{"id":13834,"date":"2026-01-17T20:53:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T01:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=13834"},"modified":"2026-02-03T20:00:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:00:20","slug":"28-years-later-the-bone-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2026\/01\/17\/28-years-later-the-bone-temple\/","title":{"rendered":"28 Years Later: The Bone Temple"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"28 Years Later: The Bone Temple<\/strong> (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 109 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violence, gore, graphic nudity, language throughout, brief drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Nia DaCosta\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Alex Garland\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Hildur Gudnadottir\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Cinematography: Sean Bobbitt\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 16, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O\u2019Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Chi Lewis-Parry, Emma Laird, Sam Locke, Robert Rhodes, Ghazi Al Ruffai, Maura Bird, Connor Newell, Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Mirren Mack, David Sterne.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Who\u2019d have thunk it? Duran Duran (their music anyway) will survive the end of the world. Wow, I always thought it would be Keith Richards.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The zombie apocalypse continues in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple<\/strong>, a direct continuation of last year\u2019s 28 Years Later, the belated follow-up to 28 Days Later (2003) and 28 Weeks Later (2007). It literally picks up just moments after the previous one ends with young Spike (Williams) fighting for a place in a quasi-Satanic cult led by Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (O\u2019Connell, Sinners), a charismatic but depraved dude modeled after British TV show host Jimmy Savile (if you know, you know). Decked out in track suits and blonde wigs, he leads his followers [aka The Fingers, all with variations of the name Jimmy] to believe he\u2019s the son of \u201cOld Nick\u201d [aka Satan]. They\u2019re a f***ed up family unit.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Elsewhere in the ravaged wasteland that was once Great Britain, Dr. Ian Kelson (Fiennes, Conclave) maintains his daily routine of caring for his memorial to those who died as a result of the rage virus [aka \u201cThe Bone Temple\u201d] and hanging out with an Alpha he named Samson (Parry, Gladiator II). He keeps Samson from attacking him by sedating him with morphine delivered by blow darts. He observes that the Alpha becomes more lucid while drugged. It leads to something of a breakthrough in dealing with the virus.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Nia DaCosta (Candyman), 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple <\/strong>starts off strong with a couple of nifty gnarly scenes like Spike\u2019s fight for position in the Fingers. It\u2019s a duel to the death in an empty pool in a long-abandoned water park. You have to love the irony of setting this scene in a place where children used to have fun. Now it\u2019s a place of suffering for a 12YO boy fighting for his life. No spoiler, Spike defeats his larger, stronger opponent (by severing his femoral) earning something he doesn\u2019t really want. If you know anything about anatomy, you know about femoral arteries and what happens when they\u2019re severed. It\u2019s a bloody mess.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A little later, we watch Samson tear a guy\u2019s head off, crack it open and dine on his brains. I thought \u201cYEAH! This is going to be great!\u201d Then the movie tapers off in terms of gore and grisly content. It drags a bit in the middle section. But then it picks back up when Sir Jimmy and Kelson finally cross paths after one of the Fingers, the rational Jimmy Ink (Kellyman, Eleanor the Great), spots the iodine-stained doctor dancing and communing with Samson at the Bone Temple. It all leads up to a scene where Kelson, at Sir Jimmy\u2019s request, plays the part of Old Nick, dancing wildly to Iron Maiden\u2019s \u201cThe Number of the Beast\u201d while the Fingers look on in drugged awe. It\u2019s wonderfully bonkers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What\u2019s interesting about 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple<\/strong> and its predecessor is how it changes the tone of the series. Days is a serious and somewhat somber affair dealing with the aftermath of a world-ending catastrophe. Weeks takes the more familiar route into action movie territory. 28 Years Later is a grim, bloodier version of the coming-of-age kid adventures of the 80s (i.e. Stand by Me) with Spike getting a crash course in bleak reality while trying to help his terminally ill mother. The Bone Temple, to quote a Spinal Tap line used by Kelson at one point, takes it to 11 with the blood, violence and insanity. It\u2019s overtly nihilistic with non-subtle religious themes. It causes the viewer to question why God would allow the world he created to turn into a nightmarish hellscape. Is this how it all ends? Is this hell on earth?<\/p>\n

\u00a0At the same time, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple<\/strong> never feels heavy-handed or overly self-serious. Sure, it contains horrific images and unimaginable acts of sadistic violence, but it feels like Da Costa is trying to have fun with it. O\u2019Connell seems to be having a blast playing the evil leader of a killer cult, kind of a post-apocalyptic Charles Manson who goads his \u201cfamily\u201d to do his bidding. The scene where they grab a group of survivors and skin them alive is suitably disturbing. But O\u2019Connell comes off as a live-action cartoon with his appearance and obsession with the Teletubbies. He\u2019s no less dangerous though. He\u2019s a very bad guy who does very bad things. It\u2019s a tricky balance, but O\u2019Connell manages it with great aplomb.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Fiennes is also great as the atheistic doctor, a shockingly laid back dude who prefers to chill in his bunker listening to Duran Duran records and hanging out with his best bud Samson. It\u2019s nice to see him step away from the serious roles he usually plays (e.g. Schindler\u2019s List, The English Patient) and get into a different kind of character, a guy just trying to survive in a world gone savage but taking it all in stride, even coming up with something that might be a total game changer. Parry is pretty good as Samson, but I would have liked to see more of his backstory than his memory of being on a train. Kellyman is equal parts spunk, grit and decency as the only Finger with a conscience. Williams nails it perfectly as a child robbed of his innocence by a violent world order. He\u2019s a kid forced to be an adult when his brain hasn\u2019t matured to that level yet.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The gore effects in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple<\/strong> are very good. It\u2019s actually the bloodiest one yet. I just wish there were more gory scenes. Garland\u2019s screenplay is a blend of intelligent and insane while Sean Bobbitt\u2019s cinematography brilliantly captures a hellish landscape filled with zombies and others out for blood. The soundtrack is totally rad with three songs by DD- \u201cGirls on Film\u201d, \u201cOrdinary World\u201d and \u201cRio\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Despite some pacing issues, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple<\/strong> is a good horror movie. It has thrills and it\u2019s unsettling in parts. Then there\u2019s the final scene. It\u2019s good. I\u2019m sure most of you have already heard a familiar character makes a return appearance. It\u2019s a neat set-up for another movie. I really hope it happens.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 109 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violence, gore, graphic nudity, language throughout, brief drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Nia DaCosta\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Alex Garland\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Hildur Gudnadottir\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Cinematography: Sean Bobbitt\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 16, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O\u2019Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Chi Lewis-Parry, Emma Laird, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/28-Years-Later-The-Bone-Tem.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13834"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13837,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13834\/revisions\/13837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}