28 Years Later is a postapocalyptic coming of age tale

Our weekly Events Wire newsletter is your guide to Northern Santa Barbara County concerts, arts, and local happenings—delivered every Friday.

SEND ME EVENT HIGHLIGHTS!

Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire) directs this third installment of the zombie franchise. Original writer Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation, Civil War) returns to pen this coming-of-age threequel about Spike (Alfie Williams), a 12-year-old living on a protected isle with a small community of Rage Virus survivors. His father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), decides it’s time for his son to face and kill one of the infected on the mainland, so, against Isla’s (Jodie Comer), Spike’s ill mother, wishes, Spike and Jamie set off across the low-tide causeway for Spike’s rite of passage. Once there, however, Spike begins to unravel secrets that may offer hope for his sick mother. (115 min.)

Glen: Technically, it’s only 23 years later from the 2002 original film, but who’s counting when a horror film is this engaging? This story is very much focused on the kiddos. It opens with a group of children being overrun by flesh eating zombies, with one little boy escaping with his minister father’s gold cross. He shows up again later. The main story is Spike’s, and we see his horror-filled world through his eyes. Intrigued by a distant fire on the mainland, he learns that it continually burns thanks to Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), who Spike’s dad assures him is crazy as a loon. But Spike, desperate to help his mother, is determined to seek out Dr. Kelson, which begins the film’s central adventure. Lots of gore, lots of heart, and lots of tension await. This is a worthy entry into this groundbreaking series that reinvented the zombie genre.

Anna: Spike’s earnest hope to help his mom drives the story and drives his gutsy but arguably foolish decision to head to the mainland. Spike’s story starts with his rite of passage—killing an infected on the mainland—with his father. The two barely make it back home, but their village is ready to celebrate. Spike is soon disheartened by his father, who he realizes is boasting about falsehoods and sneaking around behind his ailing mother’s back. It seems Spike needs to distance himself from his dad in order to gain the gumption to save his mom, and his journey to do so is earnest and heart-pounding as they meet infected and uninfected along the way. Isla slips in and out of mental clarity, and their journey to Dr. Kelson is full of danger. Along the way they meet Erik (Edvin Ryding), a Swedish soldier who’s the last of his troop to survive. There’s also a new breed of infected out there: Alphas. These dudes are seriously hard to kill. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland know what they’re doing with these films, and this follow-up proves to be a worthy third helping of the 28 franchise. I’m ready for more.

Glen: That’s good, because there are two more coming. Director Nia DaCosta (Candyman 2020) is releasing the Garland-written 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple in January of 2026, and Garland also signed on for another so far unnamed sequel, this one directed by Boyle. The Bone Temple must refer to the macabre but oddly poignant memento mori constructed by Dr. Kelson from all the bones he collects and cleans for display. He’s wrapped trees in femur bones and created a tower of human skulls. Fiennes is terrific as Kelson, who’s gently resigned to the state of the world. He knows he, like everyone, will eventually die, but his Bone Temple is a way to remember the dead. 

Anna: Fiennes and Williams are both stellar. I’m looking forward to the next installment. As for this film, it’s worth seeing on the big screen.

New Times Arts Editor Glen Starkey and freelancer Anna Starkey write Sun Screen. Comment at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.

This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 6, 2025.