28 Years Later: The Bone Temple First Reactions Hail Nia DaCosta’s Sequel as Wild and Surprisingly Funny — But Not for the Squeamish

We are a few weeks out from 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple hitting theaters, and the first reactions just dropped. Short version: people are kind of losing it over this one. The tone is harsher, the ideas are bigger, and the movie leans into a very different kind of nightmare than the last film. Also, apparently, you might want a barf bag.

"This has cranked everything up to 11, and I warn you, you will need a very strong stomach (or a sick bag)," Metro's Tori Brazier wrote.

The early word in one place

• Nexus Point News' Christopher Mills went big, calling it one of the decade's best horror entries and saying it pushes even further on the world's brutality and intensity.
• Critics keep flagging a pivot: the infected are largely in the background this time, while the film digs into cults, trauma, psychosis, compassion, and the messy ways people fail each other under pressure. Several reactions also note it's weirder, more polarizing, and surprisingly funny without ever letting up on tension.
• One early viewer praised it as a bolder, thornier sequel that wrestles with the idea of a false god. Another said that while it may not be as formally flashy as its predecessor, the storytelling is tighter and the emotions hit harder.
• Multiple folks praised Nia DaCosta's direction. Collider's Rachel Leishman highlighted how she brings her own style to this world. Empire's Amon Warmann said it's yet more proof that when you let DaCosta cook, good things happen. Next Best Picture's Giovanni Lago liked how DaCosta's more introspective approach complements what Danny Boyle set up before.
• Performances are getting a lot of love. Jack O'Connell is drawing raves as cult leader Jimmy Crystal (aka St. Jimmy), with several people calling him both terrifying and darkly hilarious. Ralph Fiennes is being singled out for a wild, eccentric turn as Dr. Kelson. GamesRadar+'s Will Salmon called the film nastier and unexpectedly funnier than the last one, with both O'Connell and Fiennes mesmerizing.
• One reaction described it as exactly how you do a middle chapter of a trilogy, which is a nice way of saying the movie knows it has somewhere else to go after this and still lands a complete chapter now.

"Jack O'Connell, meanwhile, is disturbingly hilarious as the unhinged St. Jimmy, a man fully convinced he's the devil's own son," Next Best Picture's Matt Neglia wrote.

So what is this one actually about?

The Bone Temple picks up right where 28 Years Later left off, after Spike's last, very out-there encounter with Jimmy Crystal and his cult. That meeting turns into a waking nightmare Spike can't shake. Over in a parallel thread, Dr. Kelson stumbles into a shocking new relationship with implications big enough to reshape what these survivors think the world is now. The movie doubles down on the idea that the infected aren't the worst thing out there anymore — the living might be even scarier.

Who is steering the ship (and absolutely flooring people)?

Even though Danny Boyle directed the previous 28 Years Later, this sequel is Nia DaCosta's show, and critics are clearly into the handoff. Alex Garland wrote the screenplay, and Boyle stays involved as producer.

Who is in it?

Ralph Fiennes returns as Dr. Kelson, Jack O'Connell is back as Jimmy Crystal, and Alfie Williams reprises Spike. Chi Lewis-Parry returns as the infected Alpha Samson. From the sound of it, O'Connell and Fiennes are the ones audiences will be talking about on the ride home.

Release date

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple opens in theaters on January 16, 2026. Early December reactions are already calling it audacious, gnarly, and yes, a little strange — which, for this series, feels like exactly the point.