'28 Years Later: The Bone Temple' Review: A Haunting Character Study Exploring Humanity's Ruin

By Elliot Lines - January 13, 2026

Film

An 18-year gap sat between 28 Weeks Later and last year’s 28 Years Later. Now, just six months on, the next instalment of the zombie horror franchise is about to hit cinemas. 28 Years Later treaded new ground years after the ‘Rage’ virus consumed humanity, but perhaps its most intriguing aspect was its character work, especially in the final scenes. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple further explores the quirky people left behind in this world. If you’re expecting a traditional zombie movie, you may be surprised — this is a character study of mankind’s demise.

The talking point prior to 28 Years Later fixated on one particular character: Sir Jimmy Crystal and his ragtag gang of “Power Rangers.” Brightly coloured tracksuits saved Spike from certain death, and it’s here that the story picks up. This is a group of unhinged individuals, brainwashed by Sir Jimmy (Jack O’Connell) to follow his sadistic ways.

The film explores this group to great extent — and rightly so — as it lays bare the depths of hell humanity has fallen to since the ‘Rage’ virus hit. Not only do they hunt the innocent for what seems like their own entertainment, they show little allegiance to one another, at least when Jimmy decides that’s the case. In these moments, torture becomes performance: laughing, joking, and revelling in their perceived right to inflict suffering, while Spike, terrified and powerless, exists solely to survive another day.

The second focus of The Bone Temple is a character introduced in 28 Years Later: Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes). While the first film delved deep into his psyche, here we’re invited to go even further. The film leans heavily into what isolation has done to this man, finding connection in the most unlikely of places — that of an Alpha. It’s only when Kelson’s path collides with Jimmy’s that both men are truly tested, culminating in what can only be described as a drug-induced theatre production set to Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast — a sequence likely to stand as one of the year’s most unforgettable moments.

Jack O’Connell delivers a commanding, deeply unsettling turn as Sir Jimmy Crystal, balancing charm and menace in a way that makes his control over the "The Jimmy's" feel both absurd and terrifying. There’s a performative cruelty to his presence, as though violence itself is part of the character’s theatre, and O’Connell leans into that with unnerving confidence. Ralph Fiennes, by contrast, offers something far more internalised as Dr. Kelson, giving a restrained yet emotionally raw performance that reflects the psychological toll of prolonged isolation. Together, their opposing energies anchor The Bone Temple, embodying two very different, but equally disturbing, responses to a world long past saving.

Nia DaCosta’s directorial work up to this point has impressed. The Marvels, however flawed (what Marvel film isn’t these days), was a film I had plenty of fun with, while Candyman (2021) delivered a haunting atmosphere and genuinely disturbing themes. Her work on The Bone Temple is further proof of her competency behind the camera, as she successfully establishes the apocalyptic tone set by the previous films, with the human element clearly taking centre stage.

However, the story doesn’t expand much beyond what we already know, and the zombie element feels almost like an afterthought — as it so often is. While the character study is largely engaging, there are moments where it seems to forget the very world it’s set in.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple may frustrate those craving relentless horror or expansive world-building, but that feels largely by design. This is a film far more interested in the rot within humanity than the monsters that roam outside it, using the apocalypse as a backdrop rather than a driving force. While it doesn’t always justify side-lining its infected, DaCosta’s focus on fractured minds and moral collapse generates an unease that’s subtle rather than explosive, but no less disturbing. The Bone Temple isn’t a definitive evolution of the franchise, but it is a bold, character-led detour — one that lingers long after the chaos subsides.

'28 Year Later: The Bone Temple' releases in UK cinemas January 14, and in the US on January 16.

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