Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
If Danny Boyle’s ’28 Years Later’ unfolded like a zombie side quest featuring a boy’s adventure to secure his first kill, ‘The Bone Temple’ is where the horror story truly becomes larger than life, delivering a tale that stresses, unsettles and keeps viewers on edge. Sure, it didn’t keep me up at night, but it made me anxious as hell, in a ‘that’s how good horror should feel’ kind of way.
Director Nia DaCosta and writer Alex Garland pick up the story in ‘The Bone Temple‘ right where the earlier film ended: 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) runs into freaky cult leader Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) and his violent underlings, known as his ‘fingers’. Meanwhile, Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), the strange general practitioner and architect of the titular ‘bone temple’, a shrine made of skulls to honour the dead, starts carrying out an unusual experiment that might just change the post-apocalyptic landscape ravaged by the Rage Virus (and zombies of course).
Fortunately or unfortunately, you’ll have to watch both the earlier films, ‘28 Days Later‘ and ’28 Years Later’, to wholly enjoy ‘The Bone Temple’, which is undoubtedly the best of the three zombie-apocalypse stories so far. I remember ‘The Walking Dead’ creator Robert Kirkman saying that the best zombie films aren’t simply gore-filled spectacles with goofy characters, but stories that reveal how messed up humanity really is. And The Bone Temple manages to have it both ways. It’s packed with uncomfortable gore, outrageous violence and eccentric characters, but beneath all the madness is a story that explores both the ugliest and the most compassionate sides of humanity.
Jack O’Connell’s narcissistic, self-anointed ‘son of Satan’ Jimmy Crystal is the primary antagonist, with an interesting backstory that explains his twisted, ruthless personality. Poor little Spike is rechristened Jimmy, like the rest of Crystal’s minions, and is forced to terrorize any survivors they encounter, although being made a perpetrator doesn’t make Spike’s ordeal any less harrowing. Erin Kellyman stands out in her small role as Jimmy Ink, the only person who shows some empathy for the 12-year-old. She looks out for him while the others are busy killing, maiming and torturing their next targets.
Chi Lewis-Parry reprises his role as the intimidating Alpha zombie Samson, this time facing some unusual circumstances. Watching him feels like seeing a sturdy caveman come to life in a museum, except he’s a zombie who could rip you to shreds in seconds. Ralph Fiennes, as the strange Dr. Kelson, serves as a fantastic foil to everybody else. He’s older, wiser, kinder, calmer and ready to help anybody who comes his way.
At first, the Jimmy Crystal cult and Dr. Kelson storylines unfold in parallel. Eventually, they come together with a hilariously dark twist that threatens both Crystal’s credibility within his group and Dr. Kelson’s carefully built refuge, which has sheltered him for nearly three decades after almost everyone he once knew was claimed by the Rage Virus. And then there’s Spike, trapped in a dark web of savagery and slaughter. Every time you think the story is heading towards a conveniently emotional moment, the creators gleefully subvert your expectations.
“You put on a good show,” a character exclaims with genuine admiration during a hilarious sequence in the climax. The final minutes of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple are playfully hopeful, packing in both brutal poetic justice and tragedy. Ralph Fiennes’ Dr. Kelson will go down in zombie-horror history as a rare figure of compassion and sanity in a world that has lost nearly all traces of both.
And one could say the same thing about director Nia DaCosta and her team: they’ve put on a great fucking show with this film! My advice? Watch all the films, even if I do think the original 28 Days Later can be a tough watch and hasn’t aged particularly well. The music, cinematography, performances and sheer madness of it all make The Bone Temple a gripping ride from start to finish, ending on a cliffhanger that’ll leave you craving the sequel ASAP.
Rating: 4.5 stars on 5. Watch ’28 Years Later: Bone Temple’ on Netflix.
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