28 Years Later: The Bone Temple review – A supremely satisfying horror thrill ride with unexpected depth ...Middle East

The shift in tone in the final few minutes of 2025’s first film in the 28 Years Later trilogy wrong-footed viewers of Danny Boyle's return to celebrated horror franchise. As the sombre narrative of a young family’s struggles in a world long ravaged by apocalyptic disease came to a close, the director chose to bookend the tale with a blackly comic wave of terror propagated by a maniacal gang who bizarrely resembled something in-between the Teletubbies and a certain disgraced broadcaster.

It was a compelling twist to the saga which begun back in 2002 with 28 Days Later, hinting that the fourth entry in the franchise would be a very different kettle of fish – not necessarily played for full-on laughs, but certainly less ponderous than the perpetually grim bulk of its predecessor.

And so it proves, because this is the point where writer Alex Garland’s three-screenplay arc gains considerable momentum, courtesy of a deeper delve into its lead characters, a heightened sense of jeopardy and consequences, and inventively choreographed gore peppered with the some surprisingly decent gags.

At its centre, The Bone Temple is a battle between good and evil, with Ralph Fiennes’ returning maverick medic Dr Ian Kelson seeking a cure to the virus that laid waste to the nation, and Jack O’Connell’s 'Sir' Jimmy Crystal peddling slaughter as the bedrock of his quasi-religious cult.

Director Nia DaCosta, taking over from Danny Boyle, makes us wait for the battle proper, though, as the Fiennes and O’Connell characters don’t come face to face until past the halfway mark in proceedings, by which time the motivations of both have been firmly established.

We open on Alfie Williams’ plucky but troubled pre-teen Spike from the previous chapter, now a reluctant member of the 'Jimmies'. Forced to earn his spurs in a fight-to-the-death initiation against another O’Connell acolyte, Spike likely regrets the direction his life has taken as he learns more about Jimmy Crystal’s belief system and his declaration that he is the true Satanic son of “Old Nick.”

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Fiennes, meanwhile, is following a more scientific path, attempting to domesticate one of the most physically imposing infected "Alphas" he names Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry). He does this not through intense one-to-one therapy, but instead via drug-filled darts and a steady stream of bygone Duran Duran hits - an endearing variation on Professor Henry Higgins and flower girl Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady.

It occasionally feels like DaCosta’s vision of dystopia is being filtered through the lens of an ‘80s music video, especially so when a pivotal scene is played out to a soundtrack of Iron Maiden’s heavy metal banger The Number Of The Beast, but it’s an allowable level of gloss that enriches the spectacle without distracting from Fiennes’s or O’Connell’s end games.

Williams, the beating human heart of the first instalment in the trilogy, has less to do this time around, although his anxious reactions to the Jimmies’ relentless mayhem still impress as the film’s moral compass of sorts.

It’s a toss-up as to who grabs the attention most gloriously; Fiennes as the man-of-medicine survivalist routinely capable of savagery but with a ready quip and a glint in his eye, or O’Connell as the persuasive opportunist manipulating his disciples into unspeakable violence.

Both actors imbue events with personality, bringing rich textures to the story that have been largely missing since 28 Days Later, resulting in a supremely satisfying horror thrill ride with unexpected depth.

There are loose ends to the narrative, the fate of supporting characters unresolved, but there’s a third Garland script to come (with Boyle confirmed as returning to the director’s chair) before anyone starts thinking of filing a missing persons report.

That third film’s contents are teased in the epilogue to The Bone Temple, with a very familiar face from the franchise’s beginnings called into action again, for one last frenzied feast with (hopefully) plenty of crowd-pleasing flavour.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is now showing in UK cinemas. 

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