We just saw 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026), the sequel to 28 Years Later, with 14-year old Spike (Alfie Williams) swept away from his island haven into a mainland Scotland ravaged by a zombie apocalypse. He unwillingly joins a cult run by Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Josh O'Connor), who fancies himself the son of Old Nick. His Satanic Majesty has given Sir Jimmy the task of roaming his countryside and eliminating the remaining humans. After torturing them, of course.
Very graphic torture. He begins by forcing Spike into a fight-to-the-death with Jimmy Shite (all of the followers wear blond wigs and are named Jimmy, after early 2000s tv personality Jimmy Saville). Spike wins by stabbing him in the thigh; the others laugh and jeer as blood spurts out like a fountain.
Then the Jimmies invade a farmhouse, string up the occupants in a barn, and skin them alive. But a woman who escaped returns, sets the barn on fire, and we see people burning to death.
Meanwhile Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), who is building the Bone Temple as a monument to the dead, pacifies the gigantic zombie Samson (Chi Parry-Lewis) with morphine and befriends him. They even dance together. The gay subtext is so overt that one suspects that it's intentional. Finally Kelson figures a way to restore Samson to sentience with anti-psychotic drugs.
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Spoiler Alert: The Jimmies stumble upon Dr. Kelson, and seeing him surrounded by bones, red in color, and dancing with a demon, assume that he is Old Nick. Sir Jimmy soon discovers that he is not, but insists that he pretend to be, so he won't lose face with his followers. So Kelson puts on a sound-and-fire show to Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast." He's about to let them leave, but he sees Spike as a Jimmy hostage, and changes his mind: in the old order, God sacrificed his son, so Old Nick wants the same. Sir Jimmy is crucified upside down.
Bone Temple was definitely made with an eye for masculine beauty. There are several shirtless musclemen. Chi-Lewis Parry's prosthetic penis is much more visible, and in some scenes his incredibly muscular body is not covered with muck.
We see some other penises, including Dr. Kelson's (but to be fair, name one of Ralph Fiennes's movies where he doesn't show his dick).
I was worried that Spike would get a girlfriend. He bonds with a girl, but she is much older, and treats him as a little brother or son rather than a potential boyfriend.
In fact, there is no hetero-romance anywhere, among anyone, except when we get a close-up of a photo of Dr. Kelson's long-dead wife, to heterosexualize him.
And so many of the Jimmies are played by gay actors that one suspects a deliberate casting decision
The Jimmies:
Jack O'Connell as Sir Jimmy Crystal. Straight, but has played gay men several times.
More after the break
