The horrifying chant in 28 Years Later has a special meaning which fans might have missed

28 Years Later introduced a lot of people to a poem that carries an eerie feeling. The film's first teaser trailer consisted of this chant that escalated as the situation worsened. The makers have used this nearly 100-year-old poem in the film to elevate tension and evoke certain emotions.

The poem in question is Boots by English writer Rudyard Kipling, which was first published in 1903 and is about a British soldier during the war. The poem is a dramatic monologue, and is told from the perspective of a British infantryman. It's known for its repetitive rhythm, which is often recited at a slow pace to mimic the sound of marching boots.

Set in the same post-apocalyptic world devastated by the rage virus, 28 Years Later is a direct sequel to 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later. The post-apocalyptic film, which was released on June 20, 2025, uses this chant, and its meaning might have been missed by the fans. So let us take a look.

28 Years Later uses Rudyard Kipling's horrifying poem Boots

In the first trailer of 28 Years Later, the intensity of the visuals is amplified by a repeated chant. It makes an ominous scene even scarier than it already is. That chant is Boots, a poem Rudyard Kipling wrote and published in 1903 as part of his poem collection The Five Nations. The poet tries to evoke the feeling of monotony of a soldier during the war, as they have to constantly march and be vigilant of enemies.

Kipling was inspired by the British troops' march in South Africa during the 2nd Boer War. The audio recording, used in the trailer, is nearly as old as the poem itself. It was voiced by actor Taylor Holmes in 1915. The poem starts with a regimentary feeling, but the verses later become cynical and hysterical, hinting at the passing of days and the soldier slowly losing his mind. Certain words are repeated, including boots, to evoke a sense of monotony. The poem is used by the SERE schools by the U.S. military due to the toll it takes psychologically on the listener.

In 28 Years Later, the poem is first used when Spike and his father Jamie go to the mainland. That place is infested with zombies, and the poem evokes the same feeling of terror that the characters feel knowing that the undead are marching in that area.

In an interview with Variety, 28 Years Later's director, Danny Boyle, revealed the reason for using a nearly 100-year-old recording.

“We had all these archives that we wanted to use to suggest the culture that the island was teaching its children.It was very much a regressive thing — they were looking back to a time when England was great. It’s very much linked to Shakespeare.”

He added,

"We were searching for a song, for a hymn — for a speech, actually. We did think about using the Crispin’s Day speech at one point, but that felt too on the nose. And then we watched the first trailer that Sony sent us — Alex and I remember it vividly — and there was this [recording] on it, and we were like, ‘F*cking hell!’ It was startling in its power."

28 Years Later is written by Alex Garland and directed by Danny Boyle. It marks their return to the franchise after the first film, 28 Days Later. The duo has also produced the film with Peter Rice, Bernie Bellew, and Andrew Macdonald. Its cast members include Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Alfie Williams.