It’s hard to imagine a film more gory, more profane, more blasphemous than 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Between explicit nudity, blood-soaked action sequences, brutal murders, nearly countless profanities and a cult of Satanists causing turmoil in an already chaos-riddled setting … well, it just might be better to skip this one altogether.
About 28 years ago, the United Kingdom was cut off from the rest of the world when some scientists and animal rights activists unleashed the Rage Virus on the British population.
People who became infected were reduced to their most base animal instincts.
Actually, it was worse than that, because even animals don’t attack humans due to rage: They attack because they’re hungry, hurt or afraid, or because the human has encroached upon their territory. But the Infected don’t need an excuse to tear their fellow man apart. They just need to know you exist.
Some non-infected people have managed to survive by forming communities. Young Spike, for instance, previously lived on an isolated island that was only accessible via a land bridge during low tide. However, following a coming-of-age ritual on the mainland, Spike left the community. He learned things about the Infected and his fellow survivors that changed his mind about how the world should be. And he wanted to figure those things out before returning home.
But that’s how he wound up conscripted into the cult of Jimmy Crystal. The Jimmys, as they’re sometimes known, are brutal killers and Satan worshipers.
For Spike, it’s kill or be killed.
He’s just not sure he has the stomach for either.
[The following sections contain spoilers.]
Dr. Kelson is a friend of Spike’s who he met before getting caught by the Jimmys. Kelson is one of the few people who refuses to see or treat the Infected like animals. He believes that they’re simply ill, that they’re treatable. As such, Kelson befriends an infected man that he’s decided to call Samson.
Kelson puts himself at great risk in the hope of finding a solution to the Rage Virus. And when the Jimmy cult threatens Kelson right as he’s on the brink of discovering a cure, he’s not scared for himself: He’s worried what might happen to Samson and the rest. So, he continues to put himself at risk in order to save others.
Spike is a terrified kid in an impossible situation—and he acts like one. Many of the things he does in self-defense will wind up in other content sections of this review. However, it’s important to note that Spike doesn’t want to do those things. Indeed, some of them are accidental.
So, instead of blindly following Jimmy Crystal’s orders to save his own skin, Spike tries to show mercy. He lies to Crystal to save lives. And even though he’s been told that the evil Jimmys are his best chance at survival, he tries to escape, preferring to take his chances rather than spend the rest of his life killing and torturing his fellow man.
Jimmy Ink, one of Crystal’s lackeys, is the only member of the cult to recognize how scared Spike is—how much he doesn’t want to be there. She takes him under her wing, promising to help him survive the brutality of Crystal and the others.
Kelson, we’re told, is an atheist—but he seems to have some knowledge of the Bible, occasionally quoting it. He constructs the “Bone Temple”—literally a monument made out of human skulls and bones—not out of evil but out of reverence for the dead. Memento mori, he says, or “remember, you must die”—meaning that the temple should serve as a reminder to all who see it that we should not forget the dead, that we should lead a better life.
Jimmy Crystal, on the other hand, is a self-proclaimed Satanist. He prays to the “Dark Lord” repeatedly. (At one point, he calls Satan the “king of kings.”) He gives sermons saying that God did nothing to save the human race, allowing Satan to establish his dominion on Earth. And his cult of followers all worship Satan and him—because he tells them that he is the son of Satan.
Now, part of that is a result of Jimmy’s own childhood trauma. If you saw 28 Years Later, which takes places immediately before the events of Bone Temple, then you know that Jimmy was the son of a vicar. When the Rage Virus infected the United Kingdom 28 years ago, he was just a kid, and he watched as his mother and sisters were brutally torn apart by the Infected. He ran to his father, who was holed up in their church, looking for help. Instead, the man delightedly proclaimed that this was the end times, the fruition of biblical prophecy, and he welcomed in the Infected (to his own demise).
As Jimmy saw it (and he says so in this film) his father was “Old Nick” himself, leading the infected horde, members of which Jimmy considers demons.
As an adult, Jimmy wears an inverted cross on a chain. And he allegedly hears Old Nick’s voice in his head, prophesying and telling him what to do. Jimmy tells his cult that Satan had declared years ago that Jimmy would have seven “Fingers” (followers) who would help him carry out Satan’s will on Earth. Namely, they search for non-infected souls to offer up to Satan. And every awful, violent thing the cult does—things that are often worse than what the rageful Infected do—is in the name of Satan … and Jimmy.
But it goes further than that: When Jimmy Ink comes across Kelson at the Bone Temple, she believes that he is Old Nick. After all, the guy has orange skin (he painted his body with iodine, which resulted in the odd hue, to inoculate himself against the virus) and lives in a palace of bones. Crystal confirms this belief, telling his followers that Kelson is his father and that he’ll arrange a meeting for them.
