The Bone Temple: Unhinged showings from Ralph Fiennes and Jack O'Connell make it a must-see

James Cox

We may have the best edition yet in the '28 Days Later' franchise with the latest film, '28 Years Later: The Bone Temple'.

Before you read on, there are spoilers for the film (in Irish cinemas now) if you have not seen it yet.

The Bone Temple picks up nearly directly where 28 Years Later finished.

The culmination of the last film saw young Spike (Alfie Williams), rescued from a group of infected by a crew of people in bright tracksuits and blonde wigs.

However, we quickly realise they weren't the 'good guys' after all.

Led by 'Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal', played by Jack O'Conell, the 'Jimmies' are a violent cult who roam the countryside where they find victims to commit grotesque killings.

Before we go on, yes the character is based Jimmy Savile.

Savile, one of the biggest names in the BBC for decades, was outed as a sexual abuser after his death in 2011, when hundreds of allegations were made against him, and multiple inquests were carried out into his crimes.

There was initially controversy over the inspiration for 'Jimmy Crystal' but the creators of the postapocalyptic zombie franchise, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, previously explained their decision.

"He's as much to do with pop culture as he is to do with sportswear, to do with cricket, to do with the honors system," Boyle told Business Insider. "It's all kind of twisting in this partial remembrance, clinging onto things and then recreating them as an image for followers."

"He's a kaleidoscope, isn't he?" Garland added, referring to O'Connell's character. "A sort of trippy, fucked up kaleidoscope."

Spike is very reluctantly recruited to be one of Crystal's 'disciples' who he calls the 'fingers'.

The postapocalyptic universe started in 2002 when the 'rage virus kicked' in, so a world where Savile's crimes came to light, but Crystal is is oddly obsessed with the Teletubbies.

It is revealed he was eight when his family were killed by the infected, and his father was a preacher who was convinced the zombies were a horde brought on to humanity for their sins.

In Crystal's twisted mind he is the sone of the devil, who he refers to as 'old Nick'.

He makes his followers carry out horrific acts of violence on their victims which he calls 'charity', an offering to the devil.

Without, ahem, spoling these acts, some viewers may find them difficult to watch.

A separate plot involves Ralph Fiennes' Dr Ian Kelson. Situated at his Bone Temple, the mad scientist's quest to find a cure for the rage virus is continuing, and he seems to be making progress with the alpha Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry).

Though non-verbal, their relationship is an engaging watch.

It's clear throughout though that Dr Kelson and Jimmy Crystal are heading for a fateful meeting.

When one of the Jimmies (Erin Kellyman) befriends Spike, she becomes one of the most interesting characters bar Crystal and Kelson.

She spots Kelson and Samson, and suddenly the group thinks they're about to meet 'Old Nick'.

This basically culminates in Dr Kelson putting on a stunning show, complete with flames and Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast.

It's one of the best moments of the film, and hard to describe but you'll know it when you see it. It reportedly drew standing ovations at some critics' screenings and you can see why.

Nia DaCosta stepped in for Boyle to direct this film and she has done a fine job, along with Garland's brilliant writing which evokes common themes such as the struggle between good and evil and how story and mythology shapes our world, and even more so a postapocalyptic world.

The franchise has also learnt something The Walking Dead series discovered too late, the stories of the human heroes and villains are always more compelling than their undead counterparts.

The unhinged performances of Fiennes and O'Connell make this worth a watch alone.