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Fans were quick to point out a disturbing detail in the highly anticipated new trailer for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the upcoming sequel to 28 Years Later.
Hitting cinemas January 16, the fourth installment in the 28 Days series will see director Nia DaCosta take the reins from Danny Boyle, with Alex Garland returning to pen the script.
The brand new trailer picks up where 28 Years Later left off, showing Spike (Alfie Williams) forced to join the ranks of Jack O’Connell’s Sir Jimmy Crystal’s Jimmies.
One shot shows Jimmy with his hands in a distinct position, a chilling allusion that fans were quick to point out.
A post on Reddit by EmperorOfTheSand reads, ‘An interesting pose…’ and shows the shot of Jimmy side by side with an occult image of the demon Baphomet, with his hands in the exact same position.
Fans were quick to unpack the comparison.
User AeroHybrid commented: ‘The 28 Days Later film series is chock full of religious / Christianity themes and it’s so obvious. Jimmy is basically the devil himself (aka the Prince of Lies / Lucifer)’
Least-Use9227 simply posted: ‘Damn. Well spotted yea,’ while Chimpville
agreed ‘So…. this Jimmy naughty too?’
The hand positioning – when two fingers on the right hand point up and two on the left hand point down – is a gesture widely accepted to mean ‘as above, so below.’
It’s a common concept in occultism, and the gesture symbolises the Hermetic principle that the microcosm (inner world) is a reflection of the macrocosm (outer reality or the spiritual realm).
They are drawn from the ancient works of Hermes Trismegistus, whose writings became popular during the Renaissance and Reformation.
The hand gesture is often associated with Baphomet, who is a symbolic figure associated with the occult and esoteric traditions, most famously depicted by Éliphas Lévi as the ‘Sabbatic Goat’ – a winged, hermaphroditic figure with a goat’s head, symbolizing the union of opposites.
The same gesture can be seen on the Magician tarot card, the first card of the Major Arcana in a tarot deck, symbolising manifestation, inner power, resourcefulness, and inspired action.
So whether the gesture is simply meant to create an association between Jimmy and occultism, or has a deeper, more complex meaning, remains to be seen.
But there are plenty of other aspects of the trailer to get excited about.
Nearby_Paint4015 wrote excitedly: ‘This looks soo bloody awesome 💯’ while DatGuyGandhi agreed: ‘I’m so so hyped!’
DaCosta has big shoes to fill taking over for Boyle, but she seemingly revelled in the challenge.
‘The thing that connects the two is that they’re both bonkers, idiosyncratic, and very artistically personal works,’ DaCosta tells Rolling Stone of the upcoming film and 28 Years Later.
‘My big pitch when I was talking to the producers, including Danny and Alex, before I came on was, “I’m going to make this my own. I’m not going to try to make a Danny Boyle movie.” Because that’s impossible to make. He’s so special. And it didn’t really interest me.’
Jack O’Connell also chimed in, telling the publication: ‘This film is the weird, deranged cousin to 28 Years Later, who you might be a bit ashamed of because they have weird, questionable interests.’
He continued: ‘I don’t think the infected are purely antagonists in our film. It definitely will make you consider that.’
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