Sure enough, Crystal goes to confront Kelson. However, it’s clear Crystal’s not sure what to think of the man. He curiously asks if Kelson is Satan, if Kelson is his father, but Kelson denies it. So Crystal threatens Kelson, demanding that the doctor go along with his plan to fool the other Jimmys.
Kelson agrees for the sake of Samson. (And at this point, I’ll mention that Kelson named the him such because the man’s size, strength and long hair reminded him of the biblical judge.) Kelson sets up a grand show at the Bone Temple complete with an inverted cross, a blaring recording of Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast” and pyrotechnics. He even paints his eyelids black to complete the effect. He then instructs the Jimmys to continue “making agony into sacrament” and to follow Crystal absolutely.
However, as Kelson is addressing the Jimmy cult, he recognizes Spike beneath a mask. He decides in that moment to twist Crystal’s wishes. He says that just as God required His only Son to sacrifice Himself, Satan will require his own son (Crystal) to sacrifice himself. The Fingers jump on this chance to fulfill what they believe is Satan’s request, preparing to crucify Crystal on an inverted cross.
In this moment, Crystal reveals that Kelson isn’t Satan after all. Still, a fight ensues, and the survivors crucify Crystal anyway. As Crystal dies, he spots Samson and imagines the Alpha has red skin, black eyes and horns. Believing Samson to be the real devil, he asks, “Father, why have you forsaken me?” Samson ignores him. But just before the screen goes dark, another demonic being leaps into frame to kill Crystal—perhaps a suggestion that the real Satan has come to take Crystal’s soul to hell.
In the previous film, Spike’s dad told him that the Infected do not have souls, that they’re just mindless creatures. However, Kelson manages to partially revert the effects of the Rage Virus in Samson. Samson begins to recall memories of his life before the virus. And he regains his ability to speak coherently, proving that he is still a human with a soul after all.
When a Satanist begins a profanity with “holy,” another corrects her saying it should be “unholy.”
Nearly every infected person in this film is naked. And the camera doesn’t shy away from anything. We also see a completely naked Kelson as he disrobes for bed. A guy’s pants are pulled down during a fight, revealing his underwear.
One of the film’s non-infected characters is pregnant. But it’s unclear who the father of her child is. Two of the Jimmy cult members appear to be in a romantic relationship, often clinging to one another or holding hands.
Jimmy Crystal wears what looks like a little girl’s tiara, though this seems to just be part of his whole “prince of darkness” persona. Kelson tries to teach Samson to dance, holding the infected man’s hands and swaying back and forth.
Oh, where to begin? Well, I suppose I can start with the opening credits: As names flash across the screen, we hear horrifying screams coming from dozens of people. And screaming becomes a bit of a theme, especially when one of the Jimmy cultists notes that she can’t tell the difference between screams of pain and screams of fear since their victims are always screaming.
Just for some backstory, once a human becomes infected with the Rage Virus, they almost go into an insatiable, unstoppable, furious rampage. The franchise suggests that every emotion except for rage is suppressed by the virus. And this film in particular shows us that the infected people are suffering a psychological effect that makes them believe that non-infected folks are the dangerous ones. As such, we’re told that they’ll attack anyone and everyone, including young children and even babies.
Samson, before he befriends Kelson and receives treatment for the Rage Virus, attacks a hunter in the woods. He shoves his fingers into the man’s eye sockets, grasps onto the guy’s skull and rips it from his body, spine still attached. Later on, he cracks the head open and eats the guy’s brain. Elsewhere, Samson carries around a deer’s head, apparently freshly torn from a carcass.
Other infected humans chase, tackle, bite and scratch non-infected humans, attempting to kill or infect them. At one point, a seemingly cured Samson gets swarmed by the Infected. He fights them, breaking bones, ripping off limbs and otherwise decimating his opponents. He emerges from the horde drenched from head to toe in blood.
That’s the Infected. Now on to the cult of Jimmy Crystal.
The Jimmys are brutal and ruthless—perhaps unsurprisingly so, given that they’re Satanists. Crystal and his Fingers travel from one location to the next searching for non-infected survivors. Once they find some, they grant them “charity.” Unfortunately, that just means torture.
For instance, after capturing some survivors and stringing them up in a barn, Crystal tells his followers to perform the “removal of the shirt.” The Fingers cackle cruelly, and one by one, they begin to carve the skin from the chests of their victims. We don’t see this entire bloody act take place onscreen, but we do see the entire gory aftermath.
Later on, a survivor is given the chance to save himself from a gruesome death. He’s told that if he can kill a Finger in a fight, he can take that Finger’s place in the cult. He chooses a smaller, female follower, thinking he’ll easily overpower her.
