28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)

Matt (00:00):

Hello there, dear listener. This is Matt, 1-Week Rental. We’re off for the week preparing in the research cave for the Christopher Nolan miniseries, but we have a Patreon that for the moment is $1 a month because we don’t guarantee that we will make any content that month. So for the moment it’s $1 a month. We have a brand new episode for the Patreon and it’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Me and Screen Time Kota talking about that movie and we’re going to have more Patreon content coming over the course of the summer and depending on the response, we’ll really get that going into gear in the future. But if you’re listening on the free feed, here’s like 20 minutes from that episode that you can enjoy. And if you like it, go sign up patreon.com/1weekrental. Okay, Laci and I will be back with a real episode about Memento in one week.

(01:11):

Oh, it’s 1-Week Rental. I’m Matt Stokes. Joined here by my friend Screen Time Kota. Hello, Kota.

Kota (01:16):

What’s going on, Matt? How are you doing today?

Matt (01:18):

I’m good. Glad to be talking about 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.

Kota (01:23):

Let’s go.

Matt (01:24):

Everybody should check out our 28 Years Later episode, which is on the free feed of our podcast. We had a very good conversation about that movie and it seems like you’re just very enthusiastic about this series, right?

Kota (01:36):

Oh, 100%. I love this series. I love the direction that they’re going with it. It’s a fresh take on a genre that became outdated when The Walking Dead came out.

Matt (01:49):

Yeah. I was like, what more can you do with zombies when you have this show that was so huge that just goes on and on and on and on and on. 28 Years Later really, really injected a lot of fresh ideas.

(02:03):

I like some of the directions that this one goes to, but this movie has a scene that gave me more joy than just about any scene of any movie in the last few years. And it’s the scene where Ralph Fiennes gets to pretend he’s the devil. And everybody knows I love the devil.He’s like my favorite IP. So it’s my dream that one day people will ask me to pretend to be the devil. And so I posed to you, I texted Kota last night and said like, “If you had to convince somebody that you were the devil, what song would you play?” In the movie he plays an Iron Maiden song, Mark of the Beast. And we’re going to talk about that scene, why I love it so much. Yeah. If you had all of music at your disposal and you had this gang of idiot brainwashed cultists and you had to convince them, I am the devil, what song would you play?

Kota (02:50):

100%. It would be Lorna Shore to the Hellfire.

Matt (02:55):

Lorne, I don’t know what that is. Let’s pull that up.

Kota (03:01):

It’s gnarly stuff. It’s gnarly stuff.

Matt (03:03):

I mean, tell me about it.

Kota (03:05):

So it’s just a death metal song that just the way he does his screams in that and just basically the lyrics of it all is like, “Dude, if you don’t believe that I’m the devil after you hear this shit, then I don’t know what to tell you.

Matt (03:23):

” This is a six-minute song I’m noticing. Right now, it’s very tranquil. Okay. So at this point, you’re sort of dancing around, you’re breakdancing. I do mi walk

Kota (03:42):

To the stage.

Matt (03:44):

Yeah. You start to do the worm. Everybody’s going fucking nuts. Okay. Yes, this is beautiful. This is beautiful.

Kota (03:53):

Doing the worm is crazy.

Matt (03:57):

I love this performance so much. And that is like him trying to do the worm is just a great example of an actor using his physicality to tell you about the character, which is this guy’s going to try. He is an old man, but he’s going to try whatever he can do.

Kota (04:13):

Him just humping that, I don’t even know table. I

Matt (04:19):

Don’t even know what- Yeah, I don’t know.

Kota (04:21):

But that is so funny because that just shows you right there though that Ray Fines is just a phenomenal actor and he will do whatever it is to make that character feel livable and breathable.

Matt (04:37):

Yeah. And you can tell this guy has wanted to do something like this his whole life.

Kota (04:41):

Oh yeah. You could see the excitement on his face the whole time. It’s so funny. When he’s all over the bone tip and he’s like, “Oh, the nuh.” I’m like, “Dude,

Matt (04:51):

This is

Kota (04:51):

So fucking great.”

Matt (04:53):

He’s just been a science guy his whole life. And finally I get to be a little theater nerd and I like listening to my Iron Maiden and stuff. And finally I get to put it to use and all my little science tricks and my scarecrow powder and my firewheel and everything.

