28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

 

This review may contain spoilers!

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is the fourth film in the 28 series and a direct sequel to 28 Years Later (2025). Our story picks up with Spike having been taken and inducted into the Jimmy gang, a crazed band of Satan worshippers who attack the living and dead in equal measure. At the same time, Dr. Kelson has made a discovery through the Alpha, Samson, that will change things forever.

This is a film that really takes the ground floor of what 28 Years achieved and really runs away with it. I absolutely enjoyed 28 Years Later, but it gave us a familiar zombie apocalypse world in some aspects. The Bone Temple is a refreshing spin that had me horrified, laughing and saddened across the entire story. There are two branching narratives here that both have plenty to give. The Jimmys, as an antagonistic force, are quite unique. These aren't your typical Satan-worshipping nut bars at the end of the world; they are adorned in blond wigs and bright tracksuits with a manic sense of hilarity to everything they do. They have a stunted, childlike way of navigating this world that harks back to their leader, Sir Jimmy Crystal. Sir Jimmy's childhood saw the zombie outbreak come, and the fractured jigsaw of his mind has pieced it all together very badly indeed since that origin. Sir Jimmy is also a little aware that he is holding his band together through lies and theatre, which leads to a great scene where he meets Dr. Kelson. Kelson's story is intriguing in a different sense. He is so achingly lonely here, moving forward with his work and surviving the infected. However, he starts to find an unlikely ally in the Alpha, Samson, which is an incredible surprise in itself. Yet, as this bond goes on, we see that Kelson believes himself capable of curing the infection and freeing Samson from his own mind. Kelson is one of the more noble figures to emerge from the 28 series, and one of the more cunning. The big Satan scene at the climax of the film is worth the price of admission; it's a moment that shows how far Sir Jimmy will go to keep his power, alongside Kelson's prowess as a survivor. The ending is bittersweet and not without a sense of tragedy. The Bone Temple makes you sit inside this apocalyptic world, it's not about being one character's story but rather, a glimpse into exisiting within this world and watching it try to evolve.

I wasn't sure what to expect with Nia DaCosta taking the helm here, but she has sculpted something that must be her best film to date. The style of this film makes the horror feel fast and lethal again; there is a real effort placed on capturing moments of despair and terror in a gripping way. The camera doesn't let you turn away, but it also rewards you with these beautiful moments of colour and performance that are rather powerful to watch. The editing dashes along at a great pace, holding a very deliberate pace for longer dialogue scenes and shifting into action effortlessly. The score for the film is intense and bone-chilling at times; I adored that the soundtrack we were given is a real triumph. A film that can use 'Girls on Film' just as impressively as 'The Number of the Beast' deserves a lot of praise.

Jack O'Connell, who played Sir Jimmy Crystal, is an absolutely unhinged antagonist here; O'Connell plays a rabid showman clutching on to his sense of power for dear life. Alfie Williams, who played Spike, is a very talented young performer; Williams isn't pushing things along as much as the first film, but he really dives into those more emotionally complex scenes. Emma Laird, who played Jimmima, is perhaps the most insane of the Jimmys; Laird really brings the venom to this antagonist. Chi Lewis-Parry, who played Samson, really takes physical performance to an impressive level; both convincing as a raving zombie but also as a creature finding his humanity again. 

However, the best performance came from Ralph Fiennes, who played Dr. Kelson. I found Fiennes to be the best part of 28 Years Later as well, and he certainly knows how to carry this momentum on. Here we see Kelson as the lonely and tired observer that he is. Fiennes puts great care into making Kelson someone we see as truly good, even caring for a hulking infected across the feature. The bond Fiennes crafts with Lewis-Parry's Samson is quite sweet, if not boggling at first. Kelson is a character who is trying to find the moments of hope still in this world, and the fact that he finds that even with the infected is rather special. I love the quick wit Fiennes is capable of; he runs away with the dialogue of his character and is the sharpest tack in any scene. Fiennes and O'Connell squaring off is one of the greatest verbal duels I've seen in a while. While Fiennes' big performance as Kelson pretending to be Satan is the very height of the feature. His softer nature appears when he attempts to save Spike, which is a pure moment of good in the film, a point where Fiennes lifts Kelson up beyond just a survivor, but as a truly good man.

This movie took a moment to get going, without much of a precursor, the freewheeling absurdity of the Jimmy gang is thrown in our faces. I really enjoyed watching this group as things progressed, but the start is initially a bit of a ridiculous ride. The same thing can be said for Kelson and Samson's friendship, which had very real moments of absurdity in the early stages. I also felt The Bone Temple and 28 Years Later suffer from the same issue, pushing a sequel in their final moments. Watching Jim from 28 Days Later trotted out like some legendary cameo actually didn't wow me very much as a viewer.

Erin Kellyman, who played Jimmy Ink, is a performer who really struggles to capture focus in a scene; Kellyman's role has no bite to her that makes her interesting. Cillian Murphy, who played Jim, is quite a jarring appearance at the end of the film; Murphy's lone moment feels dull and a bit predictable as far as appearances go.

Another solid entry in the 28 series, probably Nia DaCosta's best film to date and one of the most creative works we've had in the zombie genre for a while. I would give 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple an 8.5/10.