Rent 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)

Heavy Metal Heresy in the Ruins of Britain - 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple review by griggs

Pop culture is dead; this is the archaeology. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple picks up right after the previous film and feels less like “sequel duty” than a nasty, energised story about cults, power, and what we’ll call sacred when the rules evaporate.

Nia DaCosta keeps it punchy and playful without turning it into a lecture. It’s also properly funny — gallows humour that has you laughing, then clocking the chill underneath. Jack O’Connell turns Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal into a walking bad idea with a crown on it, and the Jimmy Savile influence is clearly baked into the character.

Then Ralph Fiennes shows up and plays it like he’s been dared by the apocalypse itself. The Iron Maiden “Number of the Beast” set-piece is deranged, brilliant, and weirdly exhilarating — a heavy-metal miracle with real menace underneath. If this trilogy’s about survival, it’s not just bodies that make it through. It’s the myths people use to rule.

A Brilliantly Conceived Horror Film For the Modern Age - 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple review by GI

The middle film in planned trilogies are notoriously difficult for the makers whose audience is aware this is not the conclusion of the story. However here director Nia DaCosta has triumphed with a horror film that is entirely unique and audacious and is tonally different and in that sense extremely compelling. Following on from 28 Years Later (2025) this zombie film feels different and fresh from the very beginning and like many films (and indeed TV series) in this sub genre it explores the horror in the survivors reactions and actions over that of the zombies. Young Spike (Alfie Williams), who left the security of his island fortress home in the previous film, has fallen into the gang run by Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell). Jimmy is a deranged psychopath who believes he's the son of the devil and on a mission to purify survivors through torture and death. Spike wants to escape and finds an ally in another of the gang. Meanwhile Ian (Ralph Fiennes), a former doctor, still survives and continues to build his monuments to the dead out of their bones. More importantly he's begun to study and relate to the 'alpha' zombie in the area. He calls him Samson and believes that there still might be some remnants of his humanity buried within. But when Jimmy and his gang come across Ian a bizarre interaction begins. This is a hugely clever horror film, the gory violence is quite shocking but this never tips into gratuitousness, it just adds the ingredient of violence to the inevitable conflicts that the film studies. The vision of the land returning to a pastoral wilderness contrasts brilliantly with the horrors that lurk all around. The 'infected' are still around and when they do appear it's jump scare time, although the most interesting take is in the development of the Samson character which lends a new side to this genre. There is always tension created when Samson is on scene but with an added sense of caring and emotion. This is where this is a superbly crafted film and it will be considered one of the best in the series. The coda sets it nicely up for the concluding film yet to come.