28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – yes, The Bone Temple, make the joke now so we can all move on – is proof artists shouldn’t be too territorial about their own work. Danny Boyle, having revisited the world of 28 Days Later – his canonised 2002 work of zombie cinema – in last year’s 28 Years Later, has passed over the reins to Nia DaCosta (Candyman; The Marvels) for its sequel. And that new voice, that fresh perspective, has helped push The Bone Temple further than its predecessor ever dared to go.
With Alex Garland remaining onboard as screenwriter, providing necessary connective tissue, the pair have together crafted a horror that drags its audience right into the heart of the apocalyptic (not so hard these days, admittedly). It’s frenzied, wild, contemplative, mournful, claustrophobic, fiery, monstrous, and humanist. 28 Years Later followed a boy, Spike (Alfie Williams), as he left the safety of his isolated Lindisfarne community to risk it all for the precious commodity of a mother’s love. It was rooted in foundational myths. Simple, but effective.