Kota (05:07):

Real quick though, can we just admire the soundtrack for this movie though? The songs in general, when he’s in his home and he plays the, oh God, Duran Duran, I think it

Matt (05:21):

Was. Yeah. There’s two different Duran Duran songs, I believe. Yeah. And then

Kota (05:24):

He

Matt (05:24):

Plays.

Kota (05:25):

And then that radio head song playing over with just the shot of the sky clouds fucking double timing it over the bones. Oh, just beautiful.

Matt (05:36):

Yeah. It’s everything in its right place is the song he plays. Though that did get me wondering, that album came out. Kid A comes out October of 2000 and then the zombie apocalypse happens in 2001. Are we to presume he bought the vinyl record of Kid A in that time, this old man? Come on. I’m supposed to believe that-

Kota (05:54):

He could have found it. I mean, Scavenger.

Matt (05:56):

Oh, you’re right. He could have … Yeah, going out and scavenging. Yeah. Okay. There you go. That explains it because I thought, I don’t think this- Your pothole

Kota (06:02):

Has been fixed.

Matt (06:04):

I mean, maybe this guy is a music nerd and would pick up the new vinyl record from Radiohead as a 45-year-old. I’ve never heard of

Kota (06:11):

This before.

Matt (06:12):

Yeah, I’m not listening to any new music at my age. I’m 38. He

Kota (06:16):

Also could have taken it from the island because he was from the island that Spike is from and he just went on his own way as they explained in the first 28 Years Later. So I mean, he could have just did what Spike did, jacked a bunch of stuff, set it on fire and was like, “La la la.”

Matt (06:33):

Now as I was thinking about what I would play, I turned to my own story and I thought, what are the songs that scared me the most in my life? And as I just said, I love Satan now. He’s like one of my favorite guys, but as a child it scared the hell out. It scared the shit out of me. I was afraid I’d be going to hell for listening to devil music. And let’s just say in this scenario, I have access to YouTube and I can play this music video. This music video that when I watched sent me into a true spiral and I thought I’m going to die and go to hell forever. The scariest thing you’ll ever hear. Oh my God. It’s not just Slipknot, the darkest music of all time. But oh my God, bugs and scary eyeballs and little animated popets.

(07:18):

No clap. And everybody’s so terrified right now of me, the devil.

Kota (07:26):

I remember when this music video came out, it creeped me out. I remember that. It’s just the eeriness of the video and the black and white.

Matt (07:34):

For some reason, because my mom told me that you can’t buy that CD, they worship the devil because she saw it at Walmart. And I was like, “Oh, okay, you’re right.” But they scared me because I really liked the song Wait and Bleed and they already had a music video and it was just them performing it live on stage and that made me feel okay. But then they made this video, which is full of all creepy crawly stuff of bugs and they’re animated puppets. And I was like, “Oh no.” And truly I couldn’t go to sleep. I was worried that I’d be punished for liking this song. Now maybe I feel like my song isn’t as scary as yours. You went to the source, you went to death metal. So I picked one more song. I thought, let’s go to the real expert. Let’s go to Anton LaVay, the founder of the Church of Satan.

(08:17):

He actually had a musical career. So let’s hear from Antoine Levand. Oh my God, no way. And his song, Satan, takes a holiday.

Kota (08:30):

What in the ICP?

Speaker 3 (08:31):

Started dancing and he was quiet in transit when he did the jangle his own way. His tones were wrapping loudly and he began to shuffle proudly. That’s the way that Satan makes a holiday. Yeah.

Kota (08:48):

I’m not going to lie, that’s a banger. That’s a banger right there. I’m going to be teaching that to little kids. That’s a nursery rhyme right there.

Matt (08:57):

I know, I know. I think he was going for like, “Ooh, can I make a monster mash? Can I have a novelty hit?” Yeah. That’s the thing about Satanist people is they’re just huge dorks. They’re just huge nerds and they like their spooky monster mashes and stuff.

Kota (09:14):

It shows in Ian. I mean, he’s a nerd. He’s a doctor, so he’s an anatomy nerd.

Matt (09:23):

He calls himself an atheist. He’s a skeptic and a man of science, but I think the earlier movie he’s shown to be so spiritual. He communes with the dead, not literally talking to them but honoring the people.

Kota (09:35):

Yeah, he makes his bone temple.

