Shadows on the Wall | 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

28 Years Later... The Bone Temple

dir Nia DaCosta
scr Alex Garland
prd Andrew Macdonald, Danny Boyle, Alex Garland, Bernard Bellew, Peter Rice
with Ralph Fiennes, Jack O'Connell, Alfie Williams, Chi Lewis-Parry, Erin Kellyman, Emma Laird, Robert Rhodes, Maura Bird, Sam Locke, Ghazi Al Ruffai, Elliot Benn, David Sterne, Cillian Murphy
release US/UK 16.Jan.25
26/UK Columbia 1h49

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Continuing on straight after 2025's action horror thriller, this sequel continues Spike's journey as he encounters an inexplicably sadistic cult of personality. Gifted director Nia DaCosta infuses the film with intriguing soulfulness amid the flurries of gruesome nastiness. So the film becomes freaky, thoughtful and ultimately chilling as Alex Garland's script once again plays with some big political ideas that are expressed through expertly staged B-movie thrills.

After a gang of blond-wigged goons grabs Spike (Williams), he is taken to their charismatic leader Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (O'Connell), who adds him to the crew. But their brutally marauding ways are disturbing to the preteen Spike. Meanwhile, in his bone temple, Dr Kelson (Fiennes) has managed to make a connection to alpha-infected Samson (Lewis-Parry), calming him with drugs so he can attempt to perhaps cure this disease. When the Jimmies arrive, they are sure that Kelson is their leader's father, Satan himself. And Kelson knows he has no choice but to play along.

Little touches add humour to the seriously grisly goings-on, such as Kelson's predilection for Duran Duran songs (he also deploys an Iron Maiden anthem at just the right moment). And the sight of Kelson sipping tea with the hulking, naked Samson is amusing, setting us up for some surprisingly involving moments later. As usual with Garland, the plot goes to some extremely grotesque extremes along the way, leading to a bleak finale and a glimmer of hope.

There are surprising nuances in performances that dig beneath the surface to find resonant emotion in the hideous bloodshed. We watch this through Spike's eyes, and Williams is strongly sympathetic in the role, revealing thoughts without much dialog, because he's too frightened to make a sound. We understand this because O'Connell is outrageously menacing, especially when he's smiling. The script doesn't delve too deeply (daddy issues alert!), but O'Connell properly takes us into the darkness. Meanwhile, Fiennes and Lewis-Parry both find unexpected tenderness between the lines.

It's the gentler scenes that are the most powerful, giving us something to think about in this post-civilisation setting. In this sense, Lewis-Parry has the film's most inventive moments, as flickers of memories begin to play across his face. These kinds of things help add some weight to the otherwise relentless barrage of genuinely horrific brutality, contrasting the best and worst aspects of humanity. It's a rather blunt-edged comparison, but at least it gets our minds spinning along with our stomachs.

themes, language, violence 9.Dec.25

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