Every 28 Days Later Movie Ranked (Including The Bone Temple)

It’s the horror franchise that probably shouldn’t have actually become one. When 2003’s 28 Days Later was released, it arrived when the zombie subgenre of horror was, like the dead themselves, buried in the ground. With the shot of adrenaline that it brought to the table, zombies quickly became the “in” thanks in no small part to that film, and though it took years for a follow-up, it appeared that this was a series destined to have told its story and been completed. Now here we stand over twenty years later, and thanks to the release of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, there are officially four films in the series, with a fifth on the way, and even some comic books for good measure.

This isn’t a case of awful movies to the best movies in a series, like the rankings of say, Halloween or Friday the 13th might go, but rather a case of movies that range from “Really great” to “Masterpiece.” It’s a narrow window, where the quality across all four films makes it clear this is, pound for pound, one of the best horror franchises of all time. With a third film in the 28 Years Later cycle officially greenlit, and its plot set up by The Bone Temple, time will tell if this trend will continue. If history is any indicator, though, the series could become one of the few horror movies ever to have at least five movies, all of which are good.

4) 28 Weeks Later

Though it features none of the same cast members, nor director Danny Boyle or screenwriter Alex Garland, 28 Weeks Later is still a surprising and fun sequel to the original. What the film really has working for it is that it has two distinct ideas that separate it from traditional zombie films. The first is its depiction of how international governments would work to contain and aid a country that had just gone through a harrowing zombie-like invasion, and the second is what happens when you add an immune character to the mix. They prove to be interesting plot material for the most part, even as it devolves into an action spectacle by the final act, with a haphazard sequel-bait ending.

The best element of 28 Weeks Later is the opening sequence, though, as a father (Robert Carlyle) is shown abandoning his family amid the initial infection. That said, it’s somewhat hindered by the fact that this sequence is largely just copying the original film’s style and terror, and is scored once again by the iconic “In the House – In a Heartbeat” to boot. That’s why the film falls to the bottom, its best moments are just aping what we already know and like from the original.

3) 28 Years Later

Though Danny Boyle left the horror genre behind for almost as long as the title of the film notes, he proved with this movie that he hadn’t missed a beat. Not only is his frenetic style of filmmaking a major asset in the development and execution of 28 Years Later, but it also proved he still had something to say in the genre. Filled with terrifying action set pieces and a look into a ravaged world that has just as much to say about our own, 28 Years Later is a horror blockbuster that is rare in modern Hollywood.

There are really only two things that hold back 28 Years Later from the two films that stand ahead of it, and in truth, they’re not major problems. The first is that in the time between Days and Years, the zombie and post-apocalypse genre has exploded, resulting in stories that beat the franchise to the punch with what it was exploring. The second is that even though Jodie Comer puts on an acting clinic, star Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s presence is a weakness for the film overall. Despite this, it’s still an entertaining as hell movie, with a distinct POV and plenty of surprises (looking at you, Samson…respectfully).

2) 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple picks up almost immediately after the previous film in the series, but rather than follow a well-tread path for its plot instead decides to push forward through the brush into uncharted territory. The result is a movie that has two of the most distinct storylines that, at the end of the day, are about how people react to cataclysmic change in the world. The film is about how people choose to cope, and how their choices affect everyone they encounter, but also the people who position themselves in places of power and what they will do to maintain it. That’s not all, though, as The Bone Temple is also an incredibly sweet movie with an intimate look at how kindness can prevail and be the ultimate tool for healing. There’s also a scene where Samson peels off layers of brains and eats them, so it checks almost every box.

1) 28 Days Later

It couldn’t be anything else, could it? Danny Boyle’s original movie is an iconic piece of cinema, not only for the place it holds in reviving an entire subgenre of horror but because of the punk-rock filmmaking prowess that guided it. Scary from the opening minute, and with iconic musical moments throughout, there are movies that have twenty-times hte budget of this film that are unable to sell the illusion of a desolate city in the way 28 Days Later managed.

The thing about 28 Days Later that really makes it work, which the sequels have largely stuck to and which many zombie movies that followed in its wake failed to realize, is that the heart of the film is the human characters. We empathize with and understand Cillian Murphy’s Jim, Naomi Harris’ Selena, and Brendan Gleeson’s Frank not only because they’re put in impossible situations, but because they’re fully rounded people who are just fighting for their survival. We see ourselves in them, which makes the tragedy that befalls them and the horrors they endure so powerful. This is done not only in the performances, but also in the writing, with Garland making sure that the progression of the story not only gives us bigger implications for its entire world but also focuses in as it reaches its epic conclusion.