Attention all Iron Maiden fans: Stop reading this article and go see 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple right now.
Seriously, I don’t want to spoil this for you. The fourth installment of the excellent zombie movie series hit movie theaters Thursday night, and features one of Iron Maiden’s most famous songs in an absolutely incredible scene.
It would be way cooler to see it than to read about it, so consider this your last warning. Stop reading now before some obnoxious reporter spoils it for you.
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SPOILERS BELOW:
OK, I tried. Now I’m that obnoxious reporter. Here’s what happens. (It’s still 100% worth seeing on your own!)
The final scene of The Bone Temple finds Ralph Fiennes’ Dr. Ian Kelson – a mostly rational doctor who is actually on the verge of curing the virus that has turned most of the world’s population into brain-eating zombies – forced to pretend to be Satan himself to avoid being murdered by psychotic gang-leader Jimmy Crystal, who needs to prove that his BS story about being Lucifer’s son is real in order to keep his increasingly questioning disciples from turning on him.
Dr. Kelson (and Fiennes) not only meets but greatly exceeds expectations, delivering a dazzling shock and awe performance featuring pyrotechnics, psychedelic drugs and his own unique, unhinged and highly charismatic dancing skills, all set to the title track from 1982’s The Number of the Beast to successfully convince Jimmy’s followers that he is in fact the devil himself.
“The most important things to me were that it was scary and epic and fun, but also that we’re seeing [the gang] as kids,” Bone Temple director Nia DaCosta told Entertainment Weekly. “I want it to feel like their first time moshing at a concert, because… it’s their first time hearing projected music. What does that do to your f—ing body if you’re basically an adult and you’ve never heard that before?”
“I just had my mind utterly blown because he turned up with it already mapped out,” actor Jack O’Connell, who portrayed Crystal in the movie, said of Fiennes. “From the get-go, we are just bearing witness to cinema history. And he’s a highly respected, highly regarded actor — and rightfully so. So to see him really go there in this quite outlandish moment, even more respect.”
The EW interview also shines a deserved spotlight on an Italian fire performer named Otto, who takes over for Fiennes for a particularly impressive, masked segment of the dance. “Never saw him,” O’Connell admits. “He was in full protective gear. He came and did that and then was out of here. He’s a bit of a myth. He could be sat in this room. I wouldn’t know.”
Iron Maiden Albums Ranked
When ranking Iron Maiden albums, perhaps the most striking thing is that they succeeded despite changing lead singers on three separate occasions.
Gallery Credit: Eduardo Rivadavia