Matt (09:38):

That’s what’s so interesting about him is he’s a completely science and reason-based character who nevertheless embraces this sort of spiritual side.

Kota (09:49):

In a beautiful way too, just

Matt (09:51):

A

Kota (09:52):

Stunning way.

Matt (09:53):

So I will say that one issue I have with this movie is I think it demystifies a lot of what I found special about the previous movie. A lot of stuff gets explained that I didn’t necessarily want explained.

Kota (10:06):

Like what? Like

Matt (10:07):

What? Jimmy’s the whole cult of Jimmy, what they’re all about.

Kota (10:11):

You think they should have saved that? I

Matt (10:13):

Feel like I never wanted to know. But I feel he kind of said it. He’s like, “Well, I saw my dad and he was leading the Army of the Dead.” And that’s where it all comes from. I

Kota (10:21):

Love that wholeThat whole speech between him and Ian was honestly, especially rewatching it again and sitting there and just sitting with it. It’s honestly a haunting, dark, but beautiful speech conversation that they had between each other where they’re just understanding.

Speaker 4 (10:41):

I was only eight when it all went out of whack, but a man of your age. Must have a few memories from before

Speaker 5 (10:48):

Or less than you’d think. I remember details, events and people, but what it was actually like to live with shops and fridges and telephones and personal computers. I have no real memory of that at all. That said, I do remember there was a sense of certainty. The world had an order away about it. There were dramas and upheavals inevitably, but the foundations, they seemed unshakable.

Speaker 4 (11:40):

I remember church most of all, but that’s because we lived next to it and when the demons came, that’s where I head.

Speaker 5 (11:47):

You lived in the house next to the church.

Speaker 4 (11:49):

Right next to that.

Speaker 5 (11:51):

Was it the rectory?

Speaker 4 (11:52):

Yeah.

Speaker 5 (11:54):

And your father was the vicar.

Kota (11:57):

And I can kind of get what you’re getting at though. You didn’t want to understand the Jimmies. You just wanted them to be just a fucking psychotic group of people. And I get what you’re putting down. I get what you’re putting down.

Matt (12:11):

Well, I think it’s a deliberate thing. I think the movie is trying to demystify everything because Ralph Fiennes his character, you mostly see him in the daytime just kind of doing routine mundane things. The sort of aura about him is gone from the first movie and I think that’s intentional. I liked it more in the first movie. But I do love that scene between those two guys because I just think they’re great actors and it’s such an interesting conversation.

Kota (12:39):

I mean, that conversation, the conversation with him and Samson, I mean, well, his talking to Samson, just all of it. Just Ralph Fiennes character in this movie. I could watch a whole trilogy just on his character alone.

Matt (12:54):

Yeah, it’s a great performance. Overall thoughts on the movie? Oh

Kota (12:58):

Man, masterpiece. It’s a masterpiece to me. Watching this in theaters and then rewatching it the moment it came out on digital and then rewatching it again for the third time this year now. This trilogy, I’m loving where they’re going with it. The direction, I think the direction from the first one to this one is a definite big change up. I mean, you got skinny and shit in this one, it’s a definite more step up from the last one. And I think that people not giving this movie a chance really saddens me because it’s a great movie, but I don’t really have any negativities towards it. Yeah, I think it’s a perfect movie in my opinion.

Matt (13:46):

There’s a lot that I really like about this movie, but I think I’m very mixed on it overall. And I hate to say that to you because I know how much you love this

Kota (13:54):

Movie. No, dude, everybody says that. Anytime I’m talking about 28 Years Later with people and they know how much I love it and they’re like, “So I don’t want to say this because I know you love the movie, but it’s okay.” And I’m like, “Dude, don’t be afraid.” If you didn’t like it, it’s all good.

Matt (14:16):

I was afraid though.

Kota (14:19):

My buddy Paul’s the same way. He’s like, “Ah man, I hate to break it to you, but that one sucked worse than the first one.” I’m

Matt (14:27):

Like,

Kota (14:28):

“Nah.”

Matt (14:29):

We have a two-hour discussion about that first one and you liked that one more than I did, but I did like it a lot. I remember giving it three and a half stars. And now in my memory, I think why did I … I feel like I was underreading it because stuff from that movie has really lingered with me, like the stuff on the Causeway and the Northern Lights and-

Kota (14:47):

Ah, I love that shot.

