28 Horror Movies To Watch If You Loved 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE

Something must have been in the water in Britain during the 1980s and 1990s, because in the span of just under a decade, the BBC decided to traumatize two generations by airing Threads and Ghostwatch, two terrifyingly bleak horror movies that blur the line between fiction and reality enough to feel unsettlingly real.

Barry Hines' Threads is a dramatized hypothetical account of what would happen if a nuclear bomb detonated over the English city of Sheffield, plunging Britain into a stark nuclear winter spanning 10 years.

Unlike 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, there are no ravenous Infected plaguing the people left behind in this post-apocalyptic hellscape, and yet many of the same themes rear their heads. Notably, a sobering warning of what can easily happen when we forget our fragility and mortality as human beings.

Both 28 Years Later and The Bone Temple feature structures and archetypes originating from Arthurian folklore and legend, making David Lowery's The Green Knight a perfect companion piece to highlight the fantasy touches among the horror.

An adaptation of the anonymously written 14th-century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the horror-adjacent The Green Knight follows Sir Gawain, a key companion of King Arthur who accepts the challenge of beheading the mysterious titular character (Ralph Ineson) on the condition that, one year later, he will receive the same injury in return.

Like The Bone Temple‘s Jack O'Connell, The Green Knight also stars a Skins alum in Dev Patel, as well as Jimmy Ink herself Erin Kellyman, making it even more of a relevant crossover.

Widely considered one of the greatest British films of all time, you'd be hard placed to find a horror film set in the United Kingdom that isn't influenced by Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man. With all-timer performances from Edward Woodward as strait-laced police officer Sergeant Howie and Christopher Lee as the eccentric island leader Lord Summerisle, The Wicker Man remains a terrifying reminder of the importance of minding your own damn business.

Much like 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, The Wicker Man is a film deeply concerned with questions surrounding Christianity, the clash between modernity and tradition, and how religious ritual can serve as both a death sentence or a spiritual awakening, depending on which side of the celebrations you're on.

And much like Dr. Kelson, Lord Summerisle likes to put on one hell of a show.

With its gritty British setting and aggressive, fast “zombies”, it's easy to make comparisons between 28 Days Later and Colm McCarthy's The Girl With all the Gifts. But the 2016 post-apocalyptic horror also has plenty in common with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, mostly in regards to how it explores the potential of a cure that could lead to a healed future.

Glenn Close gives a masterful, morally complex performance as a doctor experimenting on human-zombie hybrid children, while Jemma Arterton's empathetic teacher Miss Justineau could well be seen as a Dr. Kelson prototype.

28 Days Later might be the best remembered of all the Danny-Boyle-directed-Cillian-Murphy-starring-genre-pics (of which there are only two, admittedly), but Sunshine is a must-watch for anyone craving more Murphy following our brief glimpse of him at the end of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.

Also starring a stacked cast of Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Chris Evans, Hiroyuki Sanada, Benedict Wong and Michelle Yeoh, Sunshine is far more sci-fi than it is horror, following a crew of astronauts sent on a dangerous mission to reignite the dying Sun. However, that doesn't mean it's not scary.

Much like The Bone Temple, Sunshine explores themes of faith vs. science, as neither spirituality or atheism are presented as “right” or “wrong”.

If you crave more of the grisly gore featured in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, then Rob Jabbaz‘s The Sadness should be number one on your to-watch list. The 2022 Taiwanese horror also features fast, furious Infected wreaking havoc following a viral outbreak, but these ones are far more sadistic.

As its title suggests, unlike The Bone Temple, The Sadness has no interest in reminding you of the inherent good of humanity – quite the opposite, in fact. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Alex Garland's divisive folk-horror Men might not be his most positively reviewed movie, but it's one that demonstrates a lot of the same themes that can be found in his later script for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Namely, how scarily easy it can be for people to get swept up in dangerous ideologies and systems.

Men‘s reminder that the beauty of the British countryside can harbour something sinister also feels akin to The Bone Temple, not to mention the two intense and memorable performances from Rory Kinnear and Jessie Buckley, calling to mind the 28 series' preference for casting incredible homegrown British and Irish talent.

Trey Edward Shults and A24's 2017 psychological horror film It Comes at Night follows a family hiding in a remote forest as the world around them is ravaged by a mysterious, infectious disease.

Much like 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, It Comes at Night is less concerned with the Infected of its tale and more with the humans at the heart of it. Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Riley Keough all give effective performances that represent the gradual slide into isolation and madness that would naturally come in the post-apocalyptic world.

If the Jimmies' invasion of the farm in The Bone Temple sent shivers down your spine, It Comes at Night cranks that paranoia up to eleven, reminding us, sadly, of all the ways in which humans can be far more dangerous than any disease.

When it comes to British zombie movies, Shaun of the Dead is easily up there with the films of the 28 series as the most famous and beloved, and even references 28 Days Later with an Easter egg suggesting the outbreak originated from  “raging, infected monkeys”. Shaun of the Dead carries the same dry British wit as 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and doesn't skimp on the gore either.

