Netflix Finally Has This Fan-Favorite Horror Movie With the Scariest Villain of the Last 5 Years

When Danny Boyle and Alex Garland released 28 Days Later in 2002, they transformed the zombie subgenre into something more terrifying than ever with infected monsters who ran instead of shambling along. In that film, and in 28 Weeks Later and 28 Years Later, while there are very human antagonists as well, it’s those possessed by rage who are still the scariest part of the movies. That changed in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Nia DaCosta‘s film, now available on Netflix, is still a zombie movie per se, but it’s so much more, and with a villain more terrifying than any creature. Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) is the worst of humanity, a man capable of acts that will make your jaw drop and your heart race.

Jimmy Crystal First Showed Up in ’28 Years Later’

Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

The opening scene in 28 Years Later is the most chilling in the franchise. The movie begins as the outbreak begins, with a home overrun by the rabid, where parents send a group of young children to a second-floor bedroom to hide, distracted by The Teletubbies on TV. Among them is a boy named Jimmy (Rocco Haynes). When the infected quickly overtake the home, ripping apart everyone in their path, Jimmy makes it out and finds his father, a priest, at a nearby church. The man thinks this is the end of the world and gives Jimmy the cross he wears. When the monsters burst through the door, all Jimmy can do is hide as his own dad is killed just feet away.

Something that traumatic would mess any kid up. The rest of 28 Years Later isn’t about Jimmy. However, we meet him again, all grown, in the final scene. With Spike (Alfie Williams) all alone and on the run, he comes across a group of highly odd people, all with blonde hair and spinning around like ninjas in tracksuits. It’s odd, to say the least, but there amongst them as the leader stands Jimmy.

The Barn Scene in ’28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’ Is Unnerving

The first appearance of adult Jimmy garnered more confused laughter than anything else from audiences. Thankfully, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple tries again and gets it right this time with a stunning performance from Jack O’Connell, who just came off another highly talked about villainous role as the lead vampire Remmick in Sinners. Turning one person after another by luring them in with his words, all to amass an army of the undead, isn’t too far from who the now christened Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal is. He leads his own cult, the Fingers, where each member has the same blonde hair, wears the same strange tracksuit, and goes by the name of Jimmy.

The Jimmys take in Spike, but he is not saved. These people are vile and vicious. The child has to fight an adult member of the group, and because Spike has already proven himself to be scrappy in 28 Years Later, the kid, although scared out of his mind, manages to kill the adult with a knife. It’s even more trauma for poor Spike, but Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal absolutely loves it.

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Ralph Fiennes not included.

That’s tame compared to what goes down in the barn. In a drawn-out scene, the Fingers abduct the innocent residents of a home and tie them up. In the barn, the restrained victims are skinned alive one by one. The gore and implied pain from the screams of the dying are so difficult to watch on their own. Jimmy’s reaction makes it all so much worse. He’s as calm as can be, a man who can make others do what he tells them to do without breaking a sweat. If he feels anything, he certainly doesn’t show it. It’s like staring into the eyes of an end-of-the-world Charles Manson.

Dr. Ian Kelson Exposes Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal’s Flaws

When the world goes to hell, anyone is capable of killing, whether in self-defense or not. That breakdown is shown so often in the zombie genre. It’s another thing to convince others to do it for you. In The Walking Dead, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) had his followers. He was also a physically imposing man, especially in the comics, and carried a spiked baseball bat. Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal isn’t that. He doesn’t have to be. His weapons are his words and the fear he creates through his mannerisms. He’s convinced that he’s following the Devil, whom he calls Old Nick, and with his father’s cross now pointed upside down, he’s in search of hell. The contrast of all of this evil coming from a man in a tracksuit who loves to talk about The Teletubbies only adds to the fear.

Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal is so scary that you forget this is a zombie movie where the infected still roam and kill. He’s the epitome of evil, a man so disgusting that you’ll beg for his demise. The Fingers don’t seem to be capable of bringing it. They need to believe whatever he tells them. Jimmy is their community and savior. Without him, they are alone and dead. It’s a role all too much to put on Spike as well. The only person who might be able to stop him is Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes). He already has his hands full trying to cure the infected man he calls Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry). He’s smart and compassionate enough to make the attempt. He’s also smart enough to come up with a plan to cure another type of infected man when the Jimmys enter his temple of bones.

If anyone can find Jimmy’s weakness, buried in the trauma of his youth, it’s the doctor. Until he does, Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal remains the most unsettling villain in recent horror history and the biggest threat by far in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.