Oh Spike! Still only 12 years old, he’s looked after himself for 28 days even by the end of the last film – but now he’s part of a gang and it’s not pretty. Check out my plot recap including that ending. (Or you can read my 4.5 star review here)
There are two main threads to the story, and these converge at the Bone Temple in a night of fire and Iron Maiden. If you don’t want to read it all click down to the different sections:
That ending, in brief | Jimmy Crystal and the Jimmys | Dr Ian Kelson and Samson | At the bone temple | Later…
That ending, in brief
At the bone temple, Dr Kelson, under threat of death, has to pretend to be Satan to help Jimmy Crystal regain control of his Jimmy crew. Kelson puts on a manic and fiery performance of Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast then lists the commandments Jimmy Crystal had demanded, that they should continue their work and obey Jimmy. Then Kelson recognises Spike, and to save him introduces a final commandment: Jimmy Crystal, son of Satan, must be crucified as a sacrifice to his Father as Jesus was crucified for God.
Jimmy is furious and tells the Jimmys that Kelson is just a man. Spike stabs him. Jimmy Ink kills the other Jimmys. She tells Kelson he is dying, and as Spike comforts him she says she will complete his last commandment. She nails Jimmy Crystal to an upside down cross. Jimmy cries for his mother and says he can no longer hear his father’s voice in his head. Spike and Jimmy Ink walk away, and she tells him her real name is Kelly. Samson returns – Jimmy Crystal thinks it is Satan, his father. Samson thanks Kelson by name, picks up his body and carries it away.
Later, we see Jim from the first film, teaching his teenage laughter Sam history for an exam he has set. The lesson is about learning from the past and rejecting fascism and nationalism. Sam hears a noise, and they go outside. They see Kelly and Spike being chased by a group of infected down a hill. Sam asks Jim (who has a gun) if he will help them and he replies “of course”.
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Jimmy Crystal and the Jimmys (or Fingers)
In an abandoned swimming pool Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal sits on a platform, with the other Jimmys – or Fingers – below in the empty pool. Young Spike has been told to fight one of the Jimmys, Jimmy Shite, to the death for a place in the group. He’s easily overwhelmed, until he manages to pull down Jimmy’s trousers and then stabs him in the thigh. Jimmy is unimpressed until he pulls out the knife and everyone realises Spike has hit an artery, with death inevitable. Jimmy Shite’s blood spurts out as he begs for help but no one helps him, and he soon bleeds out and dies. Spike is given his blond wig and the survivors leave. In the distance is a burnt out city.
A couple – she is pregnant – and an older man are foraging for mushrooms. They see an infected and though they should hide the older man tries to kill it. Its screams attract other infected who give chase. The couple are ahead, and though the older man shouts to them to wait she urges his partner to leave him. The older man is overcome and attacked, he vomits blood and becomes an infected himself.
The couple, Tom and Cathy, get back to the farmhouse they share with other survivors. As Cathy tries to explain what has just happened, George, an old man living with them, tells her they have visitors – Jimmy Crystal and the Jimmys are sitting round their kitchen table, eating their food. Jimmy Crystal makes Jimmima do the Dipsy Dance while he explains about the Teletubbies. One of the residents throws a pan of hot water at them and Tom shouts at Cathy to run, which she does.
Jimmy Crystal sends Jimmy Ink to find their next spot – she’s annoyed as she doesn’t want to miss “charity” (deaths for Satan). She walks off, coming across the newly infected mushroom forager. She easily kills him then walks past. She comes to near Dr Kelson’s compound and sees a man, with reddish skin, dancing with a giant. It is Kelson and Samson, dancing to Duran Duran.
The four others from the farmhouse are taken to the barn, tied up, while Cathy creeps into the floor above. Jimmy Crystal says as charity they will be doing “removal of the shirt”. She has to watch as the other four are hung up and the first three have their torsos skinned, while still alive. Spike runs outside, vomiting. Jimmy Ink finds him, and stays outside with him as he’s so distressed.
Tom, the last, is offered the chance to fight one of the Jimmys. If he doesn’t, or if he loses, he gets “charity” – torture and death. He selects Jimmima and she accuses him of thinking she would be easier to fight as she’s a girl. He’s easily overpowered but as Jimmima sits on him to do the “removal of the trousers” she’s hit on the back of the head by a meat hook swung at her by Cathy from her hiding place. Jimmima dies and Tom manages to grab a gas canister which he uses to set one of the Jimmys on fire. As the barn, and the victims, burn, Tom is killed.
