Review: 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is a 2026 horror film which follows on directly from 28 Years Later. I’ve highlighted this connection because of one key factor: I did not like Years when I first saw it. This is despite the fact that I’m very fond of 28 Days Later, and I liked 28 Weeks Later well enough despite its flaws. I’ve somewhat softened on Years since it first came out, but because of my issues with the film, I went into The Bone Temple with trepidation. Nonetheless, I found it enormously enjoyable, far more so than Weeks and Years. I feel that if The Bone Temple was not reliant on Years for narrative set-up, it would be on par with Days; it left me actively wanting more from the franchise.
The biggest part of my enjoyment of the film was the eccentric Dr Kelsen. He was a standout character in Years and is no different in The Bone Temple. Ralph Fiennes plays Kelsen masterfully, flitting effortlessly between whimsy, solitude, quiet duty, and the absurd. He was a joy to watch onscreen, even before taking into account his unhinged performance during the film’s Iron Maiden needle drop. Kelsen and Samson dancing together whilst out of their gourds on morphine is a lasting image that defines the hopeful half of this film for me.
Whilst Kelsen’s virtue is clear throughout the film, he does experience a major test of faith: he makes himself vulnerable to Samson and is able to treat him effectively due to his own willingness to give grace, even to one of the infected. Despite wavering in his altruism, Kelsen is rewarded for his faith in his last moments: he witnesses Samson’s sapience and humanity restored, and the ex-infected thanks Kelsen before the latter’s life gives out. This portrayal of Kelsen is Christ-like in the utmost, despite Kelsen’s self-description as an atheist. Consider the following parallel: Kelsen is an altruist of great conviction but fails to live up to his own values when under duress later in the film. He capitulates to Jimmy Crystal’s threats of torture and only acts against him upon the revelation that Spike is trapped as a member of Jimmy’s cult. This cowardice is the only time Kelsen is shown to betray his own values, a moment of personal failing that echoes Jesus in the temple.
Despite what it may seem, I do not have exclusively positive things to say about the film: I found some choices made with the cinematography quite annoying, to the extent that they pulled my attention away from otherwise solid scenes. The use of angular distortion and edge-of-frame aberrations in certain shots were off-putting and felt stylistically out of step with the rest of the film. Then again, the same could possibly be said about the iPhone shaky cam, and I found that an engaging choice. Perhaps this is just a matter of taste where Sean Bobbitt and I do not align.
Regarding the other protagonists of the film, Spike and Kelly are a fascinating duo to watch. The tension of waiting to see when or if one of them would fail the other was palpable in every scene they shared, and their burgeoning solidarity was a welcome narrative thread. As a final note on characterisation, one of my favourite moments was the flayed woman from the farming community enjoying the vengeance her friends wrought on the Jimmy cult whilst the barn burned around her.
To wrap up, I’d like to highlight one thing: whilst I do think Alex Garland could have gone for a much harder, grimmer narrative when scripting this film, he didn’t need to. The hope exemplified by Kelsen’s altruism and the bond between Spike and Kelly is balanced in full measure by the depravity of Jimmy Crystal’s cult. Whilst lighter than previous entries in the series, The Bone Temple still feels saturated in the brutality of the 28 franchise. I loved it.