28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)
The post-apocalyptic horror movie 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is the second part of the 28 Years Later trilogy. This trilogy, in turn, is the follow-up to 28 Days Later (2002) and 28 Weeks Later (2007), so The Bone Temple is the fourth installment in the 28 Days Later series.
It's a good idea to have seen the previous film from 2025 to really follow what is going on here. 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams), surviving through the Rage virus that turns a person into a rabid killer, is captured by the Fingers gang, led by the charismatic Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell). Jimmy has his gang mirror his look—dressing them in blond wigs and tracksuits—and he names them all Jimmy. Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), the creator and custodian of the Bone Temple, a memorial to those lost to the Rage outbreak, tries communicating with an infected Alpha (Chi Lewis-Parry) he names Samson.
Danny Boyle (Shallow Grave, Trainspotting) directed both 28 Days Later and the 2025 film, but he has turned the directing reins here over to Nia DeCosta (Little Woods, The Marvels). All the 28 films have been written by Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Civil War), and his screenplay for The Bone Temple is smart and expands on ideas from the previous installments.
Sir Lord Jimmy is a great movie villain as he is sinister yet often darkly comedic. O'Connell's scenes with Fiennes are the best moments in the movie. It's fascinating watching the two actors as these two characters trying to outsmart each other.
Warning: This
movie is not for the faint of heart. Not because of some effective jump scares
but because of some truly disturbing scenes, such as when Jimmy and his gang
torture and murder a family in a barn. DeCosta, however, knows when to cut away
as not to make the sequence so upsetting that it would take viewers out of the
movie. Still, this is an incredibly violent movie.
