Episode 124: Nia DaCosta’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2025)
Rotten Tomato Score: 92%
They skinned the “t-shirt,” called it charity, and somehow still found time for a hypnotic dance montage. We’re Chad, Mike, and Sam, and we’re back on Screams and Streams with a full-spoiler horror movie review of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026), directed by Nia DaCosta and sitting at a jaw-dropping Rotten Tomatoes score.
We break down the film’s two main threads: Spike getting absorbed into Jimmy Crystal’s mainland gang and Dr. Kelson’s work with Samson that hints the Rage virus might not be a permanent sentence. Along the way, we dig into what works and what doesn’t: the pacing whiplash between quiet, clinical scenes and frantic cult violence, the intentionally maddening “everyone is Jimmy” power structure, and the lines that stick in your head long after the credits.
Then we go deep on the big stuff horror fans actually argue about. Is the cruelty just shock, or is it saying something about belief and trauma? Why does The Bone Temple look so gorgeous while the violence feels so mean? We talk most-gratuitous moments, the scariest sequence in a cramped train car, the uneasy table scene, and the set-piece that elevated our scores: that unforgettable Iron Maiden performance and the film’s needle drops and sound design.
If you’ve watched the 28 Days Later franchise, this one raises an uncomfortable question: if a cure is possible, what was the cost of all that survival?
Sinister Sips
The Bone Temple
1 oz Spiced Rum
1.5 oz Bourbon
Ginger Beer
¼ oz Lime Juice
5 drops tobasco
Add all ingredients, with ice, to a highball glass and stir
Plot Summary:
As Spike is inducted into Jimmy Crystal's gang on the mainland, Dr. Kelson makes a discovery that could alter the world. (Taken from IMDb)
Watchability Scale
Sam 7 Mike 7 Chad 8
We placed the film at 7.5 on the Watchability Scale.
Links
Movie Trivia (TV Tropes)