Pun Salad

Pun Son and I went down to Newington for an early Saturday night viewing of the latest entry in the 28 Time Periods Later saga. Summary: it's horror, but not a simple squirm-and-screamer. It's got brains! (Braaaaiiins!)

The powers that be determined the repopulation/reconstruction effort attempted for Great Britain in 28 Weeks Later was a dismal failure. It was assumed that the victims infected with the "rage virus" would eventually starve to death. Which turned out to be untrue; they'll eat anything! And, as this movie makes explicitly clear, they also, um, reproduce. So the rest of the world quarantines the island, ruthlessly enforced by international navies; Great Britain becomes, literally, flyover country.

But there is a stronghold of uninfected humanity just off the coast in the Scottish Highlands, connected to Zombieland by a narrow causeway that is only passable at low tide. The community values safety, alcohol, and ruthless violence. The movie's hero is 12-year-old Spike, whose dad is eager for him to be initiated into killing the infected. And whose sickly mom is stridently opposed to that.

Spike's foray onto the mainland is, um, eventful, and he discovers something that may provide hope for his mother. And, later, he also discovers something less than admirable about his dad. Which sets him up for an even more, um, eventful expedition. Where he meets all sorts of interesting survivors.

The movie's opening scene eventually makes sense in the movie's final scene. Be patient, viewer.

And, while the movie is grim, it's not unremittingly grim; a shipwrecked Swede named Erik had some lines that made me chuckle.