28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)
★½ — 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)
The 28 Days Later franchise has had a curious life. Danny Boyle's 2002 original arrived quietly and rewrote the rules of British horror almost by accident, turning a low-budget, digitally shot nightmare into a cultural landmark. The 2007 sequel, 28 Weeks Later, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, was a polished but unremarkable follow-up that never quite matched the rawness of what came before. Then, for nearly two decades, the series went quiet. By the time 28 Years Later landed in cinemas in 2025, the franchise had taken on almost mythological status among horror fans, which is a considerable amount of expectation to carry. The Bone Temple arrives hot on its heels as the second part of what is planned as a trilogy, picking up the threads of that returning world and pushing deeper into the consequences of the rage virus for what remains of civilisation in the British Isles.
At the helm this time is Nia DaCosta, who made her name with the well-regarded Candyman continuation in 2021 before stepping into the Marvel universe with The Marvels. Her appointment to a franchise of this size and history felt like an interesting creative bet. The film is a co-production between Columbia Pictures, TSG Entertainment, and DNA Films (the latter having been involved with the series from its earliest days), and runs at 109 minutes. The premise centres on Dr. Kelson finding himself in a situation with consequences that stretch well beyond his own survival, while another thread follows a character called Spike whose encounter with someone known as Jimmy Crystal turns genuinely dark. It is, in other words, a film that arrives carrying both the weight of franchise obligation and the promise of something a little stranger.
The cast is where things get genuinely interesting on paper. Ralph Fiennes leads, and if you have read my thoughts on his work elsewhere on this site, from his voice performance in The Prince of Egypt to his turn in The Grand Budapest Hotel, you will know he is an actor capable of extraordinary range and quiet authority. Jack O'Connell, one of the more reliable young British performers of his generation, appears alongside newcomer Alfie Williams, with Erin Kellyman and Chi Lewis-Parry rounding out the principal ensemble. On the face of it, this is a cast that could carry a great deal. Whether the material gives them room to do so is, of course, the question.
This film in one word. Unnecessary. You could take literally watch 28 days later, then the final 2 minutes of bone temple... and you'd be at the same point. 28 weeks they've abandoned. 28 years was pointless. Bone temple was even worse. BEWARE READING ON... The infected are barely in it. Samson is cured enough to fucking talk after one handful of 28 year old pills... The Jimmy's appear and disappear in this self contained film. It's essentially DLC for 28 years later but completely and utterly without consequence. The full iron maiden concert complete with pyrotechnics that attracted 0 attention from the infected... I'm sorry but this was completely and utterly a flop (as the box office will surely reflect)...
I'll be honest, sitting with this one afterwards was a slightly deflating experience. When a franchise has the goodwill and the source material that this one does, and then squanders it across back-to-back instalments that seem more interested in setting up the next chapter than telling a satisfying story in their own right, it starts to feel less like bold serialised storytelling and more like a cash extraction exercise dressed up in grimy post-apocalyptic clothing. There is real talent both in front of and behind the camera here, and that almost makes it worse. For me, the most frustrating kind of bad film is not the cheap and cheerless one, but the one where you can see exactly how good it should have been. Roll on the third film, I suppose, though I confess I am not holding my breath.
Rating: ★½ | Year: 2026 | Watched: 2026-01-17
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Sky Store
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Sky Store
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Netflix · Netflix Standard with Ads
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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Related on Movies With Macca
More with Ralph Fiennes: The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) · Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) · The Prince of Egypt (1998) · Coriolanus (2011)
More from United Kingdom: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Shinjuku Boys (1995) · The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) · Blue (1993)
More from the 2020s: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · The Long Walk (2025) · Americana (2023)
More horror: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Viy (1967) · Nightmare City (1980) · Angst (1983)
More thriller: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Angst (1983) · The Long Walk (2025) · Punishment Park (1971)
