Ralph Fiennes dances to Iron Maiden’s 'The Number of the Beast' in 28 Years Later scene

At a screening of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple at the Everyman in Muswell Hill, the film’s conclusion features Ralph Fiennes dancing semi‑naked among piles of human bones to Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast, a moment that surprised and amused the audience. Director Nia DaCosta said Alex Garland chose the song and wrote it into the script.

The track’s spoken intro by Barry Clayton and Bruce Dickinson’s closing lines make up almost five minutes of overtly satanic material; it was the title track of Maiden’s 1982 album, their third and their first with Dickinson, which became their first UK No 1 and first US top‑40 album.

Released as a single, the song reached No 3 in the UK in 1990, which the article says remains the highest UK chart position for a song about Satan (the comparable US chart honour is held by the Charlie Daniels Band’s The Devil Went Down to Georgia, also a No 3 single). Iron Maiden seldom license their music, Dave Shack of the band’s Phantom Music Management team said, because they worry about being made fun of; he cited regret over an Iron Maiden T‑shirt appearance in Hot Tub Time Machine and said, “We’re not bloody Spinal Tap or Steel Panther.” DaCosta shot the scene over three nights, her editor prepared a cut within days, and after a BFI Imax screening she approached Shack, who recalled people standing and clapping.

Key Topics

Culture, Ralph Fiennes, Iron Maiden, Nia Dacosta, Muswell Hill, Phantom Music Management