Disturbing real-life history behind 'creepy' poem used in 28 Years Later trailer featuring Cillian Murphy
A poem featured in the teaser trailer for the highly-anticipated zombie flick 28 Years Later has been leaving people creeped out, but the real-life meaning behind it is even more chilling.
The trailer for the film, set to be released on June 20, 2025, succeeded in doing what any teaser for a horror movie is purposed for - it gave us all goosebumps (especially after we got a peak at a remarkably less alive Cillian Murphy).
It was also in part to do with the disturbing real-life history behind the 'creepy' poem it used.
The dark history behind Rudyard Kipling's 'Boots'
It was poem published back in 1903 by the English journalist and poet Rudyard Kipling, who died in 1936 at the age of 70, titled 'Boots' - making reference to the repetition of the British Army infantryman forced to march in South Africa during the Second Boer War.
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The introduction of it goes: "We're foot ... slog ... slog ... slog ... sloggin' over Africa.
"Foot ... foot ... foot ... foot ... sloggin' over Africa.
"Boots ... boots ... boots ... boots ... movin' up and down again!
"There's no discharge in the war!"
And the repetition continues for seven more verses.
It would later be used by the US Navy's SERE school (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape), designed to train troops on how to survive if they are being tortured by the enemy.
SERE graduate and Navy veteran Ward Carroll told Business Insider that he recalls the poem being recited by Kipling again and again and again while he lay in a tiny cell.
"Anyone who has ever attended the US Navy's Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) school will never forget Rudyard Kipling's poem 'Boots'," the SERE graduate told the publication.
Taking to YouTube, fans commented on the video excited about its publication.
"The chanting in the background of whatever that was made this even more creepy. I can't wait to see this," one user wrote.
A second typed: "Now THAT is how you do a trailer. Not revealing much but gives you enough of the tone. And that Boots poem?! SMART. It has the ability to break minds.
"SO EXCITED TO SEE THIS!!!"
While another well versed in what exactly the poem he could hear was, added: "The audio playing in the background is a poem and that poem is played literally nonstop in SERE training as a means to try and break you down mentally. This audio has literally broken the minds of some of the hardest special operators on the planet."
It has been confirmed that Murphy will reprise his role as Jim in the film, but with it now starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Jodie Comer, as well as Ralph Fiennes, there may not have been enough room for a live-and-well Murphy - who appears to now be undead.
Topics: Cillian Murphy, Horror, Film and TV
Joe Yates