(3.5 stars)
It may be only January, but one of the year’s best horror films has undoubtedly arrived.
We have Nia DaCosta to thank for that. The director stepped in to helm “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” the fourth installment in the film series launched by Danny Boyle’s 2003 sci-fi thriller “28 Days Later.” The new movie, written by returning screenwriter Alex Garland, continues to explore how a laboratory-created “rage virus” — which turns infected people into aggressive, bloodthirsty cannibals — impacts human life in a quarantined Britain. While the rest of the world operates as normal, the surviving British fight their diseased countrymen to keep their minds and bodies intact.
“The Bone Temple” was filmed back-to-back with the Boyle-directed “28 Years Later,” which came out last year, but DaCosta makes Part 2 of that installment her own. Rather than try to replicate previous efforts in the popular series — generally a losing game — she turns in a film that is funnier and more stylish than the others, and just as poignant.
The story picks up where the last film left off. Our sweet teenage protagonist, Spike (Alfie Williams), has left a protected island for the dangerous mainland, where he is forced into joining a cult led by the psychopathic Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), whose blond locks and tracksuit pay homage to eccentric media personality Jimmy Savile. (In real life, after his 2011 death, Savile was revealed to be a prolific sex offender. It’s unclear whether that news broke in this alternate reality, but Jimmy Crystal is such a bad dude that he probably wouldn’t care anyway.)
Crystal claims he is the son of the devil and commands his seven followers, who dress like him and call themselves “the Jimmys,” to torture and kill survivors as he sees fit. When one of the Jimmys (Erin Kellyman) discovers a strange man with red skin living in the woods next to a massive tower of human skulls, she wonders whether he could be the almighty Old Nick that Crystal is always going on about.
Those who saw the previous film — and you really should see that one first — know this man is not the devil but the iodine-covered Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), a former general practitioner who memorializes those lost to the epidemic. He spends much of his time studying a towering infected person nicknamed Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry) by shooting him with tranquilizer darts and observing his slowed behaviors. DaCosta directs these amusing scenes like a buddy comedy, soundtracking the men’s playful interactions with the ’80s rock music spinning on Kelson’s record player.
Fiennes anchors the film with his remarkably layered performance, relishing Kelson’s eccentricities while conveying the underlying anguish of a man losing his grip on what his life once was. Kelson goes from dancing with Samson to the euphoric synths of Duran Duran’s “Rio” to contemplating the band’s grief-stricken ballad “Ordinary World.” As thrilling as the “28 Days Later” series can be, these are also movies about great loss. “The Bone Temple” navigates a broken society ruled by unpredictable mood swings.
Some people take advantage of upheaval by trying to dictate their new reality. Audiences know Crystal, the son of a Scottish minister who saw the original outbreak as a sign of the end times, is full of crap — which makes the Jimmys’ blind trust in his sadism all the more horrifying. O’Connell, who last year played another grinning villain in Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” is a delicious antagonist. He embodies the charismatic cult leader with terrifying spirit, savoring every insult Crystal spits out.
DaCosta plays Fiennes and O’Connell off each other, bridging the gap with grounded performances from Williams, whose innocent Spike continues to be an audience gateway, and Kellyman, whose character’s skepticism toward Crystal amplifies his ludicrous nature. While the original “28 Days Later” filmed with cameras a step above consumer-grade camcorders to create a gritty found-footage feel, the recent pair of “28 Years Later” movies adopt a more traditionally cinematic aesthetic. DaCosta often shoots her actors in natural light, a reminder that the sun keeps rising — even in this wayward world.
There’s a lushness to the visuals that recalls the rich gothic style of DaCosta’s most recent film, “Hedda,” a mischievous adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play. The filmmaker — who has previously directed a sequel, 2021’s “Candyman,” and worked in a franchise with 2023’s “The Marvels” — maintains a distinct style even in established series. This elevates “The Bone Temple,” which holds its own among its popular peers.
Boyle and Garland envisioned “28 Years Later” as a trilogy; while DaCosta took the reins for the second part, it has not been confirmed whether she or Boyle will return to direct the third. Hopefully, whoever leads the charge takes a cue from DaCosta’s approach and makes it their own, ensuring that this fascinating series doesn’t meet an untimely end.
R. At area theaters. Contains strong bloody violence, gore, graphic nudity, mature language and brief drug use. 109 minutes.
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