Outside, with the barn on fire behind them, Jimmy Crystal sends Spike after Cathy who has escaped. He finds her at the fortified gate but can’t kill her. Instead he begs her to take him with her but she whacks him and leaves, locking the gate behind her. Spike has to go back to the Jimmys and claims he killed her. Jimmy Crystal ask why he didn’t bring back evidence such as her face. He threatens to kill Spike as a tribute to Old Nick (Satan, who Jimmy Crystal thinks is his father). Spike is crying but trying not to, and Jimmy Ink intervenes, saying instead they should travel to meet Old Nick himself and ask him directly what to do. She described Dr Kelson, with his reddened skin and bone towers.
They travel there and the Jimmys wait in the woods while Jimmy Crystal goes to meet Kelson. Kelson and Jimmy Crystal have a long chat. Kelson clearly understands that Jimmy is psychotic but explains he isn’t Satan. However on pain of death Jimmy Crystal makes him agree to pretend to be to the Jimmys, as he needs to re-establish his control over them. They agree Jimmy will bring the other Jimmys the next evening.
Jimmy Ink is increasingly suspicious of Jimmy Crystal and is starting to doubt some of claims.
In the early hours Spike gets up from the forest floor of the Jimmys’ camp, and steals away quietly. He comes across an infected and kills him, but then he is grabbed by Jimmy Fox who has followed him from the camp. Jimmy Fox hates Spike, particularly because Spike killed Jimmy Shite and he and Fox were best friends. He is about to kill Spike when Jimmy Ink appears and kills Jimmy Fox. She and Spike head back to the camp and lie to Jimmy Crystal that they had to kill Jimmy Fox as he had tried to escape the group.
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Dr Ian Kelson and Samson the Alpha
A hunter in the woods is trying to kill a deer. He’s chased by Samson and caught; we momentarily see the hunter as Samson sees him and he looks like an infected monster. Samson pokes into his eyes and rips the man’s head and spine out.
Dr Ian Kelson is playing Girls on Film by Duran Duran, in his bunker. We see photos of his previous life including with his wife. He’s bopping around as he changes his clothes.
Samson repeatedly returns to Kelson, having become addicted to the morphine darts which Kelson has been using to calm the giant Alpha. Calmed now, he and Kelson start sitting together by the river. Kelson keeps talking to Samson in the hope of reaching the man beneath, and getting a spoken reply, but this doesn’t happen.
Kelson even risks going to sleep next to the Alpha. When he wakes Samson is gone and, as Kelson dryly notes, his own head is still attached to his body.
Kelson is running out of morphine. He has scavenged drugs from a 70 mile radius and he only has a couple of weeks worth left. He is about to euthanise Samson (as Samson’s psychological pain is so great from the virus) but just as he is about to inject him (having wished Samson had the capacity to consent) Samson, who has been staring intently at the full moon in the night sky, says clearly “Moon”. Kelson is delighted as it shows the virus is treatable. The mind beneath the virus is not destroyed but can be reached.
Kelson, working on his notes in his bunker and on Samson as his live patient, has worked out that the virus has three effects: physical, sensory and psychiatric – and now he knows that the psychiatric element can be treated.
Jimmy Ink, sent by Jimmy Crystal to find their next spot, has spotted Kelson and Samson together, dancing by the river bank. She has told Jimmy Crystal that it could be Old Nick (Satan) himself. Jimmy Crystal has threatened Spike with death as a tribute to Satan, and Jimmy Ink has intervened to suggest they visit him in person to ask what to do.
Jimmy Crystal arrives at Kelson’s compound, wanting to talk. He’s left the other Jimmys including Spike at camp in the trees nearby. Kelson tells Jimmy he is not in fact Satan but a doctor called Ian. Jimmy threatens him with a very painful death if he does not pretend to be Satan, Jimmy’s father, to the other Jimmys, so he can re-establish control.
Kelson and Samson meet again, and Kelson explains that he hasn’t been scared of death for a long time. His work (presumably referring to his Memento Mori) is done. However now he is fearful. As for Samson’s treatment, there is no time to lose. Rather than gradually tweak the medication he has created for Samson, Kelson gives the Alpha a large final dose in the hope it will work.