The horror-comedy was also inspired by star Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright's love for Resident Evil 2, which also served as a key inspiration on Alex Garland when writing 28 Days Later.

Also known as Les Affamés, Robin Aubert's French-Canadian film Ravenous puts a unique spin on the zombie horror genre by having its infected engage in bizarre, ritualistic behavior that suggests an intelligence is still left behind in the zombified mind.

This makes Ravenous a perfect companion piece to 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, as both films explore the psychology of infection, rather than just portraying those affected as mindless, helpless monsters, as well as teasing an idea that the zombies in question can come back to the land of the living.

Just as 28 Days Later revitalized the zombie genre by moving the action to urban London, Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke's Cargo puts a fresh spin on the subgenre by taking place deep in the Australian outback.

Starring Martin Freeman and Simone Landers, Cargo takes place in a dystopian near-future overrun by a mysterious virus that turns people rabid in 48 hours. After Andy's (Freeman) wife succumbs to the sickness, he turns to a local Indigenous Australian girl Thoomi (Landers) to help him find a safe place for his infant daughter.

The FANGORIA Chainsaw Award-nominated Cargo features plenty of the same themes as The Bone Temple, chiefly, the importance of empathy and retaining community in a world lost to chaos.

Long before he was Jimmy Crystal and long before he was Remmick in Sinners, Jack O'Connell was terrorizing screens in James Watkins‘ Eden Lake as the sociopathic leader of a group of hostile youths hellbent on making sure Jenny (Kelly Reilly) and Steve (Michael Fassbender) have the worst weekend away of their lives.

Similarly to 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Eden Lake has a lot to say about social dynamics in modern Britain (with the latter catching some rightful flack for its representation of working class people), with a generous helping of visceral gore too.

Starring Neil Maskell and Michael Smiley, Ben Wheatley‘s Kill List follows two former soldiers who take on an assassin gig from a mysterious client. To say anymore would do the film a disservice, as the slow-burn horror of Kill List really deserves your full attention. Just know that you're not going to come out of the film with an overwhelming urge to visit the English countryside any time soon.

That's what makes Kill List a great double feature with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – without giving away too much about the former, there's ritual, sadistic violence, and a pretty nihilistic outlook on some of the more sinister parts of British society.

Sci-fi comedy horror Attack the Block underperformed at the box office but has gone on to become a bonafide cult classic with tons of beloved fans, something we can easily see happening to 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple in 5-10 years (if you want to change that trajectory – get out there and see it in theaters!)

Starring John Boyega Jodie Whittaker, and Nick Frost, Joe Cornish's directorial debut centres on a teenage street gang who have to defend themselves from predatory alien invaders (which don't operate too differently to the Infected!) on a council estate in South London on Guy Fawkes Night. From that sentence along there should be no question that Attack the Block is a must-see if you love the Britishness of The Bone Temple.

Also known as Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue is another classic pre-28 Days Later British-set zombie horror that sees the undead rise due to manmade circumstances – in this instance, a farming tool designed to kill insects via ultra-sonic radiation.

Funnily enough, the Spanish-Italian production from director Jorge Grau does not actually take place in Manchester, but in the fictional village of Southgate, featuring plenty of shots of the natural beauty of England, much like The Bone Temple does.

Fun fact, Let Sleeping Corpses Lie also inspired a 1981 pseudo-remake in Korea known as A Monstrous Corpse, which served as the country's first zombie movie.

French horror flick The Night Eats the World starts much like 28 Days Later did, with a man awakening alone in a world completely overrun by hordes of fast-moving, bloodthirsty zombies, and much like 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, explores what happens to the human psyche when left alone for too long in post-apocalypse.

Starring Squid Game‘s Gong Yoo, Sleep‘s Jung Yu-mi and action superstar Ma Dong-seok (aka Don Lee), Yeon Sang-ho's Train to Busan is wildly considered to be one of the best post-28 Days Later “fast zombie” horrors, and like The Bone Temple, deftly explores how humans are often far scarier than any bloodthirsty beast.

Set on a high-speed train travelling from Seoul, Train to Busan is not only emotionally compelling but also one of the scariest single location movies of all time, and is further proof that South Korea is easily making some of the greatest horror out there.

Although the legendary British horror studio would take a stab at the zombie genre (more on that later), Hammer's The Devil Rides Out bears similarities to 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple more for its themes of occultism and devil worship.

Starring the legendary Christopher Lee, the 1968 horror is considered to be one of director Terence Fisher's best, and follows the fictional Duke de Richleau as he investigates black magic madness in the English countryside.

It's hard to imagine that The Bone Temple‘s Satanic showdown wasn't at least a little bit inspired by the cultist ceremony of The Devil Rides Out, although the latter sadly doesn't feature any Iron Maiden.

Among the surplus of post-28 Days Later fast-infected lo-fi horror movies, Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza's REC is easily one of the scariest, becoming an iconic horror feature in its own right and still terrifying almost 20 years since its release.

