It is incredibly rare that a sequel completely outdoes the previous movie in a saga like the 28 Days-Weeks-Years Later movies. I did not care for 28 Years Later. It felt episodic, melodramatic, and the best parts of the movie were with Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes). Well, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple brings in Nia DaCosta as director and keeps Alex Garland as the screenwriter. If you were intrigued by the final 5 minutes of the previous film with the Jimmys and Spike, you’ll be even more intrigued by them in this film. That’s part of the story on display here, that feels both smaller in scale than the last film, and simultaneously for Dr. Kelson, gigantic.

The melodrama of the first film is replaced by a very real human element that almost anyone can resonate with. Spike’s journey with the Jimmys might be the least interesting part of a film that dives deep into what it means to be human. For fans of the ultra-violence of the first film, there’s also still plenty of that, and then some.

It continues where the first film left off, Spike (Alfie Williams) is now in the hands of Jimmy and his gang of Jimmys. The opening scene sets the tone for being uncomfortable and how they operate. It’s a duel to the death between Spike and another Jimmy that is part of his hand of “seven fingers”. They’re comprised of Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), Jimmima (Emma Laird), Jimmy Jimmy (Robert Rhodes), Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman), Jimmy Jones (Maura Bird), Jimmy Fox (Sam Locke), and Jimmy Snake (Ghazi Al Ruffai). That opening scene unease continues into what’s going on with Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry) and Dr. Kelson.

Kelson realizes that Samson is coming to him to be sedated, and he gets to work on something that could change the course of the Rage Virus pandemic. This relationship is kind of the crux of the film this time around. Samson and Kelson hanging out on morphine and just staring at the moon or into the sky is touching. At a certain point, we see the previous life of Samson before the outbreak, which lends itself to one of the more frightening scenes of the movie. Chi Lewis-Parry gives a fantastic performance among plenty of electric performances from the cast. He has to basically play two versions of the same character, one as Samson the Alpha, and one as the more human version.

Eventually, the Jimmy gang shows off their brutality with a family of survivors that they find. Jimmy says that “Old Nick” is talking to him, and wants to spread his charity across the land to human survivors. This charity means taking off “their clothes”, either their shirts or pants. And by that, he means skinning people alive. Of the Jimmy gang, Jimmy Ink is given the most to work with, as she’s the most questioning of Jimmy Crystal and his ideas. The whole thing goes awry, and some of the Jimmys get wasted in horrible ways.

All of it converges into the Jimmy gang running into Kelson and the Bone Temple. Here is where the movie goes from really good to an all-timer kind of territory. The back and forth between Kelson and Jimmy is a fascinating scene. And it all builds up to one of the most awesome movie sequences of the year, and it’s only January. I will not spoil anything, but the “why” for why Kelson looks the way he does in promos for this movie, is astounding.

Overall, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is well-paced, it’s entertaining, it’s frightening, even if most of the scares in the film are pretty well telegraphed. The tension during certain scenes is palpable. But this movie is really made into something special because of a scene near the end of it. Nia DaCosta’s style mixed with a tighter script from Alex Garland creates a movie that is something really special. The colors and tones of the film also clash in wondrous ways with plenty of greenery among the human terror on display. The Jimmys have colorful tones that mask their absolute evil. This is so much more than just a zombie film, but like the sub-genre always shows, the human element is the most interesting, and the zombies are a necessary evil to give us a human story.

In a year that already has plenty of horror movie events on the calendar, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is THE horror event of 2026, so far. Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell are utter dynamite in their roles that all converge into that absolutely satisfying confrontation.

The ending of the movie is also likely to excite fans of the series and sets us up for one last entry to cap off this trilogy. I was not a fan of 28 Years Later, but this film fills in the gaps of that movie, and I can safely say that this might make that last film better in my eyes. The story of Spike, Dr. Kelson, Samson, and the Jimmys is enthralling and engaging, keeping you wrapped up all the way to the end.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple releases in theaters on January 16th, 2026.

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