He’s partially correct: He manages to get one good hit on her. But the young woman is well-trained and merciless. She slices and stabs the guy repeatedly with her knife. Finally, Crystal tells her that she has won and that her reward is to pick an act of “charity” to inflict upon her victim. She straddles the guy and asks to “take off his trousers”—which, from the partial description we hear, involves castration.
Similarly, Spike is granted the opportunity to fight a Jimmy for his survival. They hand Spike a knife and force him to face a guy who’s twice his age, weight and height. Spike is nearly killed in the encounter, but in a quick move, he manages to stab the guy in the leg. His attacker is furious and rips the knife out, planning to gut Spike with Spike’s own weapon.
Unfortunately, removing the blade tears open an artery. Blood gushes from the wound, and within just a few minutes, the Finger bleeds out and dies.
We see other fights throughout the film. Throats are slashed. Bones are broken. And knives fly freely. One guy throws boiling water on the Jimmys before he’s tackled. Another survivor sends a hook careening into a Jimmy cultist’s skull. (The Jimmy bleeds from the nose before collapsing to the ground.) One Jimmy is burned alive. An infected person stumbles around on a partially severed foot.
Crystal orders Spike to chase down a pregnant survivor, but she punches Spike in the stomach and escapes. Later, Crystal gets angry with Spike (who lies that he killed the woman), saying that Spike should have brought the woman’s face or her preborn child as proof of her death.
Some of the Jimmys have scars where inverted crosses were carved into their foreheads. Kelson removes several arrows from someone’s body (who sports mangled scars from other past injuries). The Fingers sometimes wear masks, a few of which have human teeth sewn into the mouths. Birds pick apart a mask made of human flesh.
At one point, Kelson offers to euthanize Samson, believing it to be an act of kindness. (He does not follow through.) Kelson boils and cleans the bones of a corpse, which he then adds to his Bone Temple. As mentioned in Spiritual Elements, Jimmy Crystal is crucified on an inverted cross. Other characters are killed throughout the film. Some survivors abandon their friend as they flee some Infected because he falls behind.
We hear more than 60 uses of the f-word, about a dozen of the s-word and another handful of the c-word. We also hear uses of “b–tard,” “b–ch,” “b-ll-cks,” “h—,” “p-ss” and “p–ck.” Jesus’ name is abused twice, and God’s name is abused once.
Kelson has developed blow darts to sedate infected people. After using one on Samson, the Infected appears to become addicted, returning the next day for another dose—and we later learn the darts contain morphine. Kelson obliges Samson because he knows the drug provides “peace and respite” for the rage-fueled man. In fact, he sucks on one of the darts to give himself some relief, and he passes out shortly after.
Kelson blows an unnamed white powder into the faces of the Jimmy cultists while pretending to be Satan for Crystal. It causes them to hallucinate and twitch. Elsewhere, Kelson asks Samson to take some powerful psychiatric drugs, hoping the medicine will treat the Rage Virus.
Several Infected spit up blood onto their victims. When one man gets infected, he vomits up blood before turning.
The Jimmys use fear tactics to manipulate their victims. After witnessing one of the cult’s acts of “charity,” Spike goes outside and empties his stomach.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple just might be one of the most profane, gory, blasphemous movies that will come out this year.
I won’t bore you by repeating details regarding the number of profanities, the amount of nudity or the numerous, gratuitous acts of violence. That’s what the rest of this review is for. Instead, I’d like to focus on the part that compelled me and my husband to discuss the film during the entire hour-long drive home.
Bone Temple introduces audiences to a group of Satan worshipers. Those cultists then participate in some of the most horrific atrocities a human being can commit against another person—and yes, I’m including the part where a pre-cured Samson rips a guy’s head off with his bare hands. Because unlike the Infected, the Jimmys aren’t blinded by a virally induced rage.
But then the hero of this story is an atheist—the guy who constructs the film’s namesake temple, no less. Now, because of this guy’s basic knowledge of the Bible, he’s able to turn the tables on the Satanists, and that certainly makes for a good bit of storytelling. Unfortunately, it’s clear he doesn’t actually understand the Bible.
He says that God required Jesus to sacrifice Himself so that He could sit at God’s side in heaven. But that’s not why Jesus went to the cross. It’s also not why God asked Him to.
For the wages of sin is death … but because God so loved the world, because He so loved us, Jesus died on the cross.
Unfortunately, Kelson doesn’t seem to understand any of that. He certainly doesn’t say so. And based on how this film plays out, it would almost seem that the filmmakers don’t understand either.
Faith, this film seems to say, won’t save you. Faith is corrupt, it intimates. And even though you can use faith to stop the bad guys (as our hero here does), it still won’t save humanity. Rather, Bone Temple seems to suggest that scientific progress and good moral understanding are the keys to saving the world.
God doesn’t care about us, one character says. And that seems to be the (completely incorrect) through-line of Bone Temple.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
