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Critics are raving about Nia DaCosta's 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and a big part of why is the absolutely sensational climax, in which Ralph Fiennes channels his inner metal god to perform Iron Maiden's "The Number of the Beast" before an awed Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell) and his remaining Fingers. 

Last year, O'Connell himself stunned audiences with a dizzying collision of horror and dance with Sinners, in which he played the singing, Irish-jigging vampire Remmick. With The Bone Temple, O'Connell counted himself lucky to witness three-time Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes transforming from the mild-mannered Dr. Ian Kelson into a fire-twirling Satan, rocking out to an epic song.

In Mashable's Say More episode with DaCosta and O'Connell, the English actor described his reaction watching Fiennes perform this on set as "mindblown," saying, "Here's this legend of the game, fully going for it." 

For more from Mashable's Say More interview, check out the full episode on YouTube.

How did the Iron Maiden dance number in The Bone Temple come together?  Credit: Sony Pictures

DaCosta reveals this devilish lip sync was in the Alex Garland screenplay, which as a whole made her eager to come on as director. However, reading this particular scene on the page, she thought, "Well, this could end my career. It's like, how do you make this work?"

Across 28 Years Later and The Bone Temple, Dr. Ian Kelson is a bit of an odd duck in the post-apocalypse. He lives in a bunker under a towering ossuary he's made of the bones of the dead. Between that and staining his skin an orangey-red with iodine, he's an intimidating figure at a distance — mistaken for Satan himself by Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman) and her sir, Lord Jimmy Crystal. But up close, he's a soft-spoken, educated man, eager to offer comfort and compassion however his skills and dwindling supply of drugs will allow. 

However, under threat of torture and death, the good doctor must masquerade as Satan himself to con the Fingers, as Jimmy demands. Cue Iron Maiden. 

Using the hand-crank record player he's had squirreled away in his bunker and a flurry of remarkable DIY theatrics, Kelson not only awes Jimmy and the Fingers — who admittedly have never seen a rock show of any sort — but also excites the theater audience. 

Both times I've seen Bone Temple (so far), once Kelson's performance concluded, the audience broke into applause and cheers of elation. But staring at the script, DaCosta was aware of how big a swing such a scene is. 

"I think at this point in my career, I've learned to just, like, trust the process and the collaborators," she said. "And that was, like, absolutely that. So Shelley Maxwell, my choreographer; Gareth [Pugh] and Carson [McColl], our costume and production designers; the special effects team; stunts; hair; makeup — like, everyone just came together. And once we [could] see what we want[ed] to do… It was just amazing. And then Ralph having to do that [performance] for hours and be basically naked."

She then deferred to O'Connell, asking, "There was one day where you guys just came at night to see the full thing, right?"

"Yeah," O'Connell concurred, adding, "It was a bit of a crescendo moment. All departments, set design, costumes, a big, big ring of fire and things. They are amazing moments anyway, them crescendo times. But for me, it was very hallucinogenic." 

DaCosta shared his affection for this time on set, declaring, "It was just so insane. It was so fun." She cheered her production team for their detail-oriented work, saying that in the end, they had so much they could "only do the very best ideas." The director added, "I had the best collaborators. Then Ralph killed it. And then the way that Jack and the other Jimmies responded to it was just so — because [their] response is really what the scenes about — like, what he's doing is amazing, but it's really about how these Jimmies are seeing this person." 

For DaCosta, whatever doubts she had looking at the script for the first time were allayed once she saw the first rough cut of Fiennes' dance footage. "On the [shoot] day, I was like, 'That's amazing," she recalled, adding, "When [editor Jake Roberts] sent me that [scene], while we were still shooting, I was like, 'All right, thank God. We're good."

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is now in theaters.

When 28 Years Later hit theaters last summer, audiences were awed not only by Danny Boyle's blistering new vision of zombie horror, but also by the curious introduction of Jimmy Crystal. 

Played by Sinners' Jack O'Connell, Jimmy instantly captivated audiences, who were ravenous to see more of him in the 28 Years Later direct sequel The Bone Temple. But can you handle what director Nia DaCosta has in store as she takes the reins for the second film in this emerging trilogy? 

SEE ALSO: '28 Years Later: The Bone Temple' review: Nia DaCosta delivers an exhilarating horror epic

Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko welcomed O'Connell and DaCosta to our Say More couch to dig into all things Bone Temple. When it came to Jimmy Crystal, the pair shared how they made sense of the madman whose biggest influences are The Teletubbies, Jimmy Savile, and his horrific childhood trauma. 

Bone Temple's Jimmy was shaped by tragedy and TV.  Credit: Sony Pictures

Jimmy bookends 28 Years Later, beginning as a boy fleeing his family's home — which is under attack by the infected — seeking sanctuary in the nearby church where his father is a vicar. But before you can say "Amen," Jimmy's father gives himself over the infected horde while preaching it’s what God wanted.

This harrowing intro leaves Jimmy alone and terrified, cradled around the cross necklace his father has just given him. Then Alex Garland's screenplay winds into the coming-of-age story of a young boy named Spike (Alfie Williams), who is on his own 28 years after we see Jimmy in the opener. The two cross paths in the film's bonkers finale, where Spike is being chased by the infected only to be rescued by Jimmy and his fighting "Fingers," a youth gang of seven who all dress like their "lord." 

SEE ALSO: Nia DaCosta and Jack O'Connell dive into '28 Years Later: The Bone Temple'

At the time of 28 Years Later's release, Mashable covered how the costumes and sound effects of this zombie-slaying sequence mirrored the Teletubbies show that played on the TV as young Jimmy's sisters were slain. We also noted how Jimmy's blond Lancelot haircut and favoring of tracksuits with gaudy gold chains echoed the look of British TV personality Jimmy Savile, who would later be outed as a serial child predator. 

