Everyone’s talking about the zombified Cillian Murphy in the 28 Years Later trailer, but there’s one other detail that’s just as terrifying – and comes from real-life torture methods.
Whether it’s zombies attacking in a dark underground tunnel or the early hours of the spreading infection, the 28 Years Later trailer has sparked much anticipation for the upcoming horror movie.
Seemingly taking place on an isolated island, the trailer features glimpses of an undead Jim, what looks like the origins of that church scene from the original movie, and one of the most stressful landmarks of a zombie takeover: a newborn baby.
But there’s one detail that makes the trailer so haunting, and it has nothing to do with the infected. In fact, it all comes from the chant being played throughout, which is actually a rendition of the poem “Boots” by Rudyard Kipling.
28 Years Later poem was used as a torture training technique
First published in 1903, “Boots” is an imagined telling of the inner thoughts of soldiers marching through South Africa during the Second Boer War. The pacing of the words, if read at two words to a second, is meant to mimic the sound of repetitive marching.
The recording of Taylor Holmes’ 1915 reading can be heard throughout the trailer, increasing in volume as the images become more frantic and violent.
There’s no denying the poem adds another layer of stress to the trailer, and that’s for a good reason. In fact, the spoken-word recording of the poem was used in U.S. Military SERE schools (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) – training grounds for soldiers to survive after being captured.
Ward Carroll, a SERE graduate and Navy veteran, once recalled [via Business Insider] hearing the poem being recited over and over while he was locked inside a cell.
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That’s a truly creepy detail, and based on fans’ reactions to the trailer, it’s worked its magic.
“I’m not sure what that was but the voiceover doing the random countdown at the end was wonderfully creepy. Really sick trailer,” said one Reddit user.
“I have no idea the relationship between the characters and I have no idea what is going on in the world outside that there is a village and the plague is still a thing. But I don’t care because that voiceover and the editing terrified me. I want to see this,” wrote another.
A third wrote, “The delivery of the poem in that recording is perfect too. Distressing, maddening, pained, and just insane. It’s great. It catches the exact emotions the poem is evoking.”
28 Years Later arrives in theaters on June 20, 2025.
For more, check out our list of all the new movies on streaming this month, as well as the best war movies of all time.
Looking for something scarier? Check out our list of the most violent horror movies ever made.
