The Only Recap You Need Before 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later" blew up everything we thought we knew about the zombie genre by turning the infected into sprinting missiles of pure hate and rage, with an ending that's almost hopeful despite the horrors. Against all odds, he did it again with "28 Years Later," which gave us sequences of pure terror that also doubled as a potent and philosophical meditation on our own mortality. 

Now, another sequel "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple" is set to pick up where the last film ended, and if you need a refresher on where things lie, click on the video above and watch our recap on everything you need to know before taking a journey into "The Bone Temple."

While not connecting directly with the original film, or its sequel "28 Weeks Later," "28 Years Later" carried on the spirit of its predecessor, giving horror fans a viscerally tactile brush with death that was heralded as one of the best films of the year. The film was a commercial success as well, bringing in $151 million at the world wide box office. While the sequel was already being filmed by the time this film was released, its success has set the stage for "The Bone Temple" to carry on the torch.

Part of what made "28 Days Later" so remarkable was the collaboration between director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland. Boyle's handheld digital filmmaking made the project feel like it was unfolding in front of us, while Garland's writing allowed the film to speak to bigger issues within both British society and something elemental within humanity itself — to say nothing of the zombies themselves, terrifyingly wired like athletes afflicted with rabies. 

The pair reunited with "28 Years Later," which leaned even further into everything that made the original so powerful. Now the biggest question on our minds as we prepare to watch the second part, "The Bone Temple," is how new director Nia DeCosta ("Candyman," "The Marvels") will compare to Boyle.

Unlike the other sequels, "The Bone Temple" picks up directly where "28 Years Later" left off, with young Spike (Alfie Williams) now initiated into Sir Jimmy Crystal's (Jack O'Connell) Teletubbies zombie killers. Early reactions to the sequel have been ecstatic, calling the film one of the best horror movies of the last decade. Projections are set for a $20 to $30 million domestic opening, which has Sony so bullish on the film's success that they have already greenlit a third film, with Alex Garland returning to write. The most exciting part of this announcement is that Cillian Murphy is reportedly in talks to join, promising a sequel that will perhaps cap off the franchise where it all began.

This means that the world and characters established in "28 Years Later" are things fans need to be up to date for. So please, watch the video above so you know everything that's happened before we descend into "The Bone Temple."