The reviews are starting to pour in for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the follow-up to last year’s 28 Years Later. Though the film won’t have its wide release until Jan. 16, its early reviews have given the sequel a Rotten Tomatoes score that’s higher than its predecessor. Though the first 28 Years Later has a strong score, The Bone Temple is currently even higher, setting a new record for the visceral horror franchise.
As of this writing, The Bone Temple has a Certified Fresh score of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. That beats 28 Years Later‘s current score of 89%. Notably, the original franchise film, 2002’s 28 Days Later, has a score of 87%, while the 2007 sequel, 28 Weeks Later, is scored at 73%. As it stands, that makes 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple the highest-rated film of the franchise, a record it will keep unless subsequent reviews make its current score drop below 89%.
“Audiences get white-knuckle thrills as well as enough meat on the bone for them and a rage-infected zombie to chew on,” reads one glowing review from Aaron Neuwirth of We Live Entertainment.
Critic Zach Pope stated, “The best one yet! It has evolved to its highest form and Nia DaCosta absolutely nailed it twisting the series into something even weirder more thought provoking and gloriously gory. Ralph Fiennes delivers an incredible performance.”
“28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is a more than worthy follow up to last year’s film, visually glorious, a great sense of ironic humour, and drops enough literal and proverbial needles to make an audience applaud and craving for more,” Shelagh Rowan-Legg of ScreenAnarchy also wrote.
There’s more to come, giving the franchise another chance to set a new high with the next installment. The 28 Years Later movies were conceived as a new trilogy. Original 28 Days Later screenwriter Alex Garland is the writer of all three 28 Years Later films, while Danny Boyle also returned to direct the previous chapter. Boyle is also planning to direct the third installment, though Nia DaCosta stepped in to helm The Bone Temple. It’s not yet known when the third movie will be released.
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The Bone Temple, of course, picks up after the events of 28 Years Later. The sequel stars Ralph Fiennes, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Jack O’Connell, and Chi Lewis-Parry.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple debuts in theaters on Jan. 16, 2026.
