Exceedingly good needle drops: why a 1915 Kipling poem is the cherry on top of the 28 Years Later trailer
If you're being truthful with yourself, you likely didn't feel much enthusiasm for 28 Years Later when you first heard about it. While 2002's 28 Days Later was quite enjoyable, 2007's 28 Weeks Later seemed to show signs of falling short. It lacked the same level of fear and didn’t leave a lasting impression. Furthermore, it became clear that six months after a zombie apocalypse wasn't nearly as gripping as just four weeks later. Logically, one could expect that 28 Years Later would follow the same pattern. However, right now, it might actually be one of the most anticipated films of 2025, and that's largely thanks to its trailer.
At this point, you're likely familiar with the standard approach to creating movie trailers. Choose a song from the past half-century—any song will do—and record a fresh rendition. The initial part of the song should have an ethereal and distant feel, while the latter half should be driven by powerful, echoing drums that match the action on screen. Recently, the trailer for the Minecraft Movie used "Magical Mystery Tour," Babygirl created a version of Madison Beer’s "Make You Mine," and A Complete Unknown cleverly incorporated huge drum beats into "Like a Rolling Stone."
However, 28 Years Later is likely to flip the script entirely. The US Navy runs a program known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape, which trains military members to handle challenging situations in difficult environments. A key aspect of this training involves confining individuals in a small room while they listen on repeat to an unsettling audio clip: a 1915 recording of actor Taylor Holmes reading the Rudyard Kipling poem "Boots."
The poem is frightening on its own, capturing the rhythmic chant of a soldier heading into combat while struggling with a profound sense of dread. However, Holmes’s interpretation takes it to another level. It starts off eerie and slowly builds into a frenzied scream, with Holmes repeating, “There’s no escape from the war.” By the time it reaches its peak, he’s shouting at the top of his lungs, trapped in his own insanity. It’s an intense experience to hear. Additionally, it serves as the background music for the trailer of 28 Years Later.
At first, it's not immediately apparent, as the trailer opens with background music from the original Teletubbies series. This sets the scene for a flashback to the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, hinting that this might be what was playing on TV at that moment. However, after 30 seconds, an eerie vinyl crackle begins, and that's when Holmes starts to speak, his words becoming increasingly intense with each line. It's true that upon listening multiple times, you can tell the trailer editors couldn't resist incorporating some powerful drums towards the end. Still, since this is a poem about the relentless march of soldiers into battle, it feels more thematically appropriate than if they had used it with a Bob Dylan song.
The poem's impact is so jarring that it took me a few viewings to really focus on the visuals. Fortunately, they are quite impressive. Filmed on an iPhone, the trailer showcases a range of creepy folk-horror imagery. You'll see burning graves, skull towers, rundown signs, and eerie paths. There’s also a particularly decayed zombie that, if I didn’t know any better, looks strikingly similar to Cillian Murphy. Amid all this, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is seen racing through the countryside with a bow and arrow. It seems like it could be a great movie.
However, that's beside the point. Even if *28 Years Later* turned out to be terrible, it wouldn’t diminish the power of this trailer. Trying to predict trends is often a lost cause, but I wouldn’t be shocked if we see more films, especially in the horror genre, using rare old 78rpm spoken-word recordings in their trailers. Perhaps one of Harry E Humphrey’s eerie holiday Bible readings would be a fitting choice. In the meantime, we can still enjoy Taylor Holmes and his chilling take on "Boots." Is it too late for it to become the Christmas No. 1?
