---
title: "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple"
year: 2026
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/28-years-later-the-bone-temple"
fi1m_id: "28-years-later-the-bone-temple"
imdb_id: "tt32141377"
tmdb_id: 1272837
wikidata_id: "Q129423731"
fi1m_score: 74
critics_score: 82
critics_reviews: 15
published: "2026-09-09"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:45.979599+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)

Directed by Nia DaCosta · 1h 49m · MPA R · Horror, Thriller, Science Fiction

## Identity

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/28-years-later-the-bone-temple
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** 28-years-later-the-bone-temple
- **IMDb ID:** tt32141377
- **TMDB ID:** 1272837
- **Wikidata ID:** Q129423731
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32141377/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1272837, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q129423731

**Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 82 from 15 reviews

*In a sentence:* A doctor, a monster and a tower of skulls; the men in tracksuits can wait outside

> Ralph Fiennes, a tower of skulls and a Duran Duran record give Nia DaCosta’s sequel its best hour. Jack O’Connell’s cult of tracksuited Jimmys gives it its loudest and least interesting, and the film is only as good as whichever half is on screen.

## Synopsis

Twenty-eight years after the Rage virus emptied Britain, the mainland belongs to the infected and to whoever can live alongside them. Spike (Alfie Williams), a boy raised on a fortified island, has fallen in with Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), a self-styled knight whose followers wear tracksuits and blond wigs, take his name and do what he tells them. Elsewhere, Dr Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) goes on building his temple from the bones of the dead, in the company of an infected alpha called Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry). Nia DaCosta directs from a script by Alex Garland; Danny Boyle, who directed *28 Days Later* and *28 Years Later*, produces. Erin Kellyman and Emma Laird are among the Jimmys.

## Review

[*28 Days Later*](https://film.one/film/28-days-later) came out in 2002. This is the fourth film and the first not directed by Danny Boyle. Nia DaCosta takes the chair, Alex Garland writes, and the story picks up where [*28 Years Later*](https://film.one/film/28-years-later) (2025) left it. Spike (Alfie Williams), the boy who walked off the island, has fallen in with Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) and his followers, who wear tracksuits and blond wigs and are all called Jimmy. Elsewhere, Dr Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) is still stacking skulls into his tower and has acquired a companion, an infected alpha called Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry). It is a good film for about half its length and a hard, loud, less interesting one for the rest.

The Kelson half is the one we would send you to. Fiennes plays the doctor as a man who has kept his manners and his vocabulary in a country with no use for either. Lewis-Parry, under the prosthetics, listens, and does more with a tilt of the head than most of the cast manage with dialogue. The scene in which Kelson puts on Duran Duran and dances, with Samson swaying opposite him among the bones, is as odd as it sounds. We laughed, and then we stopped laughing, because Fiennes is not playing it for a laugh. He is playing a lonely man who has found company. A later scene between them under a full moon, almost without words, moved us more than a film with this much blood in it had any right to.

The other half belongs to Jimmy Crystal, and it is a harder sell. O’Connell commits: the bob, the shell suit, the patter, a smile that never reaches anyone, and the resemblance to a particular disgraced television presenter is the point of the costume. His Jimmys, among them Erin Kellyman’s Jimmy Ink, Emma Laird’s Jimmima and Connor Newall’s Jimmy Shite, hurt people because he tells them to, and the film shows this at length. We were horrified the first time, as we were meant to be. By the time it had happened again, and again, we were tired, which we were not. Garland has written a cult whose whole creed is cruelty and Jimmy’s face, and once you have grasped that, the scenes have nothing new to tell you.

DaCosta and her crew are better than the weaker half of the script. Sean Bobbitt keeps the camera close on faces inside the temple and pulls back to wide, empty country whenever the Jimmys are on the move. Gareth Pugh and Carson McColl, credited for both costume and production design, have built the tower as a structure you could walk round, and they dress the Jimmys like a boys’ football team gone badly wrong. Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score sits low, mostly drone and strings, and clears out when the pop records come on. Jake Roberts’s cuts between the strands are clean; the trouble is that one strand keeps interrupting the other.

It is a middle film and it behaves like one. Threads from *28 Years Later* are picked up or put down without a word, and the ending, which we will not describe, is more an invitation to the next instalment than a conclusion to this one. At 109 minutes it is not long, but the Jimmy scenes make it feel longer. Garland puts his argument on a plate: reason against fanaticism, the doctor against the priest.

