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The new trailer for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, is out and here’s what Alasdair Stuart spotted.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is one of my most anticipated movies of the next couple of months. The original, and the original duology, are horror movies that move like very little else and it’s a rare case of a franchise becoming more interesting over time. The second trailer for the movie suggests that idea, of change and evolution, is going to be absolutely central this time.

0.06 – Right back with Jimmy

And there we are, with the shot from the first trailer of Jimmy circling Kelson.

0.17 – ‘You mean Satan?’ ‘…Yes.’

This conversation feels pivotal. Not just because of how Jimmy seems terrified and thrilled but because he’s not equipped to see what Kelson is doing. Asking questions, being methodical. Building a means to if not survive then at least fight Jimmy where he’s weakest.

0.18 – Deer skull on Bone Temple

This was not, as I remember, there in the first movie. And it’s not the only modification we’ll see…

0.51 – ‘I remember details, events, people.’

This is Kelson’s power and burden. He remembers what the world used to be. What fascinates me is that as the trailer expands, we see that seems to the core of the one thing he can feel that Jimmy can’t: hope. Jimmy grew up in horror. Kelson lived through it.

0.56 – Two Jimmys holding hands

Two of the Jimmys are clearly holding hands as they walk ‘home’. Which suggests either the child-like affect they seem to have or a romantic relationship.

1.10 – The train flashbacks are Samson’s!

Samson was on the train! And if we’re seeing his memories that implies he’s still got them and that leads us and Kelson to some seriously interesting places…

1.14 – Infected in the carriage

This shot of the Infected standing still is terrifying for its simplicity and for what it implies is about to happen. Also, we’re coming back to this carriage.

1.30 – First contact and needle drop

The timing on the needle drop, as Kelson reaches some kind of accord with Samson and touches his hand is so powerful.

1.35 – ‘When the Infected attack, what do they see?’

Think about what that implies. That the Infected are still alive, still present in their atrocity riddled bodies. Then think about where Kelson seems to be leading us… If they’re still in there, then they can be reached. They can be saved. This can END.

1.43 – Inverted cross

My first guess was that this is Jimmy’s delusion but I’m no longer sure. Everything else in the trailer seems to imply Kelson is building a trap for Jimmy that plays on everything he expects to see and his religious delusions. Combined with the deer skull, I suspect this is Kelson ‘dressing’ the temple.

1.44 – ‘I believe the infection can be treated.’

And there it is. Doctor Kelson, three decades into hell, with either belief or proof that the Infected can be saved. The one thing Jimmy cannot feel is the one thing Kelson is defined by: hope. Hope, specifically, through memory. Something which also seems to be the key to his relationship with Samson.

1.53 – Spike in BIG trouble

Spike’s hair, and the expression and feel all put me in mind of legendarily horrific 1956 Russian anti-war movie Come and See Me which follows a boy as he enlists in the Soviet Army to fight the Nazis and is broken psychologically by the relentless brutality of war.

1.56 – ‘And now, a leap into the unknown.’

Calling it now, that shot on the posters of Kelson apparently in the grip of the virus? He’s faking! Or he’s worked out a way to mitigate its effects. Look at how he’s dressed, the theatrics he’s using. This is all to terrify Jimmy into doing something stupid.

2.01 – Samson fights on the train

Samson apparently on the train he was Infected on. Interestingly, he doesn’t seem to be fighting a Jimmy. Unless their wig is already off.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple releases on 14th January 2026. All three previous movies are available on disc and streaming.