The end of 28 Years Later left a lot of fans wanting more. It ended with a pretty huge cliffhanger, which makes sense since this movie was just the first in a planned trilogy of 28 Years Later movies, and there’s a lot more story planned for the next two installments. But while the ending might have left audiences wanting more, there’s another part of the movie where audiences were not left wanting at all because they got plenty. Yes, you guessed it; I’m talking about the giant zombie penis.
I’ll tell you something: I did not go into my viewing of 28 Years Later expecting my main takeaway to be, “Wow, did you see what that alpha zombie was packing?” and yet… here we are. For the uninitiated, let me explain (and, of course, there are spoilers ahead).
The zombies in 28 Years Later are humans that have been infected with the rage virus, which makes them inhumanly strong and violent. The titular 28 years refers to the nearly three decades that have passed since the epidemic began in the first movie of this franchise, 28 Days Later. And in that time, the rage zombies have lost their clothes and the desire to acquire new ones, so they run around in the buff. The alpha zombie is the biggest and strongest, and he’s got the massive package to reflect that.
And I’m not the only one who noticed. Apparently, at some screenings, the audiences audibly gasped when the alpha and his alpha-sized shlong first showed up. Let’s, uh, unpack everything to know about the alpha zombie scenes in 28 Years Later.
Asking The Alpha Zombie In 28 Years Later: Is *It* A Prosthetic?
So, the alpha zombie — Samson, as Doctor Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) calls him — is known for being nearly indestructible. I guess he summons his power from the rage virus, but I wonder how much of his power he also derives from his big ol’ dong. I mean, it’s right there staring at us for so many of the big fight scenes.
The main character of 28 Years Later is 12-year-old child Spike, played by Alfie Williams. And because Alfie is a child, there couldn’t be any actual nudity on set. That meant that Chi Lewis-Parry, who played Samson (and all the naked zombies), wore prosthetic genitals.
“Yeah, they were prosthetics,” Chi, who’s a 6-foot-8-inches former MMA fighter, told Variety. “There’s a law that states, I think, because he’s a child, you’re allowed to have nudity, but it has to be fake nudity. It was to protect him. And, as well, I’m really friendly and am always hugging people. I wouldn’t have been doing that if I was fully in the nip!”
But Variety followed up with the question we’re all wondering, asking Chi if the prosthetics were proportionate to his real-life situation. “Well, I’m 6′ 8″,” Chi responded. “I’ll say no more!” Okay, alpha, I see you!
