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28 Years Later has director Danny Boyle taking a look back at the zombie saga he started in 2002 with 28 Days Later. Interestingly, Boyle says that the film was partially inspired by a kind of "looking back," but not in the good way - the Slumdog Millionaire touts 2020's Brexit (in which the UK left the EU) as both regressive and an inspiration for the film. But the biggest inspiration for his return to the franchise, as you might be able to guess, is the real-world deadly pandemic that the world went through that same year.

And in particular, what happened next.

Both these comments come from an interview Boyle did with Time that was published June 16. In case you don't know, part of the plot of 28 Years Later (the third zombie film in the franchise that 28 Days Later kicked off) involves a member of a safe, non-zombified community off the coast of England. The film's action revolves around members of that community returning to mainland England, where the infamous Rage virus still has a hold on the zombified populace.

"When COVID first happened," the director explained, "We wore gloves, we disinfected groceries [...] But gradually over time, you start taking more risks. You don’t stay in that super alert stage. You evolve. And so it is in 28 Years. They begin to take risks. Jamie [played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson] takes his 12-year-old son to the mainland even though, as the mom says, that’s fucking crazy."

Part of the real-life horror of COVID was that humanity had been through a global plague just a hundred years before, when the disease known as the Spanish Flu swept across the world. And just like during the time of COVID, ignorance, misinformation, and plenty of apathy played a part in the Flu's many, many deaths - deaths that may have been prevented had the planet remembered the lessons of the past. 28 Years is a lot less time to forget our history than the century that spanned between the Spanish Flu and COVID, and unlike the fictional Rage virus, we were dealing with different illnesses. But the lesson of both the film, and our tragic history, is the same:

Forgetting your past comes with deadly consequences.

28 Years Later comes to theaters June 20.

In the immortal words of Danny Elfman, "Life's no fun without a good scare." We couldn't agree more, which is why we've cobbled together a couple pieces to send a chill up your spine. Join Popverse as we explore:

• The best horror movies of all time, according to horror aficionado Greg Silber
• The most underrated horror movies from the past couple years
• All the new and upcoming horror movies for 2025 and beyond

And much gore. Er, more. Much more.