28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is the unnecessary follow-up to last year’s unnecessary sequel, 28 Years Later.
With both films, it makes me ask: What is Danny Boyle‘s obsession with Jimmy Savile?! Very suspect.
And yes, the directorial credit, this time, goes to Nia DaCosta (The Marvels IMAX 3D), but Boyle’s still behind the scenes, pulling all the strings.
This time round, Spike’s (Alfie Williams) still stuck with the ‘Jimmies’, including Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman – Eleanor The Great), and led by Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell – Sinners) – who refers to them as his ‘Fingers’, and we first see him being encouraged to fight to the death with another one of them, and despite the stench of death that will go from the zombies, you’d think the remaining humans would do what they can to stay alive, so why does this bunch spend their days going round killing people, including flaying some that they come across?
Meanwhile, the ‘Alpha zombie’ from the last film, Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry – Gladiator II) – who I kept thinking of as morelike Jason Momoa – is seen killing other zombies, one by ripping their head and spine right out with a single strike, before meeting up with Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes – The Choral), who still needs a good shower… okay, so he’s covered himself with iodine to “prevent infection“. Hmm… in a zombie-filled world, I think THAT boat has sailed!
In fact, Kelson is also a big fan of Duran Duran, playing Girls On Film, Ordinary World and Rio, throough the course of the film, the opening refrain of the latter also nicely introducing a scene, before it cuts short. I wonder how many other people spotted that?
Oh, and there’s Radiohead’s Everything In Its Right Place also introducing another scene. As duff as this film is, it was nice to hear that through the speakers.
Adding in a trio of humans that are also trying to keep out of sight of the zombies, including Louis Ashbourne Serkis (Out There), who has about as much screen presence as a baked potato, and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is still as much plotless drivel as the last one.
Plus, at one point, Kelson makes a Spinal Tap reference with, “Let’s Turn This Up To 11”, even though the whole point of that original scene is that Nigel Tufnel never understood that it was no louder than ’10’ – he’d just relabelled the amp.
Overall, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple just comes across like a random set of disparate ideas which should’ve been left on the drawing board.
On the plus side with this film, it’s shot in a more traditional 2.39:1 aspect ratio, unlike 28 Years Later‘s crazy-wide 2.76:1 aspect ratio, which was madness. No cinema screen, these days, gets wider than 2.39:1. So why do it?!
Note that these two films were shot back-to-back, but just before this one’s release, the studio confirmed that the third film will go ahead. However, nothing has yet been filmed, so don’t expect that follow-up to come around in another seven months. Danny Boyle is set to direct again, but FFS, just keep the aspect ratio to 2.39:1. Yes, the original two films were in 1.85:1, but we now have this wider ratio for the newer films, so may as well stick with it.
While this film at least looks nice, about the only interesting thing is…
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on 4K Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray Steelbook, Blu-ray and DVD.
NOTE: There are no mid- nor post-credits scenes.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 109 minutes
Release date: January 14th 2026
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (Anamorphic Apollo Scope, Anamorphic Servicevision)
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 4/10
Director: Nia DaCosta
Producers: Bernard Bellew, Danny Boyle, Alex Garland, Andrew Macdonald, Peter Rice
Screenplay: Alex Garland
Music: Hildur Guðnadóttir
Cast:
Dr. Ian Kelson: Ralph Fiennes
Sir Jimmy Crystal: Jack O’Connell
Spike: Alfie Williams
Samson: Chi Lewis-Parry
Jimmy Shite: Connor Newall
Jimmy Ink: Erin Kellyman
Jimmy Jones: Maura Bird
Jimmy Snake: Ghazi Al Ruffai
Jimmy Jimmy: Robert Rhodes
Jimmima: Emma Laird
Jimmy Fox: Sam Locke
Cathy: Mirren Mack
Jonno: Gordon Alexander
Tom: Louis Ashbourne Serkis
George: David Sterne
Matthew: Elliot Benn
Jane Ji: Lynne Anne Rodgers
And one more…
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.