What an absolute disaster. As much as it makes me an asshole for saying it, I’m glad it bombed at the box office. Regardless of how many viewers will ultimately defend a movie online, the moolah is what ultimately matters and what will hopefully give the directors and writers of this franchise a heads up that this movie just stunk. And I mean it was incredibly much worse than the first 28 Years Later. Stay with me here, folks. I want to see more of the infected/zombies with a good storyline. What do I not want? An angle where the story focuses on a bunch of weirdo cult members who go on a murdering spree headed up by a weirdo cult leader who claims to be a prophet of some religious bullshit or another. Oh, and please no cringy dances. Guess what we got?

I could be labeled as a dense person. I usually think for a moment if my hate for a movie is justified or not. Maybe there are things in it that just flew over my head, you know? Metaphors, life lessons to be learned, etc. Then I look at the actual movie itself. Should I be all that concerned about that kind of stuff in a horror action/thriller movie? For the most part, I’d say HELL NO. I just want to have fun watching it. There are not many, if any, psychological elements to The Bone Temple. I think viewers that want to go that route are just trying to cope and make excuses for this horrible excuse for a sequel. Yeah, I get it; it’s hard being a horror fan, and it’s generally not often we get good horror-based movie series. But come on, seriously. What is this crap? How did it fall so far from where it first started?

From my recollection, I wasn’t that thrilled with the first 28 Years Later, but I believe there were at least some emotional elements to it. There were also some fun parts, like that scene when they were being chased by the alpha male infected, Samson. The introduction of Dr. Kelson was at least moving the story along with him trying to find a cure. There were things and people that, at the very least, made me want to cheer and root for them, you know? Here in The Bone Temple, we get introduced to the Jimmy cult. When 28 Years Later ended on a very odd scene, I think viewers were left confused and thought maybe the sequel would involve some badass but maybe weird and cringy zombie killers and hunters? That we definitely got here, so no surprise. What is surprising is they are just another religious cult who goes on a murdering spree dishing out “charity”. Once in a while, they recruit a new member, but he/she must choose and fight an existing Jimmy to the death. If they win, then they are the replacement. I believe there are at all times seven total members?

It’s so damn cringe, I swear. The mindless killing of the town members is just poor writing and direction. So I’m led to believe that a town of people that has survived for 28 years after the infection somehow can’t defend themselves against kids in wigs? Sure, there are some kids with fighting skills, but seriously? We’re just going to accept what’s going on and have ourselves a nice little dinner at the table while the lead blabs on and on and on? So the majority of the movie then just highlights the gang’s ruthlessness. Are they directors trying to highlight how more ruthless humans can be compared to the zombies? With the infected, their main goal is kill for food. Humans like to do more cruel shit to their victims. So why would I care about this and them? I don’t! It’s such a waste of screen time. This whole arc just feels like some filler or padding that had to be done. In fact, I could see this whole crap being a separate spin-off instead, where I think it might work a little better. Maybe like a mini two- or three-short-episode series or something. Alright, enough about them.

So the actual main story revolves back around Dr. Kelson’s continued journey in trying to find a cure to reverse the infection. His work on Samson finally achieves results in the end, setting up the final movie in this trilogy and, I believe, in the series. The sad part here is that the emotional level somehow is missing. Dr. Kelson’s and Samson’s part just took a backseat to the whole Jimmy gang crap. However, what was shown between the doctor and the infected didn’t help their case that much. It felt like the directors rushed it just a bit, again, because of that stupid gang arc, and so it made their part of the movie a bit flat even though what Dr. Kelson achieved is monumental. I think due to this, his demise in the end also lacked emotional follow through for me. I will be happy to finally see this franchise end with the next movie. Cillian Murphy, please save us. Directors, please do NOT bring up any of that Jimmy gang shit, even for once, in the next movie. Just let it go. PLEASE.