28 Years Later, releasing in June of 2025, follows on from the 2002 and 2007 installments of Danny Boyle’s hit zombie franchise. It depicts the spread of the ‘Rage Virus’, turning humans into zombie-like creatures throughout the British mainland, where survivors are left to fend for themselves. The opening scene immediately establishes the new direction for the franchise: a boy named Jimmy, witnesses his mother becoming infected and runs to the church to find his father, the vicar. He proclaims she is not dead, she has instead been saved, when inevitably the church windows smash, the zombies enter, and his father is taken. This leaves Jimmy all alone to escape, only clutching his necklace, with the cross upside down.
The 2nd part of the planned 28 Years Later trilogy, The Bone Temple, released this month, effectively clarifies the commentary on religious extremism that’s set up in its predecessor. This review considers both films theoretically from this angle.
The following review contains spoilers for both films.
Looking at the first film broadly, there is a plethora of religious imagery; the opening scene as previously mentioned, as well as in the islanders who survive, using crosses to mark graves. Crucifixes are used quite a lot in the first film overall, so the absence of them in Dr Kelson’s memorial to the dead, instead built from their bones is a noticeable change. This sets up the different stances of the characters in 28 Years Later; Jimmy (an adult now) is a satanist, believing somewhat like his father that the virus is equivalent to the Rapture. This leads him and his crew, the supposed seven ‘fingers’ of St. Nick to perform long and arduous murders of the uninfected, proclaiming it as ‘charity’. Dr. Kelson is an atheist, viewing the infection differently, as a sign that there is truly nobody else out there. As well as this, he is the only character we are introduced to that practices any form of science. This leaves the survivors in the village as some degree of Christian. Of course this is a sweeping generalisation, but we don’t learn much about their personal beliefs, we only really have the architecture and geography of the village to rely on.
28 Years Later is set on Lindisfarne, also known as the Holy Island, and was an important centre for Celtic Christianity and has written history dating back to the 6th century. This notably includes a viking raid on a monastery, which was the first major viking raid ever, sending shockwaves through a very Christian Europe, right at the start of the viking age. No doubt this choice was intentional, the attack much akin to how the rage virus threatens faith in a higher power. This also lingers in the village, with the graves as mentioned, and a banner for the holy island reading ‘Fail we may, go we must, God send grace.’ on display during Spike’s party.
This sets up the true conflict of the trilogy, principally explored in the second film. Here, the ‘zombies’ are almost entirely sidelined, replaced instead with a deeper exploration of the psychology and character of Jimmy and Dr. Kelson. Compared to the precursor, The Bone Temple doesn’t follow a linear plot. It instead depicts the culmination of the three world views being pitted against each other due to the circumstances, while giving the audience space to form their own conclusions. Most likely, the third installment will give more of an overall contention on these religious themes of course, but Alex Garland, writer of the trilogy, is known for his thought-provoking, open-ended social commentary, and is working at his best here. The Bone Temple is much more overt in its symbolism, Jimmy and Dr. Kelson quite literally have a conversation with each other where they describe their views on religion and how they came to feel that way. These conversations are avoided in today’s society for obvious reasons, it’s uncomfortable and probably unnecessary, but in this apocalyptic world, social rules are abandoned, making way to explore these disquieting conversations
The film therefore suggests the veins of religious conflicts run deep in both our current society and in our history, perhaps providing the answer for a lot of seemingly unrelated issues, like the virus taking over Britain. Again, it importantly doesn’t take a side on whether the pandemic is truly punishment, a gift from God or an unlucky scientific inevitability, leaving that up to the interpretation of the viewer.
My interpretation is that there’s so many theories to unpack in the film that work in conjunction with these ideas, starting with creation being explored, as a potential cure to the virus is discovered by Dr. Kelson. Giving medicine to an alpha infected (Alpha meaning his symptoms are suppressed) Dr. Kelson allows for the first case of an infected being cured. In Genesis 1:28 it is commanded to Adam and Eve to ‘be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth’, which the infected Samson has done, shown chasing after Spike and his mum to retrieve one of his children as the aptly named ‘Alpha Baby’ plays from the soundtrack. Significantly, the baby that is born is not infected, repopulating the mainland or ‘filling the earth’ in a sense. Genesis 3:7 also states after Adam and Eve ate the fruit, ‘the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.’ This too likens Samson to Adam after he wakes up, as he finally covers himself up (quite a talking point of the film no doubt), and picks a berry from a bush. If we are to continue with this theory, it follows that Jimmy should die nailed onto the cross, as the eating of the ‘forbidden fruit’, or in this case, Samson being cured of the infection goes against God’s will, leads to the fall of man, requiring the ultimate sacrifice for our sin, the crucifixion on the cross. This suggests Jimmy will return, in keeping with Revelations 1:7 ‘Behold, he is coming with the clouds.’ which is written on the back of a farmhouse, with Jimmy’s name next to it in teasers for the Bone Temple. This was written about the resurrection of Jesus, suggesting the next film will continue to follow the Bible in this way.
The clear deviation here is that Jimmy dies on the inverted cross. It would seem obvious that this is because he is a satanist, which is the direction that all of Hollywood seems to take, despite it being technically incorrect. The upside down cross could actually refer to St. Peter’s death as a martyr in Rome, during the persecutions of Christians for the great fire in Rome. It’s important to note these events are widely debated, and not included within the Bible. It’s possible that The Bone Temple aims to combine these two ideas. As Jimmy dies, he hallucinates Samson with devil horns, and calls out to his father, asking why he has forsaken him. Jimmy may die and possibly be resurrected as Jesus was, but he is supposed son of St. Nick, not God, making him the exact inverse. Except he is not St. Nick’s son either, hence the allusion to St. Peter as he was famously, not worthy of dying in the same way as Jesus.
Of course, these are all just theories, and we won’t be able to make any conclusions until the final part of the trilogy is released. As I said early, open-ended stories such as this is Alex Garland’s specialty, and it was a joy to see it back on the big screen this weekend.