BLOOD BROTHERS

After eleven seasons of “The Walking Dead,” I had had my fill of zombies. Perhaps that’s why I have long avoided the “28” series (“28 Days Later,” “28 Weeks Later,” “28 Years Later”) altogether.

And in doing so, apparently I have deprived myself of what appears to be a mostly superior take on the zombie genre. In this world gone mad, zombies aren’t the long-suffering, shambling, shadow creatures of TWD. Instead, they are furiously-aggressive, speed demons who can outrun most of their prey.

“28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” is a direct sequel of its predecessor, “28 Years Later.” In that third film of the series, we were introduced to Dr. Ian Kelson, played by Ralph Fiennes, an agnostic with an affinity for rock group Duran Duran, who is attempting a kind of cure for the virus that has ravaged the world.

And in a tip of the hat to “Frankenstein,” he is trying to rehabilitate a nearly seven-foot-tall victim of the disease he calls Samson, due to his imposing physique and long hair.

Ordinarily, Samson is wild-eyed and dangerously savage. But under Kilson’s care, he can be tamed with a concoction of mostly morphine. In their scenes together, the tension is palpable because you wonder if Samson, despite Kilson’s mind-numbing cocktail, might lash out at the doctor and kill him where he stands.

But this is just one half of the story.

Meanwhile, we meet a band of blond-wigged marauders led by the charismatic Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) who claims to be the son of “Old Nick.” Jimmy has seven acolytes he calls “Fingers.” And we learn immediately they are up to no good.

While there is a semi-religious bent to Jimmy’s pronouncements, it’s clear they are nothing but cold-blooded killers and early on, they wreak havoc on a family of virus survivors living on an idyllic farm in the Scottish Highlands.

In the course of their wanderings, they happen upon a young boy called Spike (Alfie Williams) who was introduced at the end of the previous movie. Spike, despite his years, knows immediately that his life is in danger from Jimmy.

And the test to live, as outlined by Jimmy, is that Spike has to prove his mettle, and maybe join the Fingers, if he can survive a fight to the death. Of course, Jimmy knows the boy is outmatched by the Finger he faces and delights in the prospect of Spike’s certain murder.

But things don’t go as planned; Spike triumphs in a scene that rates as one of the goriest ever put on film.

And his victory is emblematic of the tone of “The Bone Temple.” Director Nia DaCosta dials the mayhem up to 11, but then will tone things down to give moviegoers a chance to breathe.

That seems to be the plan when the story veers back to Kilson and Samson, where the man-beast by now is showing signs of a mental clarity that you’d think is impossible for a victim of the virus.

But there’s danger lurking in the woods when Jimmy Crystal and his tribe come upon Kilson’s bone temple, an obelisk made primarily of skulls where he has an underground lair. At first, Jimmy believes Kilson, his skin dyed red from iodine, is Old Nick, and maybe even his father.

But he soon realizes his mistake. And yet the wily Dr. Kilson is wise to the ways of a Satan worshipper and their battle of wits is one for the ages. It leads to what can only be described as one of the most jaw-dropping finales in any movie this year.