One of the scariest films of the year, 28 Years Later, used iPhones to film key scenes.
Director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland reunite almost 28 years after their groundbreaking 2002 film 28 Days Later, delivering a gloriously horrifying cinematic experience in their latest film.
Also returning is cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, whose use of digital camcorders defined 28 Days Later. Here, Boyle and Mantle use a host of cameras, including 20 adapted iPhone 15s, all deployed to capture Boyle’s go-to 2.76:1 widescreen aspect. But what effect does this produce in 28 Years Later, and what does it mean for the actors in front of the many lenses?
Mashable entertainment editor Kristy Puchko sat down with Boyle for Mashable’s Say More podcast, and UK editor Shannon Connellan spoke to 28 Years Later stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, and Alfie Williams to understand more about making a major horror film using iPhones.
“When someone puts an iPhone very close, it’s a bit intrusive. You feel kind of vulnerable, and you can’t hide. There’s a quality about it that just shows everything, and it meant we had to feel very present in the moment,” says Taylor-Johnson. “You got used to it very quickly, and it became such a great environment to work around.”
Credit: Sony Pictures
“Technology’s moved on, and we thought, we’ve got to move on and yet we want to respect that instinct which is to use the ordinary in some way. So it feels like it’s something that’s come from the place that the story is about. And of course, we’ve all got the phones now so we decided to use them,” Boyle says.
“They’re lightweight, they now record at 4K, but they allowed us to visit places, remote places, in the UK, with a very light footprint,” he adds. “But we used a lot of cameras. We didn’t just use the iPhones… there’s a red sequence in it that’s used this special Panasonic camera, the EU123. We used drones, which use 6K cameras. And we unified everything with a format, with a 2.76:1, which is a widescreen format, which you can do now with all these cameras.”
As for teen newcomer Williams, who plays 12-year-old Spike, the experience of making films on iPhone is pretty standard for his generation. “This was normal for me,” he says.
28 Years Later is now playing in theaters. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is slated for theatrical release on Jan. 16, 2026.
