28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (dir. Nia DaCosta)
Certificate: 18
Running Time: 109 mins
UK Distributor: Sony Pictures
UK Release Date: 14 January 2026
WHO’S IN 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE?
Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Chi Lewis-Parry, Emma Laird, Maura Bird, Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Ghazi Al Ruffai, Sam Locke, Robert Rhodes, Ghazi Al Ruffai
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Nia DaCosta (director), Alex Garland (writer, producer), Bernard Bellew, Danny Boyle, Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice (producers), Hildur Guðnadóttir (composer), Sean Bobbitt (cinematographer), Jake Roberts (editor)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
The continuing adventures of young Spike (Williams) as he ventures through a zombie-infested Britain…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE?
While critics and audiences seemed slightly divided over last year’s 28 Years Later, pretty much everyone could agree on one thing: what the hell was up with that ending? Coming right after some harrowing and even heartbreaking scenes that played into the powerful humanism of director Danny Boyle, the cliffhanger – obviously intended to lead straight into director Nia DaCosta’s follow-up 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which was shot back-to-back with Boyle’s first entry – suddenly shifted all possible gears with a bonkers bit of over-the-top acrobatics involving people dressed up as Jimmy Saville. Seriously, it felt more like something out of Zombieland than this much darker universe.
That, as it turns out, was all a mere tease as to what DaCosta has in store with her film. The Bone Temple contains plenty of moments that somehow out-bonkers what we had previously seen, in a fascinating sequel that is far more gruesome and nihilistic but also much wilder and even weirder than expected, with some of it not even coming from that demented gang of Jimmys.
Demented they very much are, as evidenced in the very first scene in which their leader, the self-appointed Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), instructs their newest recruit – our young hero Spike (Alfie Williams) – to fight one of their own, a showdown that ends with severe arterial damage and the remaining Jimmys happily skipping away before slaughtering a Rage-infected zombie without losing their breath. Spike soon witnesses their sadistic cruelty first-hand, particularly their warped sense of “charity” upon their victims, as well as Crystal’s cult-like grasp on his followers with the unshakeable belief that he is the direct spawn of Satan aka “Old Nick”.
But Spike isn’t the only returning character who’s dealing with a whole bunch of new and interesting developments. Ralph Fiennes is also back as Dr. Ian Kelson, the kindly iodine-coated former GP who has compassionately constructed a memorial made up of bones and skulls, and whose only friend happens to be the hulking Alpha infected named “Samson” (Chi Lewis-Parry), whom Kelson regularly sedates to pacify his Rage instincts. As their unusual bond grows, so does the possibility that within Samson lies the key to the infected regaining their humanity, which Kelson attempts to expand upon before, inevitably, his path crosses with that of Crystal and his gang.
The exact circumstances as well as the context of how they end up meeting are best left for the movie itself to explain, but it does introduce some intriguing concepts about morality and spirituality that are given more time to be fleshed out than your average zombie movie. Alex Garland’s script positions both Kelson and Crystal as two opposing forces behind the basis of religion, the latter representing how its morals and lessons can be twisted and manipulated to grant unchecked power towards the wrong people, while the former – an atheist as well as a man of science – being the embodiment of actually following the principles of compassion and empathy that most doctrines promote. However, the movie constantly reminds us and them, especially the one with the severe god complex, that they are still very much human, particularly in scenes where Fiennes and O’Connell (both excellent) have genuine conversations with each other and even find some common ground between them that reveals how both could have possibly been good friends if the Rage virus had been contained.
Speaking of that infectious zombie plague, the film places so much focus on its human characters and the arguably more dangerous threat that some of them pose that there are times when you almost forget that there are ravenous humans just roaming throughout the background. While that may not sit well with those expecting more carnage among the infected (though the film certainly isn’t short of that), DaCosta’s unsettling direction allows their presence to still be felt in scenes that they don’t even show up in, while also tapping into a more unhinged approach complete with bombastic set-pieces involving, in another one of the film’s intriguing deconstructions of religious doctrine, hellish fire displays and the music of Iron Maiden. The director does well to make the film feel aesthetically like it belongs in the same universe as the previous movie, even though this was filmed on more traditional digital cameras rather than iPhones like last time, but she still manages to make it feel like her own movie, with suspenseful far-away shots and ambitious zoom-ins along with other camera tricks recalling her previous work on films like Hedda and Candyman.
It speaks volumes about the level of world-building and character establishment in Danny Boyle’s previous film that someone like Nia DaCosta can come in and go in whichever direction she wants without worrying about introducing new strands or following up on certain plotlines (still no word on what became of that newborn infected, but maybe that’s for the now-confirmed third part to cover). Because of that, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is undoubtedly the strangest entry in this franchise yet, for its out-there ideas and equally batshit execution, but also by far the bravest. By taking creative and tonal risks that in lesser hands could result in something disastrous, this is an impressively made and smartly conceived follow-up that balances its wackiness with genuine dread while still furthering the overarching story and expanding this bleak and terrifying world to new and exciting depths.
SO, TO SUM UP…
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is a strange yet fascinating follow-up that explores new and interesting areas of this post-apocalyptic world while going in bold and often bonkers new directions that grant fresh life to this franchise.
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