28 Days Later, from Fox Searchlight Pictures, is a good horror/suspense/thriller film from the UK. Think Stephen King's The Stand meets Dawn of the Dead, but with a good plot and interesting characters.
In a nutshell, a new virus hits that drives people insane with rage. It's highly contagious and within a month it has devastated the UK. The main characters in the story have managed to avoid being exposed to the virus and are now trying to stay alive in a world where "infecteds" constantly try to hunt them down and kill them. The story basically follows the adventures of a small group of survivors to try and find some military personnel who have been broadcasting a radio message with their location.
The best thing about the film was that it didn't try too hard to be scary. Unlike most American "zombie movies," the frightening moments in 28 Days Later were fairly far between, with just enough pause for you to almost forget it's a scary movie. The storyline and dialogue are believable enough to make you care about what's happening, and the acting was good enough for you to share their horror and fright over what's going on.
None of the main actors in the film, including Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris, are all that well-known, at least not here in the US. Murphy's performance as the dazed and confused bike courier recovering from a coma and having to deal with the catastrophe was actually pretty excellent.
RottenTomatoes.com gave this movie an 88% as of today.
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