Ralph Fiennes in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple [Columbia Pictures]

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Directed by Nia DeCosta
Certificate: 18
☆☆☆☆

HERE we go again: the fourth instalment of the 28 Days Later story, and the UK is still overrun by virus-infected zombies.

We follow on from last year’s film, tracking young Spike (Alfie Williams) as he is captured by the gang of violent murderers led by charismatic Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connor).

This tracksuit-wearing, gold chain-sporting leader says Satan is talking to him and imploring them to skin alive anyone who crosses their tracks.

Meanwhile, lonesome survivor, GP Dr Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) is building a monument from skeletons: a temple, he tells himself, memorialising the dead.

Of course, their paths are going to cross and it will lead to carnage.

As their trajectories get closer, we have twin plots picking their way through the guts.

Jimmy’s gang have schisms as Spike and Jimmima (Emma Laird) want out.

As for our Latin-quoting GP, he has some virus-infected neighbours to pay attention to – none more so than Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry), a giant of a zombie.

Dr Kelson manages to placate Samson via regular doses of a morphine mixture: getting the zombie addicted allows him a semblance of control over the giant, and the GP begins to use his limited resources to see if he can find a way of helping his new friend.

Written by Alex Garland and with Danny Boyle out of the director’s seat but offering input, this glossy and grisly story is done with their usual dash.

When Jimmy’s gang stumble across Dr Kelson’s bone-monuments, fireworks are guaranteed: in a scene that has Garland’s stamp, Kelson rigs up a set that will make Jimmy’s acolytes believe he is the devil: it includes blasting out Iron Maiden – a nice touch.

But cultural jokes aside, there is a dark undercurrent to this.

The idea that a marauding gang intent on killing anything they meet have based their personas on Jimmy Savile feels like a sick joke.

But taste has little to do with this, as the moments of graphic violence and torture highlight.

An opening scene where a gang member bleeds to death is a form of violent escapism I can do without. This isn’t a film that makes up for its tastelessness with a compelling story.

What is compelling is the character of Kelson, played with hammy-Shakespearean brilliance by Fiennes.

This instalment – the fourth since we met Cillian Murphy wandering in a daze through a deserted central London – is left with another sequel in mind.