Isla is a central character from the 2025 British horror film 28 Years Later. She is the wife of Jamie and mother of the film's young protagonist Spike. She lived as a resident of Holy Island, the last bastion of civilization in Great Britain following the Rage Virus outbreak.
History[]
Isla was only a child when the Rage outbreak occurred in 2002. Before the outbreak, she lived in Sunderland with her father, who often took her on roadtrips to the north. One of Isla's most cherished memories of that time was seeing the Angel of the North statue and listening to her father's stories about it.
In 2030, Isla is in her mid-30's and lives on Holy Island, which is protected from the infection by a causeway that serves as the only means of travel to and from the mainland. She suffers from chronic illness, regularly displaying symptoms of confusion and delerium, often forgetting where she is and failing to recognise voices or faces. Since there are no doctors on Holy Island, no one is certain what is wrong with her and cannot treat her.
After Spike and his father Jamie return from a hunt on the mainland, Spike asks his neighbour Sam about a fire he had seen off in the distance. Sam tells Spike that it was likely set by Ian Kelson, a former doctor who had managed to survive the outbreak and taken to living as a hermit. Hearing that Kelson was a doctor, Spike wonders if he might be able to help his ailing mother. Both Sam and Jamie advise against this as Kelson is viewed as insane, with Jamie explaining how years ago he and a group of foragers had encountered Kelson lining up hundreds of corpses in order to burn them, even inviting the foragers to come join him.
Despite his father's warning, Spike decides to take Isla to see Dr. Kelson. When Jamie tries to stop them, Spike confronts his father about the affair he has been having with the teacher Rosie. After hearing this, Jamie raises a hand to strike his son, but Spike pulls out his pocket knife and points it threateningly at his father. Jamie easily disarms Spike and turns the knife to him, but stops himself as he realises what he is doing and shamefully hands the knife back to his son.
Later, after distracting the village guards by setting a supply tent on fire, Spike takes Isla beyond the gates and across the causeway. When they reach the mainland, Isla asks where they are going, as Spike had previously told her they were going to the beach. Though confused, Isla is lucid enough to realise where they are and that they are in danger with the Infected everywhere. Spike calms Isla down and tells her that they are going to find a doctor, and so they set off into the countryside in search of Kelson.
Stopping at the ruins of an old castle, Spike and Isla settle down for the night. Isla tells Spike about how his grandfather was a silly man who could always make her laugh as he took her on roadtrips around the country. In her confusion, she calls Spike "Dad" before settling down to sleep. In the middle of the night, mother and son sleep in a tomb when a Slow-Low Infected creeps towards them. The creature almost feeds on Spike, but Isla suddenly wakes up and kills the Slow-Low by pulling a cloth over its head and bashing it against a stone carving, killing it and saving her son's life.
The next day, Isla and Spike are travelling through a meadow when they are pursued by a pack of Infected. They try taking shelter in an abandoned petrol station restaurant, but the building is flooded with benzene gas. As the pair struggle to fend off the Infected, a skylight above them opens and a soldier - Erik - orders them to duck down beneath the layer of gas. Erik then fires a burst from his assault rifle and ignites the gas, incinerating the Infected while Spike and Isla remain safe having ducked under the gas. As the Infected burn to death, Spike and Isla run outside and join Erik.
Erik travels with Spike and Isla for a while, but quickly becomes irritated by Isla's confused behaviour and Spike's lack of knowledge about the outside world. As they trek through the wilderness, Isla hears a scream in the distance and runs off towards it. She arrives at a derelict train, boarding it to find a lone Infected woman who is pregnant and has gone into labour. Wracked with pain from the labour, the Infected doesn't attack Isla on sight. Isla slowly approaches the Infected, reaching out her hands and taking the woman's, showing that she wants to help her through the labour. Spike and Erik follow Isla and witness her deliver the Infected's baby. Isla takes the baby in her arms and cleans it up with water while telling Spike to cut the umbilical cord with his knife. However, as the Infected comes down from the labour pain, she turns homicidal again and lunges at Isla. Erik shoots the Infected woman dead, then turns his gun on Isla, demanding that she leave the baby.
As Erik is about to shoot Isla and Spike, an Alpha Infected suddenly pulls him up through a hole in the train's roof and kills him. The Alpha then jumps down into the train car, holding Erik's severed head and spinal cord. He charges at Spike and Isla, who turn to run and manage to get out of the train. Outside, Spike tries to stop the Alpha with several arrows, but they barely slow it down. Suddenly, the Alpha stops dead in its tracks after being struck by a dart. Spike and Isla turn to where the dart had come from and are met by none other than Dr. Kelson, who reveals he had used a dart loaded with morphine to stop the Alpha, whom he names "Samson". With Samson immobile, Kelson takes Erik's head from his hand and leads Spike and Isla back to his camp. The camp consists of several pillars made from human bones, which Kelson explains he had taken from the dead to form a monument in honour of all those who had died following the outbreak.
Death[]
Having finally found Dr. Kelson, Spike asks him if he can help his mother. Having no diagnostic equipment or proper medical facilities, the best Kelson can do to determine Isla's condition is give her a simple physical examination with his bare hands. After examining Isla, Kelson concludes that she has cancer, which has metastasized in her breasts, brain and lymph nodes. Isla even admits that she suspected that it may have been cancer. With no hope of a cure or even treatment, Isla seems resigned to her fate. She requests that Dr. Kelson kill her quickly rather than let her suffer a slow demise from the disease.
After Isla bids an emotional farewell to Spike, Kelson euthanises her with an overdose of morphine from one of his blowdarts, and so she passes painlessly. Afterwards, Kelson removes Isla's head and cleanses the skull of all flesh. Handing Isla's skull to Spike, Kelson tells the boy "Memento amoris", meaning "remember love", and tells Spike to find a place for Isla in the bone temple. Spike climbs up the central mound of skulls and places his mother's skull at the very top. Spike later names the uninfected baby Isla after his mother and delivers her to Holy Island so that she can be looked after.