I know that zombies and horror films are an acquired taste.
But, I just can’t help myself when it comes to the “28 Days Later” film series – I have to watch them all.
The novelty of having rage, or madness zombies rather than the historically undead version has always fascinated me.
“28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” just adds more lore to the franchise and is my favorite entry into the overall story so far.
But, fair warning for the casual fan or fans of certain actors – this is probably the most violent and gory film since the original “28 Days Later” hit stateside theaters in 2003.
Still, I enjoyed the film overall and really don’t want to spoil the ending for you.
Plus, I definitely think you should watch the entire series before checking this one out in theaters.
Temple is a post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Alex Garland.
It was shot back-to-back with its predecessor 28 Years Later (2025), and serves as the fourth installment overall in the 28 Days Later film series.
The film stars Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Emma Laird, Connor Newall, Mirren Mack, Louis Serkis, and Chi Lewis-Parry.
While clocking in at 109 minutes long, the movie is rated R for strong bloody violence, gore, graphic nudity, language throughout, and brief drug use.
Shortly after being rescued by the Fingers gang led by the charismatic Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (O’Connell), Spike (Williams) is initiated into the group following a forced fight to the death with Jimmy Shite (Newall).
Sir Jimmy renames Spike “Jimmy,” in keeping with his practice of giving all Fingers variations of the name, including the more empathetic Jimmy Ink (Kellyman) and the sadistic Jimmima (Laird).
Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Kelson (Fiennes) continues his maintenance of the Bone Temple as an ossuary memorial to those killed following the initial outbreak as well as interacting with the local Alpha he named Samson (Perry).
Samson keeps returning to the Bone Temple, with Kelson deducing that he has grown addicted to the effects of his blowdarts and is intentionally letting himself be drugged with the morphine cocktail.
Under the influence of the drugs, Samson becomes more lucid and calm.
A friendship between the two appears to form, with Samson no longer feeling a compulsion to attack the uninfected Kelson, eating berries rather than raw meat, and at one point clothing himself.
Kelson considers euthanizing Samson only for the latter to mutter the word “moon”, leading Kelson to believe the virus is treatable.
The Fingers raid a farm inhabited by survivors, including a man named Tom (Serkis) and his pregnant partner Cathy (Mack).
Cathy escapes while the others are captured, with Sir Jimmy ordering the Fingers to skin alive the remaining survivors as a sacrifice to Satan.
Sir Jimmy claims to be Satan’s son and able to hear his voice inside his head, but the violence causes Spike to leave the barn vomiting in disgust.
Later, Sir Jimmy offers Tom a place among his Fingers, with the latter failing to defeat Jimmima.
But, things start going terribly wrong for Sir Jimmy and his gang in that barn.
In fact, you’ll be surprised at the ending and what happens to Kelson and Samson, too.
Still, this film isn’t for the faint of heart or those sensitive to violence, but I believe it makes important distinctions between the infected rage zombies and humans.