Set against the series’ own standard, this is a strange entry. *28 Days Later* frightened people because its infected ran and because the film declined to explain them. *The Bone Temple* has almost no interest in the infected except as company for a lonely man; its monsters wear tracksuits. Most critics have admired that choice more than we do. We think the film is at its best when it is quiet, and it is not quiet often enough.

See it for Fiennes, and for Lewis-Parry, whose performance under all that latex deserves more notice than it will get. Sit through the rest. The 18 certificate is earned several times over, and if you can bear that, the temple is worth the visit.

*Fi1m score 74, published 9 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews are uniformly favourable and the spread is narrow: nobody dislikes it, and the argument is only over how much of it works. Praise clusters almost entirely on Ralph Fiennes as Dr Kelson, whom most critics call the film’s centre, with several singling out a scene in which he dances to a 1980s record among the bones. Jack O’Connell’s cult leader draws admiration too, and Nia DaCosta is credited with a darker, bloodier and funnier film than its predecessor, one that turns its attention from the infected to human cruelty.

The reservations, where they appear, gather around the Jimmies subplot. Sight and Sound finds it misjudged and the film too conventional to stand on its own, and Den of Geek thinks the sadism familiar and some sequences needlessly unpleasant beside the quieter Kelson material. A few miss the wider world of the last film. Nobody argues that Fiennes is anything other than the reason to watch.

## Straight answers

**Is 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple worth watching?**

*28 Years Later: The Bone Temple* is worth watching for Ralph Fiennes and Chi Lewis-Parry, and we scored it 74. Their scenes in the skull tower are quiet, odd and unexpectedly moving; the half given over to Jack O'Connell's tracksuited cult is loud, repetitive and much less interesting. Go for the doctor and his monster, and sit through the Jimmys.

**How long is 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and what is it rated?**

*28 Years Later: The Bone Temple* runs 1h 49m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a horror and thriller film.

**Where can I watch 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple in the US?**

*28 Years Later: The Bone Temple* is streaming on Netflix in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from $5.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and is it suitable for children?**

*28 Years Later: The Bone Temple* carries an 18 certificate in the UK and an R in the US, and earns it several times over. The cult scenes show people being hurt at length and on purpose, and the temple is built from human bones; the film is not for children, and squeamish adults should think twice. The frights come less from the infected than from what the healthy do.

**How does 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple compare to 28 Years Later?**

*28 Years Later: The Bone Temple* is stranger and less frightening than [*28 Years Later*](https://film.one/film/28-years-later), and on balance the earlier film is the better of the two. Boyle's film is a horror film about the infected with a misjudged final five minutes; DaCosta's has little interest in the infected at all and splits its time between a gentle doctor and a cruel cult. If you want scares, watch the earlier one; if you want Fiennes, this one.

**Do you need to have seen the other 28 Days Later films before 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple?**

*28 Years Later: The Bone Temple* is a middle film and does not stand alone; you should see [*28 Years Later*](https://film.one/film/28-years-later) first. It picks up exactly where that film left off, carries over Spike, Dr Kelson and the Jimmys without reintroducing them, and ends by pointing at a further instalment. [*28 Days Later*](https://film.one/film/28-days-later) is useful background but not required to follow the story.

**What should I watch after 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple?**

After *28 Years Later: The Bone Temple*, try [*28 Days Later*](https://film.one/film/28-days-later) (2002, Fi1m 77): Where it began: an empty London, running infected, and no explanations offered. Then [*Kill List*](https://film.one/film/kill-list) (2011, Fi1m 82): Ben Wheatley’s hitmen film that turns into something older and far nastier; and [*The Wicker Man*](https://film.one/film/the-wicker-man) (1973, Fi1m 90): The British template for a cheerful island community with its own ideas about worship.

**What order should I watch the 28 Days Later films in?**

Release order is the safe choice for 28 Days Later, and it is the order [our collection page](https://film.one/collections/28-days-later) lists them in. *28 Years Later: The Bone Temple* is the most recent of the 4 28 Days Later titles on Fi1m; before it comes [*28 Years Later*](https://film.one/film/28-years-later). [The full order.](https://film.one/collections/28-days-later.md)

