28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

 

“This is a memorial to the dead.”

Disturbed, distressed and devilish, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple takes the franchise into provocative new territory as it examines the spiritual climate of a post-apocalypse and the resulting traumatic religious rhetoric that distorts and dehumanises in a stunning work of thematic horror that’s anchored by its commitment to a redeemed humanity.

Discussion Points:

The 28 … Later franchise has always sought to make the most of exploring the thematic interplay between what makes humans human and monsters monstrous. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that an entry in the series containing the word “Temple” in its title would introduce a religious and theological lens as it observes the spiritual dimensions of holy humanity and demonic depravity. Director Nia DeCosta balances genre gore (compete with impressive technical crafts) and gratuity with a deeper desire to examine the soul and how it directs what we worship. Jack O’Connell is truly terrifying as Lord Jimmy, a truly depraved, perverse and detestable Satanic cult leader whose psychopathic acolytes are equally evil with poor Alfie Williams’ Spike trapped in their terror. In contrast, Ralph Fiennes’ atheist humanist Dr Ian Kelson revers the dead, but doesn’t worship death nor seek to inflict ungodly pain on others, demonstrated in his desire to cure the infected alpha, Samson. But his skeletal ossuary (a stunning work of production design), meant to remember those who’ve passed, becomes the confrontational showground between the Jimmy’s as they see it as a satanic Bone Temple inhabited by none other than Old Nick, Satan himself. The final act is a viscerally engaging spectacle that I was amazed by. I’m thrilled to see how this spin-off trilogy closes out and the current threads are woven together.