Matt (14:49):

Yeah. And I feel like that is really what I was missing in this movie. And this movie’s directed by Nina DeCosta and she’s made some movies that I like. And I think she’s a good director and a talented director. Her last movie before this was called Heta. It was a play, but she adapts into a movie and I thought she did an incredible job of making it feel like a movie, like making it feel very cinematic. And it’s just a movie of people in a house talking to each other. But I feel like this material really needs Danny Boyle. It’s like what he can do visually and in creating moments and creating atmosphere, I was really missing it here. This felt very just kind of ordinary, like just a bunch of people in the woods talking to each other.

Kota (15:31):

I’m still a little confused on why Danny Boyle decided not to direct a sequel, but he’s coming back to direct the third one. That still confuses me why. I don’t know if maybe he has to go film something else because I feel like if he was just doing that, he might as well just wrote the movie and just let somebody else direct the trilogy. But then again, who knows if it would’ve been as good.

Matt (15:55):

Well, I mean, why did this need to come out six months after the last one? That’s really kind of strange.

Kota (16:01):

And that hurt. They did it. It was a marketing ploy. I mean, from the moment the 28 Years Later came out to when this one released was exactly 28 weeks later or something like that. And so they were trying to do that on marketing and nobody went and saw this one because of how the marketing was that people thought they were just rereleasing 28 Years Later. There was people that thought that. And then there was people that saw the advertisement, but didn’t see the 28 Years Later part and only saw the Bone Temple and they were just confused. And that’s as far as people I’ve talked to on that didn’t see it in theaters because … And then there’s people that didn’t even know it came out.

Matt (16:47):

But that’s a good point. I hadn’t thought about that, but this … The name The Bone Temple and the imagery of Ray Fines, that’s just the last movie. So if you’re not paying attention, you’re just like, oh yeah, this movie, this movie can’t watch

Kota (17:01):

It. They’re just rereleasing it. Yeah.

Matt (17:02):

Yeah.

Kota (17:02):

And then I mean, even if you watch the movie right at the beginning, the credits, there’s no credit of saying 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. It’s just literally the Bone Temple.

Matt (17:14):

Because the last movie could have had the subtitle, The Bone Temple. So you need something totally different. The Jimmy’s the fingers and their quest or the ballad of old Nick. Bell on Old Nick.That was a big mistake using that title. But I do wish they’d taken some time and let Danny Boyle direct this because we talked about this on our 28 Years Later episode. I’m not a fan of Alex Garland or I’m a fan of Alex Scarland, the director. I really dislike that story. You’re not

Kota (17:45):

A fan of Alex Garland as a writer. Yeah. And I mean, that’s a lot of people. Like we were talking before, he’s a very political person and he’s not afraid to voice his opinions, but it just tends like, I’m here to watch a movie. I’m here to watch a movie shut my brain up. I’m not here to learn and think about politics right now. I can learn that anytime I want to on the outside. I’m trying to enjoy this fucking movie.

Matt (18:13):

I like politics and movies. I find his politics really annoying and I feel like he’s just kind of a dumb guy who thinks he’s very, very, very smart. Hey man,

Kota (18:22):

He wrote The Beach, all right? You back off. Well,

Matt (18:25):

It’s interesting that I think he’s so much better at directing than he is at writing when he was a novelist. He wrote novels and then he turned into a filmmaker- Because of Danny Roy. … happens and then turns out to be a talented director. So I was hesitant about 28 Years Later and then I found, oh, none of the Alex Garland stuff, all the stuff that I was worried about when I heard that that movie’s an allegory for Brexit, that sounded annoying, but then I watched the movie and I don’t feel like it’s that at all. This one I feel Alex Garland all over the movie.

Kota (18:58):

Hang on. It’s a metaphor. It’s a what? I did not know that.

Matt (19:03):

A metaphor for Brexit because you have this island that’s cut itself off from the rest of England and that stands in for the United Kingdom cutting itself off from Europe.

