Danny Boyle uses iPhones to revive '28 Days' zombie film franchise

More than two decades after the release of his zombie apocalyptic horror hit "28 Days Later", director Danny Boyle is returning to the franchise with a fresh set of eyes and a twist on a new technology.

The original film was set against the background of a "rage virus" that destroyed Britain and forced residents into quarantine. It was followed by the sequel 28 Weeks Later, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.

Even more time has passed in 28 Years Later, which is released this week and reunites Boyle with the original film's writer, Alex Garland.

Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes and newcomer Alfie Williams, the movie follows a young boy's journey with his father from a closed-off community on an island to the mainland to kill his first zombie.

His mother grapples with an illness which isolates her from the rest of her community and threatens to tear the family apart.

"There'd be occasional screenings of (28 Days Later) and ... it hadn't really dated," Boyle told Reuters at the world premiere of 28 Years Later on Wednesday night.

"More importantly, the people's reaction to it felt like they were watching something very present day... And that led us to start thinking, should we introduce something else into this world?"

One of the innovations was the camera setup. Boyle got in close to the action by sometimes using up to 20 iPhones at a time on special rigs.

"Smartphones, they will now shoot at 4K resolution, which is cinema resolution. So you can use them," Boyle said.

"They are incredibly light. You can go somewhere with a very light footprint and you can also build special rigs with them, which is what we did for some of the violent action in the movie."

Taylor-Johnson said the technique gave the film a "visceral and immersive" texture. "It would make me feel a bit vulnerable at times because it's very invasive."

28 Years Later will also be first of a new trilogy of movies, with the second - 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple - due in January.