Directed by: Nia DaCosta
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Alfie Williams, Jack O’Connell, Erin Kellyman, Chi Lewis-Parry

The Bone Temple is the sequel to last year’s very good 28 Years Later, which was a fairly low-key affair as zombie movies go and much different than its predecessor, 2007’s 28 Weeks Later. A coming-of-age story dressed in rage-virus clothing, 2025’s 28 Years Later pulled me into an emotional journey with a young boy and his terminally ill mother leaving their isolated island in search of the notorious Dr. Kelson for a cure. I lost my own mother last year, and watching that film immersed me in a story, though simple, that felt more personal than Alex Garland’s other work.

The Bone Temple picks up where the previous film left off. Here we find the young boy Spike (Williams) from the previous film, this time on the quarantined mainland, on his own and involuntarily indoctrinated into a Satanist cult called the Jimmies, led by one Sir Jimmy (O’Connell). Spike is forced to witness their atrocities but refuses to take part. Meanwhile, further into the city, Dr. Ian Kelson (Fiennes) continues to maintain his memorial for the dead (the Bone Temple) and comes across an Alpha zombie he’s named Samson (Lewis-Parry), a vicious killer with long locks who rips people’s skulls out of their bodies. With the help of a morphine treated blow dart, he keeps Samson’s violence at bay and seemingly forms a rapport with the rage-infected Alpha.

Fiennes is excellent as the humanitarian Dr. Kelson, who, in a land where society has completely broken down, serves as the human moral compass – the heart of the film. His performance is especially poignant in these trying times in an America that seems to cater to hate and violence. Dr. Kelson represents the realistic empathy and compassion humans are capable of and lacking from our so-called leaders in office (Garland notes this in his film Civil War).

Williams and O’Connell are great as well, with the latter bringing some dark Clockwork Orange vibes. DaCosta’s direction is very solid. But the main stars here are Fiennes’ artistry and Alex Garland’s very human story. Fiennes’ work alone, though, is reason enough to put this on your must-watch list this year.

Just as in the previous films of the franchise, there is a fair amount of brutality, this time coming from the Jimmies. But Garland is a thoughtful writer, and the violence and gore has its place in the story as well as visual stimuli for fans of the series. The juxtaposition of Dr. Kelson’s presence and the inevitable intersection with the Jimmies provides a satisfying look into human duality.

On the one hand, you have a twisted, amoral cult leader in Sir Jimmy, and on the other, an empathetic, philosophical Kelson, full of thought and humanity. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple has its own conclusion for moviegoers, that the humans who lived and died meant something. My only wish is that the same consideration be given to the humans who live now in the real world. Highly recommended.

Have you seen 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple? What did you think?

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