens of the British Isles has passed. The reconstruction process is underway with the first wave of refugees returning to England. 28 Weeks Later the virus resurfaces and strikes back with a vengeance, jeopardizing the re-population of the nation. (Stacey Pendry)

Special features on include up-front previews, commentary by Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and Writer/Producer Enrique Lopez-Lavigne, two deleted scenes with optional commentary by Fresnadillo and Lopez-Lavigne, and the following featurettes: Code Red: Making Of 28 Weeks Later (13 minutes), The Infected (seven minutes), and Getting Into Action (seven minutes). Also included are the storyboards 28 Days Later: The Aftermath: Stage 1 'Development' and 28 Days Later: The Aftermath: Stage 3 'Decimation', the original theatrical trailer, and six more trailers.

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 DVD shows very good resolution, and the relatively high average bit rate makes many of the scenes look detailed and clean, but there are still scenes that are hampered by excessive compression artifacts. Color balance and contrast are both balanced nicely, but fleshtones can have a slightly-too-red hue. While edge enhancement is not overly obtrusive, some scenes, especially night shots, are overly noisy. The Blu-ray Disc's H.264 AVC-encoded picture also shows deep, although not consistent, black levels and well-captured details, although the noise that can be seen in darker scenes is exacerbated by the improved resolution of the format. (Danny Richelieu)

The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack is infused with ample deep bass, delivered into the room through the LFE channel as well as the front corner full-range channels. True phantom imaging around the room is rarely realized, with localized effects generally locatable only at the loudspeakers' physical locations. Fidelity is quite good, though, and the noise floor is fairly low, making for a natural-sounding soundtrack. While we still do not have the capability of decoding the Blu-ray Disc's DTS-HD Master Audio encoding, the core DTS® encoding that is extracted improves the dynamics and gives the audio a more fluid presence. (Danny Richelieu)