Kota (19:13):

I never put those two together, that’s new to me and I

Matt (19:17):

Didn’t

Kota (19:18):

See it that way either apparently

Matt (19:20):

Because that is just what people were talking about before I ever saw the movie and that made me think like, well, that sounds annoying. Here I feel like his voice, I just feel characters talking in his voice and that annoyed me and it’s totally fine for artists to have politics I disagree with, but his partly it’s because I’ve heard so many interviews with him and I find him annoying and I think he’s just this really annoying centrist and that’s the least interesting political position to have. I’m a left-wing guy, but I don’t mind hearing conservative worldviews. I find that more interesting than somebody who’s just like, “I think both sides just need to get along. Shut up, man.” And then I just don’t think Jimmy is that interesting. Really?

Kota (20:08):

Yeah. You don’t like him? What?

Matt (20:10):

And I don’t mean I don’t like him in like, “Ooh, he’s so despicable.” I mean, I think he’s kind of boring.

Kota (20:15):

See, I enjoyed his character because you can see the misguidedness and everything that he talks. When he’s trying to direct the kids, the fingers to do stuff, you can sense the hesitation. Anytime one of them, especially Jimmy Ink, when she speaks up, he always has that,

Matt (20:41):

“Are

Kota (20:41):

You really talking to me like that? ” And he’s like, “How do I get her off this situation and blah, blah, blah.” So you could see that he has no control whatsoever over anybody just besides those three of the ones, two of them died, but they were the ones that were like, “Oh my God, he’s really the son of Satan.” So they believed every single word.

Matt (21:06):

Yeah, that stuff is interesting. And I like Jack O’Connell. I think he’s a very good actor and this is a good performance. I think that we spend so much time with them torturing people that I just kind of check out.

Kota (21:18):

I’m not going to lie to you though. I wouldn’t have mind another torture scene, just

Matt (21:21):

Saying.

Kota (21:22):

I’m just saying I wouldn’t have mind some more chaos. I wouldn’t have mind seeing the fingers doing some crazy shit. But I mean, don’t get me wrong, that skinny scene, I wasn’t expecting it to go that far for a

Matt (21:43):

Movie

Kota (21:44):

Going to theaters, which is crazy because this one got an R rating and they did all that, but yet I know this is a total opposite movie, but they had to cut six or seven seconds off of obsession from a head smash scene to get an NC17 rating. It’s just we got three people skinned up a lot just hanging there. So it’s crazy what … I know this isn’t the topic of that, but it’s just crazy what is shown in theaters and what can’t be shown in theaters as well.

Matt (22:14):

Well, maybe we can do this, do some podcasts in the future. I want to look at the MPAA and be like, and really figure out what’s their deal.

Kota (22:22):

Yeah. Yeah, that would be exactly

Matt (22:23):

How they determine ratings.

Kota (22:25):

Yeah.

Matt (22:26):

And I know that there’s documentaries and stuff about it. I need to do this research. And then the other thing I’ve always wondered is what else do they do? What does the MPAA do besides-

Kota (22:35):

Rate

Matt (22:35):

Movies. Because I know they are very important lobbying group. What do they do?

Kota (22:40):

That is actually a real … Yeah, that’s an interesting one. Yeah.

Matt (22:42):

And I assume it’s something evil, so I want to figure out what it is. I like Gore. I found this Gore very upsetting in this movie. I

Kota (22:52):

Felt like

Matt (22:53):

They

Kota (22:53):

Could have pushed it a little bit more, but yes, it was pretty fucked up.

Matt (22:59):

Yeah. I think that him being Spike in the last movie, running into these guys, this crazy swerve it takes at the end of the movie where you think, where the hell is it? Who are these guys? What are their deals? Why does he look like Jimmy Saville? Why does he look like that? Oh my God, I can only imagine. And then it turns out I get the answer and I just don’t think it’s that interesting. And this is just, it’s not working for me.

Kota (23:27):

Especially after our talk when we had the whole Jimmy Savill discussion and such. I’m not going to lie, I was kind of let down with that, but I guess I don’t know if it was Danny Boyle or Alex Garland. I want to say one of them talked about it that they weren’t going to … Yeah, he has the look of Jimmy Savile, but he’s not going to be based around him. We’re not going to give that guy the attention and all that. And that makes sense, but it’s like, then why did you make him look like that?

Matt (23:55):

It makes sense, but why? Yes. Why do this and why do you keep saying Jimmy?

Kota (23:59):

Yeah, exactly. So I was let down with that. Damn it. There’s a negativity. Way to go, Matt. Way to go.