We’re off to Emerald City, I mean the Bone Temple, to meet the Great Wizard, I mean Old Nick, the Great Satan of Oz, I mean UK. Oh, well …
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is a direct continuation of the previous one, where Spike (Alfie Williams) has now been captured by Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connel) and his small cute gang of Teletubbies, or chavs, for a better term. Welcom’ to Brittn, ya fockin’ cont! As we got more of the impression that Spike got saved by these bizarre individuals, in a quick scene that broke the internet six months ago, we learn that this Jimmy lad recruits young stray broken teens to join his cult-mission to torture and kill people in the name of Old Nick (Satan). Because, like Jimmy says:
— Old Nick released his demons onto the world of man.
And the world of man failed before the demons. —
Jimmy has created his own demented theology to excuse his extreme sociopathic way of life, but to put it plain and simple: his inverted cross that he got from his crazy-priest/preacher dad right before he was killed 28 years ago is not just an innocent rebellious statement. He’s evil through and through and the classic Charles Manson/dictator-type that gleefully watches his members doing the torture and killing work. The Jimmy Saville-looking wigs they wear as a form of a badge, which also matches the hairstyle of their cult-leader, only puts the rotten cherry on top. Yes, his hair is actually not a wig (!)
Against Spike’s will, he has to prove himself to Lord Jimmy in the old British way by a knife-fighting death-combat, against one of the Jimmys. And watching this scene without context, one would assume that this was just some regular youth activities somewhere in Glasgow on a Tuesday evening. Americans have their guns, but you should never, ever underestimate a chav with a sharp knife. Spike hits an artillery that causes a gory mess. Lord Jimmy laughs and grins ear-to-ear. Spike is now a part of the Jimmys and, of course, very reluctant and terrified joins their murderous coming-of-rage odyssey around rural Britain as they invade homes and skin people alive in barns. How they can just walk and dance around like they owned the world while others still walk on minefields, is a fair question to ask. Alfie bonds with one of the two girls in the gang, Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman), the only one who has developed empathy and isn’t completely brainwashed.
Then we have our mysterious Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) who lives peacefully alone in his small underground bunker next to his impressive lifeswork, the Bone Temple memorial. Approx 5,500 fake skulls and 150,000 bones were made to construct it. It would be just way too easy to just CGI the whole thing, but big kudos for making it the old school way. Dr. Kelson is still picking up fresh bodies to add to his temple, and has a side-project by observing an alpha zombie which he calls Samson. He’s a giant who rips people’s heads off, Predator-style, and eats brains straight from the skull. Hardcore. Dr. Kelson spits morphine darts to drug him out so he can dig into his subconsciousness and maybe see if there still is any humanity left in him. And good luck with that. Jimmy Crystal spots Kelson at a perfect timing, where he’s all smeared in red’ish lodine as he always is, and having a close interaction with the alpha by the Bone Temple. Because he believes he’s finally found his big idol and his father, Old Nick, and, well…haha, this should be interesting.
I’m not familiar with Nia DaCosta’s directing work prior to this, and I had no idea what to expect from her passing the torch after Danny Boyle. DaCosta does some really heavy lifting here, where it was pretty much already clear by judging the awesome trailers that they didn’t just choose some random work-for-hire director. Her directing approach is more traditional than the experimental style we saw in the previous where we have more dialogue-driven scenes than action. And although I —personally— enjoyed 28 Years Later a bit more, this is a rock-solid entry in the expanding and eccentric world building of the franchise that still keeps its feet on a grounded level. But calling this torture porn is a far stretch. It’s not even close. Yes, there are some gruesome moments here, but the film doesn’t show too much. Thus, I was a little disappointed by the “I don’t have a ticket“-scene, which felt a bit rushed. The effects are all practical though, as far as I noticed, and it’s nice to see stunt actors in real flames, which is a rare sight nowadays. That said, the action is very minimal. The zombies/infected are barely on screen, where the focus primarily lies on the psychological aspects between Jimmy and Old Nick, I mean Dr. Kelson. It’s still the good vs evil where the humans are the real monsters. This is more of an intense thriller/drama with some exploitation-elements.
What makes this franchise still feel fresh in the year of 2026 is much thanks to the unpredictable writing of Alex Garland, and how he explores our primitive instincts. While the action has taken a morphine pill, the tension is stronger than ever. We have a very simple scene where Jimmy meets Old Nick, I mean Dr. Kelson, for the first time, sits and has a chat about life, death, religion and whatnot. It seems harmonic and peaceful at the surface while the sky is almost blue, yet you can feel the electricity where one never knows when all hell will blow up. And then we have the uncanny parallels to The Wizard of Oz, which turns up the smoke and mirrors all up to eleven in a scene that was certainly not on my bingo card. Pure post-apocalyptic Mad Max-level insanity. It’s pretty amazing how this particular scene just perfectly fits right in when on paper it shouldn’t. But there you have the genius writing of Garland. Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connel are the stars here, and they’re both intimidating in their own ways. While Fiennes is the veteran he is, who can just speak with body language and facial expressions, I hope O’Connel gets more great villain roles. We saw him last year as the Irish lead vampire in Sinners, and also as one of the sadistic kids in Eden Lake way back in 2008.
While the film in isolation has been a flop, the previous have earned well over its budget for both. And this being a middle-chapter of a trilogy, I surely hope we get the final piece as we still have the incomplete arc of Spike to fill. What happened to Spike’s dad is also an open question. Is he out in the wild and searching for him? What’s next for Samson? Are 28 Weeks Later (2007) completely retcon? Will Brittan ever be Great again? Who knows.
Until next time: Memento Mori.
Director: Nia DaCosta
Writer: Alex Garland
Country & year: UK/USA/Canada, 2026
Actors: Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Ralph Fiennes Connor Newall, Erin Kellyman, Maura Bird, Ghazi Al Ruffai, Robert Rhodes, Emma Laird, Sam Locke, Gareth Locke, Chi Lewis-Parry
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32141377/
Prequels:
– 28 Years Later (2025)
– 28 Weeks Later (2007)
– 28 Days Later (2002)
