In this heartless world, the infected are no longer the greatest threat to survival: the inhumanity of the survivors can be even stranger and more terrifying. A film by Nia DaCosta, starring Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Chi Lewis-Parry, Emma Laird, Maura Bird, Sam Locke, Robert Rhodes, Ghazi Al Ruffai, Connor Newall, Mirren Mack, Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Maiya Eastmond, and Cillian Murphy.

Directed by American filmmaker Nia DaCosta from a screenplay by Alex Garland, THE BONE TEMPLE is a post-apocalyptic horror film and direct sequel to 28 YEARS LATER. The story picks up with Spike after a fateful encounter with Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal leaves him with no choice but to join the man’s sinister satanic cult.

The first 40 minutes are a bit of a slog. Nothing major happens, there’s little momentum, and the film gives you no real sense of where things are headed. It leaves you wondering what Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal actually wants. Is he just a psychopathic cult leader wandering the wasteland with his seven teenage followers, the Fingers? Or does he have a larger purpose driving him?

Jimmy Crystal undeniably fascinating, a man who rules through fear and psychological manipulation, somehow convincing seven teenagers to follow him and carry out his every sinister command.

But what makes him even more intriguing is everything the film refuses to show. How did he survive after fleeing the church when the infected took his family? How did he learn to bend people to his will?

The film never explores any of it, which is a real shame, especially given how much richer he becomes once you understand that his entire identity is a lie, a mythology he constructed from scratch, built on the delusion that he is the literal son of Satan. He guards that secret obsessively, never letting anything slip.

Instead, the film shifts its focus to Dr. Kelson and an infected Alpha named Samson. After discovering that a morphine dart can calm Samson down, Kelson begins spending quiet time with him.

As the morphine supply runs low, he decides to give Samson a peaceful death. But just before he’s about the inject the poison, Samson utters a word. This shocks Kelson, proving he’s on the right track and that the infected can be treated.

kelson gets to work on an antidote, eventually injecting Samson with a cure that works. Samson slowly regains his cognitive functions, his memories return, and he becomes human again. Not only is he cured, but he’s also now fully immune to the virus.

Then Kelson is killed before he can share this massive discovery or pass his research on to anyone else.

Despite running under two hours, the film often feels much longer than it actually is. There’s very little action compared to its predecessor, and the story barely seems to move forward for long stretches at a time.

The film is clearly trying to make a point about how, in the aftermath of the apocalypse, humans can be just as terrifying as the infected. It’s a worthwhile idea, but it’s also one that countless other films have already explored, and THE BONE TEMPLE doesn’t bring anything particularly fresh or surprising to the conversation.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

THE BONE TEMPLE was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on 13 January 2026, and in the United States on 16 January.