The Rage Virus. Now.

[Kaelaroth]

The Rage virus from 28 Days Later, and its sequel 28 Weeks Later, is a devastating disease, that kills the infected victim in seconds, and replaces him/her with a violent, human-meat hungry, bloodthirsty zombie-like being. However, it must be noted that these beings aren't conventional zombies. They retain (and exceed) typical physical abilities, since they remain alive, and no longer feel pain in the conventional sense, allowing the Infected to break past the pain barrier.

In the films, this virus is devastating, and destroys Britain. However, my question for you is: Do you think the film was accurate in its depiction of what would've happened should the virus have come into being and got loose? What do you think would've really happened?

NB: We are assuming the virus was released in the same way as it was in the film - although in this discussion 28 Days Later: The Aftermath comic is not canon, and can be safely ignored.

[sikyon]

I think the infected should have died in 3 days due to dehydration.

[comicshorse]

I always felt the virus wouldn't spread because the first infected would turn on each other and wipe themselves out in an a frenzy of violence

[SolkaTruesilver]

That's an excellent point. Why wouldn't the infected turn against each other? (plot device set appart).

If they are really the incarnation of rage and violence, they should rip each others appart.

[ShadowSiege]

That's an excellent point. Why wouldn't the infected turn against each other? (plot device set appart).

If they are really the incarnation of rage and violence, they should rip each others appart.

Because there's no point to them attacking each other? Part of the reason for the aggression is to spread the virus to new victims, and it wouldn't do much good for the virus if it went about destroying other carriers of it.


I think the infected should have died in 3 days due to dehydration.
Good point, if they're prone to starvation, why not dehydration? Plot necessitated I suppose for the purpose of having large numbers of infected chasing the characters.

As a tangent, is anyone else looking forward to Left 4 Dead?

[Green Bean]

Because there's no point to them attacking each other? Part of the reason for the aggression is to spread the virus to new victims, and it wouldn't do much good for the virus if it went about destroying other carriers of it.

Wouldn't it be weird, though, that the rage overwhelms normal brain function to such a degree that they no longer eat or drink, but are still capable of making distinctions between infected and uninfected people?

[comicshorse]

Because there's no point to them attacking each other? Part of the reason for the aggression is to spread the virus to new victims, and it wouldn't do much good for the virus if it went about destroying other carriers of it.

True for a naturally occuring virus but the Rage virus was artificially created. Also I believe there have been cases of virus that wre too efficient at killing the host and so wiped themselves out.
Personally I agree with Solka this was purely a plot device. Though a friend of mine spun up quite a involved hypothesis involoving hyping of the more primitive parts of teh brain to stimulate the pack instinct so the Infected regarded themselves as one large pack in conflict with all outside the pack.

As for the movies. The infection seems to take control pretty much immediately, so no infected victims will spread the disease by travelling by car or air. This means the infection can only travel as fast as a running man, this gives it a lot of ground to cover to take over all of England. That said it spreads in all directions simultaneously and its going to take time for the authorities to figure out what the hell is going on.
It very much depends how secret the Rage virus is. If it is kept Top Secret, by the time the knowledge is passed on to those making the decisions it could very well be too late. Otherwise provided the right suprememly ruthless decisions are made ( isolate the infected areas and shoot anything that tries to come out of them) then I'd think were just looking at losing a big chunk of the country and tens of thousands of casualities.
For world-wide infection you need the development of the virus from the second movie. in which case the planet may very well be screwed

[Leto]

Well, considering the Rage Virus was initially a government engineered thing, it's exact attributes are unknown. Obviously, the movie would be harder to make if the infected ripped each other to pieces, but it's not too hard to suspend the sense of disbelief that the infected could work together like a pack of wolves. greater team cohesion in a military unit is something that could've been part of the original plan.

Under the influence of the Rage Virus, maybe a person's olfactory senses increase, thereby allowing them to smell who is infected or not. Maybe they can just tell visually from body language and eye coloration.

The implication I got from the films is that the infected always have their adrenaline pumping. Even at rest their heart beats a mile a minute and that's why they spasm and vomit so much. They burn themselves up but for a brief window they have stupendous strength and unlimited endurance until they starve to death.

[averagejoe]

The whole rage virus is an improbable plot device, not just the part that makes them not tear each other up. Why is it that it can be accepted that they don't dehydrate/run out of energy for a period of over a month, but the fact that they can tell each other apart is "plot device?"

I think that the rage virus would never have escaped. In my opinion, when working with something that could be that potentially devastating, which they clearly knew could be that devestating, there would have been many more failsafes in place to prevent it from spreading. If nothing else, the facility should have had a lockdown protocol which could not be overriden from inside.

[Jae]

Both 28 Days and 28 Weeks Later are two of my FAVORITE films. The very first scene of 28 days where he is wandering around the empty city was pure brilliance.

All that put aside, though, I'd have to say it was probably fairly accurate. Can't think a lot I'd like to challenge. I believe the infected did not attack eachother for the same reason animals of the same species do not attack eachother. And you may or may not have noticed that when provoked, they do in fact appear to be frustrated with one another. Ultimately, doesn't the virus revert them back to their primative mindset? They hardly have any human traits at all. It's not exactly "evil" or "rage" on our terms, but rage based off only instincts.

[Rare Pink Leech]

However, it must be noted that these beings aren't conventional zombies. They retain (and exceed) typical physical abilities, since they remain alive, and no longer feel pain in the conventional sense, allowing the Infected to break past the pain barrier.

This is a great description of the infected - and do you know what else it sounds like? Someone hopped up on hard drugs, especially the part about not feeling pain (which doesn't mean they aren't getting injured). The thing about drugs that do this is you can't go for very long without your body simply shutting down, so I'd think the infected would simply die of heart attacks and other organ failure fairly quickly - certainly within 24 hours, and certainly before they should die of dehydration.

Of course, I wasn't think of this either of the times I've watched 28 Days Later. It's not really realistic, but that's the last of my worries when watching a zombie movie.

[SolkaTruesilver]

well, if I remember right, the "I am a Legend"-zombies (more vampires actually) super strenght/endurance and aggressivity was explained as they have their adrelanine gland always open, which floods the body.

However, I don't think the Rage-Zombies were anywhere near "really strong". Think of it: a guy with a SWAT suit could hold a few of them, and a 28-day comatese could hold down an infected child easily.