​Ralph Fiennes and director Nia DaCosta on 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

A follow-up film, directed by Nia DaCosta and starring Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Chi Lewis-Parry, and Erin Kellyman, shifts its focus to the human survivors living in the North-East.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple sees Dr Ian Kelson, played by Fiennes, form a shocking new relationship with potentially world-changing consequences, while Spike, played by Williams, is inducted into Sir Jimmy Crystal’s, portrayed by O’Connell, gang of acrobatic killers in a brutal post-apocalyptic Britain.

Fiennes, a three-time Oscar nominee who takes on a larger role in this film as the creator of the Bone Temple, says he felt deeply disturbed while reading parts of the script.

“Without giving too much away, there are definitely sequences in the film that are horrifying,” says the 63-year-old actor.

“I was disturbed reading them. I think Nia has handled it brilliantly, the way she’s photographed and edited the horror strikes just the right balance, so you’re compelled to watch rather than look away.

“Horror isn’t usually my genre, but when a horror film truly plays on your fear and does it well, it taps into something deeply instinctive.”

The Conclave actor adds that while the film contains gruesome scenes, it is far from mindless horror.

“I think these films have always had a humanist element, starting with Cillian Murphy’s character and his journey,” he explains.

“In our story, I think that relationship prevents the film from being just about enraged, infected people eating brains and blood.

“There’s more here, themes about art, our propensity for violence, and our capacity for compassion.

“Alex Garland’s script is quite complex. If a film were just about horror, it would be hard to sustain. Sure, there’s a genre where the horrific moments are exploited purely to scare us, but I’m not keen on that.

“I like it when there are layers, when the story explores what we’re capable of. This isn’t just mindless horror, no, it definitely isn’t.”

DaCosta, 36, first made her mark on the film industry with a reboot of the horror film Candyman before becoming the first black woman to direct a Marvel film – The Marvels.

Boyle gave the American director the green light to direct this follow-up film saying: “Nia was the perfect choice to direct The Bone Temple.

“Alex Garland and I had long been fans of her reimagining of Candyman and recognised that Nia has serious horror chops and a genuine love for the original 28 Days Later.

“She honours what fans love about the franchise while making the new film her own, taking the series into even darker, more intense areas.”

“What connects the two films is that they’re both bonkers, idiosyncratic, and artistically personal works,” says DaCosta.

“When I initially discussed the new film with Danny and Alex, I told them, ‘I’m going to make it my own. I’m not going to try to make a ‘Danny Boyle movie.’ Because that’s impossible to make.

“Alex’s script was very different from 28 Years Later, so it lends itself to a different approach. I could really put my imprint on it, to let my freak flag fly, and be visually adventurous and match that with more classical filmmaking.”

Speaking about the distressing visuals in the film DaCosta says: “There are some visuals that are quite distressing, but alongside that, there are concepts and ideas that are really interesting, ideas that encourage people to think about, well, not to get too existential, but about humanity and our place in the order of things.

“I think that when you shock people, sometimes it makes it easier for them to engage with those concepts.”

DaCosta who recently wrote and directed a provocative, modern reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s classic play Hedda, says the Bone Temple is a monument to death.

“The Bone Temple reminds us that everything seems hopeless,” she explains.

“But at the same time, if you’re still alive, you can accomplish something meaningful with your life.

"For Dr Ian Kelson, it’s building this monument to death, which inversely, is what gives him the energy to live.”

In the film Dr Kelson forms a relationship with Samson, played by Chi Lewis-Parry, the mammoth Alpha he regularly sedates but avoids killing.

Their evolving dynamic is a key element of the movie. “We’ve seen Samson do monstrous things,” DaCosta notes, “but Kelson sees a lot more to him.”

Hertfordshire-born Lewis‑Parry, 42, says: “Nia is a visionary. She knows exactly what she wants on the page.

“There was a scene we were rehearsing and Ralph and I had read it from one perspective, but Nia offered a different approach and completely transformed it.

"She understands the text so well, and that turns it into play rather than just a job, it makes it really fun to do.”

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will be in UK cinemas on Friday.