It takes a mighty special filmmaker to reboot the Candyman series and then turn around and do a Black gay update of Henrik Ibsen. Nia DaCosta is that director, and I’ve referenced her Hedda several times in my year-end film coverage for 2025. Contemporary horror and classical theater — how’s that for range? (And not for nothing, I liked what she did with The Marvels better than most of my colleagues did.)
When I heard last summer that she was taking over the 28 Years Later zombie series, I was encouraged. I will admit, though, that her 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple surpassed even my expectations. The best movie in the series is more focused on atmosphere and character without losing the thrills that you anticipate from a zombie movie.
When we left our characters last summer, Spike (Alfie Williams) had fallen into the hands of an evangelical zombie hunter who calls himself Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), and he is bad news indeed. He calls all his disciples “Jimmy”, and he makes Spike fight to the death against one of them. The boy unexpectedly succeeds in killing the older acolyte, and Sir Lord Jimmy lets out a sarcastic “Aw!” as he watches his most loyal follower bleed to death. Spike’s prize is taking the dead boy’s place and watching the others torture and murder uninfected survivors whom they come across.
Screenwriter Alex Garland remains on board with the project, and he creates a fairly terrifying villain in Sir Lord Jimmy, who proclaims himself the messenger of a Satanic god he calls “Old Nick” and declares dominion over all he surveys. You likely remember O’Connell portraying the head vampire in Sinners, and here he conjures an entirely different type of monster with a heavy beard and a heavier northern England accent who knows how to manipulate the traumatized young ones under his command. (British viewers will also recognize his imitation of Sir Jimmy Savile, the beloved real-life children’s TV host and philanthropist who molested kids, elderly people, and corpses for more than 50 years without being stopped.) His messianic cult stylings help center the film.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) is revealed to be a huge Duran Duran fan, and as he tries to make his way to the ordinary world, he has learned to survive. DaCosta juxtaposes that song to good effect with the doctor’s attempts to domesticate and perhaps cure the huge, long-haired zombie whom he calls “Samson” (Chi Lewis-Parry). The two halves of the story come together when one of the Jimmys (Erin Kellyman) spots him pacifying Samson with morphine-tipped darts, and she mistakes him for Old Nick. This leads to the movie’s bravura set piece, when the doctor convinces the other Jimmys that he is indeed Old Nick by blasting “The Number of the Beast” from his audio system and putting on a pyrotechnic show that would shame Iron Maiden themselves. The scene does more than give some levity and showmanship to what has been a somber series, it also comments on how easily the Jimmys are led astray by some stage tricks.
An unfortunate side effect of all this is that Spike is reduced to a bystander for much of the movie. However, I appreciate how The Bone Temple is a story that takes place inside the world of the 28 Years Later movies without misplacing the character of the preceding films, and adds to the franchise’s world building without forgetting the story. Spike’s adventures through this world will continue, and he is changed by his encounters with Kelson and Sir Lord Jimmy. As long as DaCosta keeps her hand on the rudder, there’s reason to have faith in the series.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Starring Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell. Directed by Nia DaCosta. Written by Alex Garland. Rated R.