Much like 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, REC explores the origins of a rabies-like virus (which takes an incredibly unique turn in the sequel, REC 2), and turns a cynical spotlight on the way humans have a tendency to throw each other (quite literally) into harm's way if it means saving themselves.

If 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple has you hungry for more horror that explores a more unique take on zombie infection, then Bruce McDonald's Pontypool is a must-watch.

Based on Tony Burgess' 1995 novel Pontypool Changes Everything, Pontypool imagines a world in which humans are infected with cannibalistic zombie urges via the English language, making certain words, phrases and literary devices completely off limits.

Similarly to The Bone Temple, especially its central plot point of Samson regaining the ability to talk, the world of Pontypool is one in which a breakdown in communication between humans leads to aggression and madness.

The late great George A. Romero's influence can be felt in pretty much all zombie media, but his 1973 sci-fi horror The Crazies shouldn't be overlooked for its influence on the 28 series especially.

The cult classic follows residents of a small American town that accidentally becomes afflicted by a military biological weapon, causing mass hysteria and violent, homicidal behavior. Much like 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, The Crazies examines what happens to the people left behind by an institutionally-created virus, especially when said institutions abandon them entirely.

Another Skins alum who made the jump from house parties to horror is Nicholas Hoult, who starred in the 2013 zom-rom-com Warm Bodies. Hoult's involvement isn't the only thing that makes Warm Bodies a great companion piece to 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple though.

The post-apocalyptic comedy-horror explores how the undead could return back to the world of the living, just as The Bone Temple brings Samson back from Infection, with the third 28 Years Later movie presumably going to see a cure created for the rage virus. If you liked the heartwarming hopefulness of The Bone Temple, Warm Bodies is for you.

Believe it or not, the British zombie genre didn't start with 28 Days Later, but in fact much earlier in the 1960s, notably with 1961's Doctor Blood’s Coffin and 1966's The Plague of the Zombies.

As Hammer's only foray into the zombie horror genre, The Plague of the Zombies is arguably more notable, and of course opts for the classic route of zombification in voodoo magic rather than viral infection.

It's definitely not visually dissimilar to 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, however, with the Cornish setting providing a ton of lush natural beauty that stands in contrast to the grisly chaos unfolding on screen.

While Neil Marshall's The Descent might not share much plot similarity with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, it's a classic, modern British horror film that captures much of the same dry wit and humor, as well as a lovable cast of characters whose deaths never get any less heartbreaking.

The Descent‘s terrifying cave monsters aren't too dissimilar to the Infected of the 28 series world, either. They're fast as hell and undeterred by rough terrain, but much like The Bone Temple, they're not the only dangerous thing in the hills.

Ok, ok, we're cheating a little here, as Dead Set is a miniseries and not a movie. However, if you love the Britishness of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple then Dead Set should be on your list to check out.

In the Charlie Brooker (Black Mirror) created show that aired on E4, housemates in a series of reality show Big Brother are totally unaware that a zombie apocalypse is raging outside in the UK. Featuring a ton of real life Big Brother contestants, television presenters and news reporters, Dead Set serves a snapshot of early 2000s British culture, and was itself inspired by the success of Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later.

The 1951 novel Day of the Triffids from legendary English science-fiction author John Wyndham served as a chief inspiration for Alex Garland when writing 28 Days Later, so it should come as no surprise that the DNA of the story and its film adaptation can be seen in The Bone Temple.

Steve Sekely's 1963 adaptation of The Day of the Triffids follows Bill Masen, a Naval officer who awakens in hospital to find that London has been overtaken by giant carnivorous plants known as Triffids.

Much like The Bone Temple, The Day of the Triffids reminds us of the importance of trusting science, as its a chemical reaction that ultimately defeats the Triffids.

The second Neil Marshall title on this list, 2008's Doomsday is a much harder sell than the classic The Descent, but should nevertheless be checked out if you're craving more Britain-set, virus-based genre titles.

Set in a dystopian, quarantined Scotland, Doomsday sees a tough team of military personnel and scientists cross the border looking for a cure, running into marauders and survivors styling themselves after medieval knights. Much like 28 Years Later, Doomsday suggests that should apocalypse come to the British isles, a retreat into the fantasy days of yore will probably come with it.

If you relished in the camp chaos of Dr. Kelson's Iron Maiden lip-sync in The Bone Temple, give Doomsday a go.

The most recent movie on this list aside from 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple itself, We Bury the Dead hit theaters earlier this year via Vertical Releasing.

The Daisy Ridley-starring horror puts a new spin on the zombie genre by restricting resurrection only to certain people. Ridley plays a volunteer who enters a quarantine zone searching for her missing husband, where she uncovers the horrifying truth: the undead are growing more violent, more relentless, and more dangerous with every passing hour.

Much like The Bone Temple, We Bury the Dead is a mournful reminder of the importance of the reverence of the dead, much like Dr. Kelson's titular ossuary.