### Reviews we read (20)

- **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): The critic calls this the finest entry in the 28 franchise by a wide margin, praising its energy, drama and the phenomenal performances of Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell in a gruesome, human-focused fourquel. Fiennes’s extraordinary dance scene to Iron Maiden stands out as a career highlight. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jan/13/28-years-later-the-bone-temple-review-ralph-fiennes-is-phenomenal-in-best-chapter-yet-of-zombie-horror)
- **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (90/100, inferred): The review deems the film glorious for its psychologically acute exploration of characters mentally frozen in the past and a coherent vision of human cruelty. It praises the subtle ideas amid flamboyant elements like dance parties and a climactic heavy-metal sequence. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-28-years-later-the-bone-temple-is-glorious.html)
- **Empire**, Olly Richards (85/100, inferred): DaCosta delivers a satisfyingly complete and often superior sequel that is simpler but bolder and bloodier than its predecessor. The film excels in tension-building horror and features strong performances, particularly from Jack O’Connell and Ralph Fiennes in eccentric roles. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/28-years-later-the-bone-temple/)
- **Variety**, Peter Debruge (85/100, inferred): Nia DaCosta nimbly directs a darker, more disturbing entry focused on Ralph Fiennes' deranged doctor and Jack O'Connell's Satanist cult leader. It delivers bold, mind-bending work with shocking violence and philosophical depth for a zombie movie with brains. [Read](https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/28-years-later-the-bone-temple-review-ralph-fiennes-1236630014/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Amy Nicholson (80/100, inferred): DaCosta delivers a smart splatter horror film blending low and highbrow elements with absurdist humor and graphic gore. Ralph Fiennes gives a bravura comic-manic performance as the intellectual Dr. Kelson who forms an unlikely bond with an alpha zombie. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2026-01-15/28-years-later-bone-temple-review-ralph-fiennes-jack-o-connell-alfie-williams-nia-da-costa)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney (80/100, inferred): The critic respects the film's grandiose insanity and highlights Ralph Fiennes' magnificent, erudite yet feral performance as Dr. Ian Kelson. Despite some unevenness, it delivers enough carnage, ritual sacrifice, and a satisfying coda to appeal to horror fans. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/28-years-later-the-bone-temple-review-ralph-fiennes-1236472050/)
- **The Observer**, Guy Lodge (80/100, inferred): Nia DaCosta’s absurdist extension surprises by going in its own direction with fresh, cockeyed humour while remaining grisly fun. The unhurried collision between O’Connell’s and Fiennes’s characters, plus the talky contemplative tone, make it rewarding and a welcome reminder that the best sequels try something new. [Read](https://observer.co.uk/culture/film/article/how-to-make-a-successful-sequel)
- **The Telegraph**, Robbie Collin (4/5): The film is an elegy for a once-great nation fallen into ruin, with Fiennes providing its moral centre as the bone-temple builder and O’Connell delivering fiendish allure as the Savile-styled cult leader. DaCosta stages disturbing violence effectively behind the gore and songs. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2026/01/13/28-years-later-the-bone-temple-review/)
- **Total Film**, Will Salmon (80/100, inferred): The film is positioned as the wildest and weirdest entry in the franchise yet, offering a visceral and exciting continuation of the revived series. It builds on the established world with bold, demented energy while maintaining strong horror elements. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/horror-movies/28-years-later-the-bone-temple-review/)
- **The New Yorker** (75/100, inferred): The sequel shifts focus from zombies to human evil, particularly the sadistic Jimmys cult. Ralph Fiennes delivers a witty and poignant performance amid visceral horror and meditative moments. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-current-cinema/nia-dacosta-injects-new-blood-into-28-years-later-the-bone-temple)
- **The Times**, Tom Shone (75/100, inferred): The sequel is weird and bizarre, highlighted by Fiennes dancing with a zombie to Duran Duran amid morphine and bones, plus the odious Jimmy Savile cult. The slender plot centres on the theological clash between the Jimmies and the doctor, delivered with stomach-churning violence. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/a-cast-so-odious-you-want-them-to-get-eaten-by-zombies-6vrjzzn25)
- **Financial Times**, Danny Leigh (★★★★☆): Directed by Nia DaCosta, the film is the saga’s most enjoyable entry yet, richly singular and bittersweet with enquiring depth, topped by glossy 1980s pop and Fiennes adding meat to the bone-crazed doctor role. A strangely lovely scene of unlikely pals under a full moon exemplifies its tone. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/2cb5aaa1-9813-4727-9b9e-0cec0f48d616)
- **Sight and Sound**: This is a conventional franchise instalment that continues the story without being entirely satisfactory on its own. The Jimmies arc is misjudged, but the embrace of Duran Duran as Dr Kelson's favourite band and Fiennes' performance are highlights. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/28-years-later-bone-temple-zombie-franchise-rolls-fuelled-blood-guts-duran-duran)
- **The New York Times**, Alissa Wilkinson (Critic’s Pick): The film explores themes of good and evil through biblical and pagan allusions in a post-apocalyptic zombie setting. Nia DaCosta directs ably, emphasizing the unsubtle yet fitting high-concept metaphors from Alex Garland's script. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/movies/28-years-later-the-bone-temple-review.html)
- **HeyUGuys**, Linda Marric (5/5): The film deepens and darkens the franchise while standing powerfully on its own as a bleak, gripping, and surprisingly emotional horror entry. It is a real triumph for director Nia DaCosta. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/28-years-later-the-bone-temple-2/)
- **/Film**, Chris Evangelista (8/10): DaCosta has created a violent, energetic, impressive sequel that advances the story in unexpected places and reminds viewers that humans are the real monsters. It is gory and pulpier than its predecessor but fresh and invigorating. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/2074962/28-years-later-the-bone-temple-review/)
- **Polygon**, Jake Kleinman (80/100, inferred): Nia DaCosta succeeds in delivering a strong middle entry that elevates the franchise with a capable follow-up widening the post-apocalyptic world through comedy and grotesque horror. It focuses on the clash between Dr. Ian Kelson and the violent Satanist Jimmy in a good-vs-evil showdown, though some may miss broader worldbuilding from the prior film. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/28-year-later-bone-temple-review/)
- **Den of Geek**, David Crow (3.5/5): The critic finds the meditative storyline centered on Ralph Fiennes' Dr. Kelson far more compelling than the familiar cruel sadism of the Jimmy subplot. Fiennes' performance and the film's exploration of anti-intellectualism earn praise, though some sequences are overly nihilistic and unpleasant. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/28-years-later-the-bone-temple-review-see-ralph-fiennes-rage/)
- **Deadline**, Damon Wise: The critic calls it the nastiest and possibly best entry in the series, with grisly kills and a return-to-roots feel under Nia DaCosta's direction. Ralph Fiennes delivers a tour-de-force performance as Dr. Kelson, and the film explores the loss of civilization through horror without heavy-handed subtext. [Read](https://deadline.com/2026/01/28-years-later-the-bone-temple-review-nia-dacosta-ralph-fiennes-1236680553/)
- **The Wrap**: The critic deems it an excellent sequel that narrows focus to intimate character stories while exploring a biblical battle between science/reason (represented by Ralph Fiennes' Dr. Kelson) and heartless religion/fanaticism (Jack O'Connell's Jimmy cult). It finds connective tissue between the two without feeling preachy and delivers dramatic fascination and horror. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/28-years-later-the-bone-temple-review-ralph-fiennes-nia-dacosta/)

