"28 Years Later: The Bone Temple" is more than a sequel — it's a masterpiece

 How’s that?

Directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Alex Garland, "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple" is the fourth installment of the movie series that seamlessly blends horror and humanity with an unexpected delicateness.

The plot is a simple continuation of the "28 Years" franchise, but where the film lacks in narrative, it makes up for in depth and ambiguity. At a runtime of 1 hour and 49 minutes, it is easy to miss all of the small details incorporated into each scene.

Interestingly enough, Danny Boyle, who directed both the first installment, "28 Days Later," and the 2025 third installment "28 Years Later," passed his directorial torch to DaCosta. The crew filmed the two movies back-to-back in three months with rapid succession. Boyle filmed the first “28 Years” simultaneously while DaCosta worked on "The Bone Temple," resulting in intersecting locations, cast, and production.

“I inherited an amazing cast, then I was given leeway to cast the rest of the film,” said DaCosta at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2025.

“There were a couple of locations I inherited. I was given leeway to develop all the other locations. Some of it overlapped, like the character Samson — Danny and I would collaborate a bit on the look, but at the end of the day, Danny shoots so differently from the way I shoot.”

It is evident that the two movies were filmed consecutively; not only from production design in the costumes and atmosphere, but the seamless transitions of plot and character development. DaCosta’s directing style is quite different from Boyle’s distinct style, but it works. 

It works very well.

“The Bone Temple” effortlessly carries the plot of the third installment by introducing us to the world of Satan worshipper “Sir Lord” Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell) and his gaggle of “Fingers.”

Spike (Alfie Williams), a 12-year-old boy grieving the losses witnessed in the previous film, is forced into Sir Jimmy’s cult and is renamed “Jimmy” to match the other members (or Fingers), much to Spike’s disdain. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) has befriended an Alpha Infected (or to put quite literally, zombie), Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry), with morphine blowdarts in order to reduce the rage implemented by the Rage Virus. Regardless of Samson’s lack of communication, the unlikely pair spend most of their time together, drugged and content. Kelson studies Samson’s behavior and is convinced that he can remedy the virus through morphine and a range of other pharmaceuticals that typically cure psychosis. 

Through numerous gruesome, gory, and disturbing sequences revolving around Sir Jimmy and his Fingers, Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman) discovers Kelson socializing with Samson and mistakes the doctor for Satan himself, due to his iodine-covered skin and ossuary bone temples. 

Upon hearing about Kelson’s appearance, Sir Jimmy quickly wishes to speak with him and has been convinced his entire life that he is the son of Satan. The two converse and Sir Jimmy soon learns that Kelson is, in fact, not Satan, but a mere survivalist doctor who conducts ritualistic practices for the diseased.

Photo Credit - Sony Pictures

In an interview with Fangoria, Ralph Fiennes (Dr. Ian Kelson) touches upon the directorial styles: “Nia was quite delicately forensic with the closeups. I can remember a scene with Jack and me where she just kept on letting us find little subtle things. She gave time, actually, a lot of time, whereas Danny, he’s much more instinctive.

“Danny will see quite quickly that he’s got it,” Fiennes continues. “He knows what he wants and he’ll know when it’s there. He’s got a strong sense of what he needs, and that probably speaks to his experience. He’s made so many films and he just goes, ‘That’s the moment.’ Directors who’ve done many films, I think they know they need two good takes which they can take away with.”

DaCosta’s delicate and almost intimate approach with each scene is what makes the film so unique from the others. It is a zombie tetralogy — but it is humanely surfaced. As a matter of fact, DaCosta, who has previously directed notable films such as "Candyman," "Hedda," and "The Marvels," advocated for more Infected to be included in the film after viewing Garland’s script.

“One of the issues I had with (my past films) was the lack of a really solid script, which is always gonna just wreak havoc on the whole process,” said DaCosta at the 2025 Edinburgh International Film Festival. “But Alex Garland hands you a script and you’re like, ‘This is amazing.’ You don’t really have to change it, although I did — I basically asked for more Infected.”

Garland launched his career when he published his 1996 novel "The Beach," which Boyle and producer Andrew MacDonald discovered and bought the rights to. The 2000 movie under the same name was directed by Boyle and penned by Garland, seemingly launching his screenwriting career.

During this time, Garland had been working on the script for "28 Days Later," taking inspiration from George Romero’s "Night of the Living Dead." "28 Days Later" was released in 2002, with Boyle directing and MacDonald producing, which sparked the beginning of an epic series that the world hadn’t anticipated.

Another factor to this overwhelming artistry is not only the beautiful cinematography (by cinematographer Sean Bobbitt) but also the utilization of music. Kelson’s reminiscent character has a variety of records (from Radiohead to Iron Maiden) playing through most of his scenes — most notably, Duran Duran.

The scene that encompasses Radiohead's "Everything in Its Right Place" is absolutely a marvelous piece of cinema. The song starts loud, overlapping various nature shots, reflecting simple and wistful sentiments, but then slowly grows quieter as we realize Kelson has this, too, playing from a record in his bunker. 

Overall, this film deserves more credibility than what it has received. Though it feels like a little pocket of something much bigger, it is packed with details, symbolism, and dynamic, real characters that bloom on-screen. Yes, zombies exist in this world, but they are still human, and this notion is conveyed effortlessly through each ambition. 

“There’s an opportunity for redemption in this storyline and the narrative of hope that humanity can prevail once again. Because the Infected are people. They might be consumed by rage, but they are still people,” said Chi Lewis-Parry (the Alpha Infected Samson) in an interview with Fangoria.

“And while humanity has isolated this island and given up on its inhabitants, this one man, who has seen it all and been through it all, has said, ‘You know what? My ethics as a doctor, as a human being, sees something in you, sees beyond your rage.’ And it speaks of how humans ultimately treat each other today, which is sad,” said Lewis-Parry.

“28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” is available to stream on Netflix with a subscription.

At a glance:

“28 Years Later: The Bone Temple”

• Directed by: Nia DaCosta 

• Written by: Alex Garland

• Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Chi Lewis-Parry

• Rating: R

• Rating: ★★★★★

• The film was released on Jan. 16 with a 92% in Rotten Tomatoes and a runtime of 1hour and 49 minutes, grossing about $58.5 million worldwide.

• Both “28 Years Later” and “The Bone Temple” were directed by different people and shot back-to-back.

• Ralph Fiennes during an interview with Fangoria: “There’s something delicately forensic with Nia and something incredibly spontaneous, and then, propulsive about Danny.

Sir Jimmy and the remaining "Fingers"
Photo Credit - Sony Pictures

Chi Lewis-Parry as Samson
Photo Credit - Sony Pictures