28 Years Later sequel finds meaning in music and monuments

Polygon reports that in 28 Years Later and its sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the eccentric recluse Dr. Ian Kelson spends his days building a colossal ossuary as a memorial and finds comfort in old music; the piece notes it contains major spoilers.

Kelson sings along to Duran Duran’s “Girls on Film” while cleaning corpses, dances to “Rio” with the Alpha infected Samson, and stages a climactic heavy metal concert — complete with pyrotechnics and goth garb — playing Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast” to convince the cult leader Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal’s young followers that he is Satan, a spectacle that leads them to crucify their leader.

The article compares Kelson’s reliance on art to Station Eleven’s Traveling Symphony and its motto “survival is insufficient,” arguing both stories show how surviving culture can be arbitrary but vital; Kelson dedicates his life to a memento mori and, after his final show, dies — 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is in theaters now.

Key Topics

Culture, Dr. Ian Kelson, Duran Duran, Iron Maiden, Station Eleven