In comparing these films to a classic of science fiction horror, 28 Days Later is like Alien and 28 Weeks Later is like Aliens.

And in both cases, the originals are the best - but the sequels are admirable in the way they take the established mythology and run in a completely different direction. To the original, that is, not to each other. Because if Alien is a haunted house movie, so is 28 Days Later - just that Britain is the house. And the sequels are both filled with marines trying to quell a reignited threat...

The original builds tension through scenes of desolation and isolation. The sequel is a far more visceral thrill ride.

The original is peppered with characters moments. The sequel gets the character stuff out of the way early on, though the relationships are important to the end sequence. There is, at a small stretch, a moment in Weeks that approximates Ripley's "Get away from her you bitch" moment from Aliens.

Days is more hopeful. Weeks is far more downbeat... with a franchise on its mind. So while the first film is a smart take on the old zombie film, the sequel wants to be bigger, faster, louder and is less concerned with subtlety.

One of the great moments of the original movie is when the title comes up. 28 Days Later... It's part of the film.

Unfortunately the sequel's opening credits are more convoluted, even though they shouldn't have been.

And the film's greatest sin is the set up for a sequel at the end. Which producer Danny Boyle (the director of the original) says will be 28 Months Later... but no spoilers here.

I have never seen so much bloody slaughter on the big screen in all my life of movie going. This film makes Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down and Brain Dead look like films you want to take your grandmother to! There are moments in this film that are very confronting, shocking and almost appalling in their depiction of brutality. I felt assaulted walking out of the cinema. There are many moments where I had to turn my head from the screen or cover my eyes.

The film is also not terribly solid in what it's trying to say. I was expecting a commentary on Americans occupying another country. I was expecting something to be said about the slaughter of innocents to get to the bad guys. I wanted some sense that the film wasn't merely the slasher film with the biggest body count ever.

But this is a military action blockbuster before it is anything else. And as a sequel to 28 Days Later... its ballsiness and downbeat ending seems justified. But damn, I still can't get some of those images out of my head.