## Details

- **Director:** Nia DaCosta
- **Director:** Nia DaCosta
- **Writer:** Alex Garland
- **Cinematography:** Sean Bobbitt
- **Editor:** Jake Roberts
- **Music:** Hildur Guðnadóttir
- **Production design:** Carson McColl, Gareth Pugh
- **Costume design:** Carson McColl, Gareth Pugh
- **Producer:** Alex Garland, Danny Boyle, Andrew Macdonald
- **Cast:** Jack O'Connell as Sir Jimmy Crystal; Alfie Williams as Spike; Erin Kellyman as Jimmy Ink; Ralph Fiennes as Dr. Kelson; Chi Lewis-Parry as Samson; Connor Newall as Jimmy Shite; Maura Bird as Jimmy Jones; Ghazi Al Ruffai as Jimmy Snake
- **Runtime:** 1h 49m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 16 January 2026
- **Genres:** Horror, Thriller, Science Fiction
- **Part of:** [28 Days Later](https://film.one/collections/28-days-later.md) · 4 of 4
- **Budget:** $63 million
- **Box office:** $59 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl_DJZCyEH4

## Where to watch in the US

- Netflix: streaming
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $5.99, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $19.99, uhd

*Checked 2026-09-10.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TH, TR, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *28 Days Later* (2002), Fi1m 77: Where it began: an empty London, running infected, and no explanations offered. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/28-days-later.md)
- *Kill List* (2011), Fi1m 82: Ben Wheatley’s hitmen film that turns into something older and far nastier. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/kill-list.md)
- *The Wicker Man* (1973), Fi1m 90: The British template for a cheerful island community with its own ideas about worship. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-wicker-man.md)
- *Threads* (1984), Fi1m 92: Sheffield after the bomb, plainly filmed, and still the bleakest thing on British television. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/threads.md)
- *Train to Busan* (2016), Fi1m 84: Korean infected film that keeps its monsters fast and its people worth saving. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/train-to-busan.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/28-years-later-the-bone-temple