Samson is walking through the woods; he can hear birdsong, children’s chatter, the noise of a train. He heads back to the abandoned train (an existing focal point for him and other infected) and sits down in a seat. He remembers travelling by train as a boy with his family. He “sees” the ticket collector coming round and says out loud “I don’t have a ticket”. Back in the present, the infected around him on the train suddenly attack – something about Samson (most likely his speech) means they now see him as an uninfected. He is still extremely strong and easily enraged, and manages to fight them off and get away.
Kelson is spending the time preparing his performance as Satan. He finds an Iron Maiden vinyl record in his bunker, rigs up a sound system, hangs candles from the bone towers, and prepares a circle of petrol he will set light to later. He even builds a cross and drags it to the temple. He knows he is going to be performing for his life.
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At the Bone Temple
When Jimmy Crystal arrives with his followers the next night, Kelson is ready in black and white make-up and a long black coat. The heavy metal music starts up and he sings along, dancing, shrieking and jumping around. The Jimmys won’t have heard music blasted out like this for years if at all. He waves fiery lanterns and secretly sets light to the petrol which creates a burning circle around them. He blows drugs in their faces. It’s an incredible performance and they totally believe. Even Jimmy Crystal is impressed and he knows Kelson is a doctor called Ian.
When the music stops Kelson does what Jimmy Crystal has demanded of him. He gives the Jimmys some commandments: they need to carry on their evil ways, and obey Jimmy Crystal. He hopes this is it and they will leave, but then he walks towards the smallest Jimmy, still in his mask. He asks him to remove the mask. Seeing young Spike caught up in this makes Kelson realise he can’t just send them on their way to continue their sadistic attacks but he has to stop them now, to save the boy.
Kelson announces there is another commandment, much to Jimmy Crystal’s surprise. Satan requires a sacrifice of his son; as Jesus, God’s son, died on the cross so Jimmy Crystal, Satan’s son, must be crucified as an offering to his father.
Furious, Jimmy Crystal tells the Jimmys that Kelson is not Satan, just a man, and stabs the doctor. But Jimmy Crystal’s spell, for Jimmy Ink anyway, is broken. Spike stabs Jimmy Crystal in his side and Jimmy Ink then kills the other remaining Jimmys. As Kelson lies dying, comforted by Spike, Jimmy Ink tells him the wound will kill him; however she can complete the last commandment and will crucify the incapacitated but still living Jimmy Crystal. She nails Jimmy Crystal to the inverted cross so he is hanging upside down. With these nail wounds, and his side wound, he now he has the same wounds Jesus had on the cross.
Jimmy cries out and asks for his mother. He is distraught as he can no longer hear the voice of Satan in his head (presumably the drugs Kelson blew in his face have temporarily treated his psychosis). He repeats what he said in the church as a small boy: “Father why have you forsaken me”, which is also what Jesus said as he was dying on the cross.
Spike and Jimmy Ink walk away through the bone pillars, and she tells him her real name is Kelly.
Upside down, Jimmy Crystal sees Samson come towards him wearing the stag’s head with antlers he previously brought to Kelson. Jimmy Chrystal thinks Samson is Satan, his father, come for him.
Samson goes to Kelson. He thanks him by name then picks up his body and carefully carries it away.
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Later…
Some time in the future – and we don’t know how many days, weeks or months it has been since the events at the bone temple – we see a white cottage in the countryside.
It is the same cottage from the end of the very first film 28 Days Later. Back then Jim, Selena and Hannah (the daughter of taxi driver Frank who died) were waiting for rescue with a huge HELLO banner they had made. They were pretty relaxed and dare I say it, cheery! A plane was flying overhead, the infected were starving to death on the roads and no longer a threat. It seemed like the nightmare was to be short-lived, and was now coming to a close.
Clearly they weren’t rescued as 28 years later, in the present day, we find Jim and his teenage daughter Sam inside the cottage; they are revising for a history exam the next day which he has set himself. He is teaching her about how Germany’s treatment after WW1 led to WW2, how after that war it was realised that fascism and nationalism needed to be crushed out of existence entirely. Above all, we must must learn from history.
Sam hears something; they prepare for the infected and go outside. Jim has a gun. On the hillside nearby they see two people, one dressed all in red, one smaller with a backpack, running down a hill with a pack of infected behind them. It is Spike and Kelly. They make it to a dry stone wall and clamber over. Sam asks Jim if they will help them. “Of course”, he says.
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