Major spoilers below for those who haven’t yet watched 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, so tread carefully!
Though we’re only in January, I want to go on record and etch into stone my belief that Nia DaCosta’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will emerge victorious as one of my top 2026 movie releases. (Read our review here.) From start to finish, it bucks expectations and delivers a completely unpredictable ending that sets up a hopeful future, but the element that really sets it apart from potential competition is a late-stage musical sequence that temporarily made my theater screening a hub of pure euphoria.
Throughout the story, Jack O’Connell’s Sir Lord Jimmy claims he’s following the dark guidance of “Old Nick,” a nickname for the devil, though the cult leader is just mentally disturbed as opposed to being a true demonic minion. Still, he wants to sell that notion to his followers, so he enlists Ralph Fiennes’ similarly offbeat Dr. Kelson to help out by taking on the role of Satan personified. Because Kelson doesn’t know the meaning of half-assing a task, he puts on a performance of Iron Maiden’s “Number of the Beast” that is not only arena-worthy, but also transcends the usual movie-going experience.
Kelson’s Performance Is Gorgeous, Crafty, And Possibly The Most Magical Sequence In This Franchise
I might as well get it out of the way right now: I’m not the biggest Iron Maiden fan; which is to say, I’m not sure I’ve ever listened to them recreationally (though always admiring Eddie and the stellar album art). But even if Nia DaCosta and Alex Garland had written my absolute favorite song into 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple instead of “The Number of the Beast,” I don’t think I would have enjoyed it more than this final product.
As soon as the album art was shown on-screen, it became clear that Kelson is one of the coolest and most selfless horror movie characters to ever exist. The fact that he put all of this together in two days under threatening circumstances is baffling, but at no point did I take the time to wonder how speakers were set up or how he got all of his fire effects to work so perfectly. Rarely have I been so eager to just blissfully fall into a scene.
If I’d have been alone in the theater, it would have been an A+ time. But my screening was packed to the gills, and from what I could tell, everyone around me was having a blast. I could easily hear the cheers and awestruck laughter booming out from the crowd as goth Lucifer incarnate Ralph Fiennes commandingly stalked, climbed, thrusted and slithered his way around the giant skull pile as the Jimmy cult members stood around absolutely transfixed.
When the track was finished, the entire room burst into applause and gleeful noises, and had The Bone Temple just ended right there, I think most of us would have walked out happy. Confused, certainly, but still happy. Thankfully, the rest of the movie was equally pleasing, especially Cillian Murphy’s long-awaited return as Jim, and everyone applauded once more once the credits started to roll, albeit with slightly less enthusiasm than post-Maiden.
The challenge is now out for any other upcoming horror movies (or any outside the genre) to deliver a sequence as surprising, energetic, crowd-pleasing and magnificent as Ralph Fiennes’ Iron Maiden performance. Anyone looking for a similar enjoyably jarring musical moment should read on.
The Bone Temple’s Musical Sequence Reminds Me Of Alan Wake 2’s Best Chapter
The Alan Wake games are far more aligned with quirky Twin Peaks-esque survival horror than the ravaged post-apocalypse of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, so the similarities aren’t plentiful. However, 2023’s Alan Wake 2 became one of the most-discussed horror games in recent years for its late-game stage dubbed “Initiation 4: We Sing.”
Without going into spoilers, that stage has players guiding the titular main character through a TV studio all while a booming and boisterous Finnish metal song is performed by the in-game band The Old Gods of Asgard (real-world name: Poets of the Fall), with lyrics sung by different characters. The song progresses as the player does, but it’s such a dynamic track that not even the repeated riffs get tiresome.
It was one of my favorite gaming moments of 2023 or any other year, and I’m far from alone in that respect. I didn’t think any other horror franchise could come close to meeting that same level of spontaneous WTF exuberance, but 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple delivered it in spades. Something tells me they should get Nia DaCosta to direct that episode of the upcoming video game adaptation for the Alan Wake series comes to fruition.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is now playing in theaters around the country. Hail Kelson!