Where audience members might have seen these Savile signatures as a warning that Jimmy might not be trustworthy, we speculated that Jimmy wouldn't know that's the signal he's dropping, because he wouldn't have known the horrible truth about Savile. 

DaCosta confirmed our suspicions. "He perverts a lot of things," she said of Jimmy, but noted that in the world of 28 Years Later and Bone Temple, "Culture ended in 2001." Notably, Savile wasn't publicly exposed as a sexual predator until after his death in 2011. So, to Jimmy, Savile was worth admiring, just as he admires the Teletubbies. And his fixation on these elements of 2001 culture extend to his Fingers, like Jimmima (Emma Laird), who dutifully performs the "Dipsy dance" from Teletubbies while wearing jelly sandals and carrying a long-dead Tamagotchi. 

O'Connell said he could relate to Jimmy on this level, saying, "I was finding myself quite enthusiastic, because I was nostalgic about that period anyway." 

Beyond that, O'Connell spoke of how Jimmy has "deep-seated trauma based on seeing his family get mauled to death in front of his very eyes." Yet O'Connell was pleased that Garland's script and DaCosta's vision didn't let Jimmy off the hook for the violence he enacts because of his trauma. Instead, it gave him a foil in Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes). "What I love — also — about the film is we see Jimmy's unfettered depravity," he said, "with Dr. Kelson, with his advancements in medicine and the inquisitive mind, wanting to know what it was about the infected — and if it is curable. You have these two plots unfolding simultaneously and then they meet… You've got ultimate darkness meeting hope." 

Nia DaCosta digs into the twisted faith of Jimmy Crystal.  Credit: Miya Mizuno / Sony

Some of the most ghoulish moments in Bone Temple are not when the infected attack, but when Jimmy and his Fingers do. Invading a farmhouse, they take four people captive, and then give them "charity" — a term Jimmy has twisted to mean torture, like flaying the skin from their torsos. When he's not giggling over violence or recounting Teletubbies episodes to his amused apostles, he's twisting his own story into one where he is Satan's son, Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal, born to raise hell. 

"Jimmy corrupts everything," DaCosta said, "Even with, like, the Teletubbies, he calls them the 'Teletummies.' It's also about how he remembers a thing. His entire dogma is built around this misremembered death of his father. You know, like, 'Oh yeah, my dad is Satan, because he thinks that's what he saw [when his dad was mobbed by the infected in the church]." 

Speaking to when Jimmy preaches, the director said, "Those scenes in particular were so fun, because for me, that's when, when reading the script, I thought, 'OK, I know this character now.'" 

Nia DaCosta reveals what Jimmy and Samson have in common.  Credit: Miya Mizuno / Sony

When shooting scenes involving Jimmy's dark dogma and its violent rituals, DaCosta had a clear vision of how it would look. "It was really important to me to hold on to like, we're gonna sit on these actors and watch them," she explained, "Because this is when we as an audience get to see the person that he is, not just the monster. Because every monster has a person in there, which is also sort of like the infected." 

She added that Jimmy had a commonality with the infected Alpha, Samson, saying, "It's like they're infected — they're not actually monsters. They're sick. So, that was just super important to me." 

Tying this back to Jimmy and Kelson, the Satanist tyrant and the "atheist doctor," DaCosta said, "It is really beautiful to watch Kelson tease out — sort of like in a psych eval — 'So you talk to your dad in your head?' But also you realize, like, Jimmy actually did think he might see his dad [at the Bone Temple], and he's lonely, you know? You kind of feel that in the scene," she concluded, turning to O'Connell to add, "I thought you played that beautifully."

How's that.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple opens in theaters Jan. 16.

TL;DR: Pok Pok is a calm, Montessori-inspired app that gives kids meaningful screen time parents can feel good about, no ads, no pressure, just play — and lifetime access is on sale for $59.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Pok Pok Pok Pok: Lifetime Subscription $59.99
$250 Save $190.01   Get Deal

For many parents, screen time can feel like a constant balancing act. You want something engaging for your child — but not loud, addictive, or filled with ads. That’s exactly the space Pok Pok was designed to fill.

Pok Pok is a Montessori-inspired app created for children ages 2–8, offering a digital playroom full of open-ended games that encourage creativity, problem-solving, and independent exploration. There are no levels to beat, no points to rack up, and no overstimulating sounds competing for attention.

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Instead, kids learn through curiosity, cause and effect, and imaginative play at their own pace.

Inspired by the Montessori philosophy developed by Dr. Maria Montessori, Pok Pok focuses on hands-on discovery and self-directed learning. Each “toy” inside the app supports foundational skills like early STEM thinking, numbers, spatial awareness, language development, and emotional growth without feeling like a lesson.

The experience is intentionally calm. All artwork, animations, sounds, and music are hand-crafted in-house to create a peaceful environment that doesn’t overwhelm young minds. Pok Pok is also completely ad-free and offline-friendly.

Kids can explore themed worlds like space, dinosaurs, puzzles, dress-up, music, and islands, with new content added regularly. One subscription works across all family devices, and everything is intuitive enough for even toddlers to navigate independently, though many kids love exploring alongside a caregiver.

A Pok Pok Lifetime Subscription is available for $59.99 (reg. $250) for a limited time.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: If you’re tired of time-wasting language apps, Babbel’s lifetime plan is just $129.99 (reg. $646.20) thanks to the StackSocial code LEARN.

Opens in a new window Credit: Babbel Babbel Language Learning: Lifetime Subscription (All Languages) $129.99
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If you’ve bounced between language-learning apps before, you already know how easy it is to spend time without actually building confidence. Babbel takes a more practical, adult-focused approach — one that prioritizes real conversation over endless tapping and guessing.

Babbel works across desktop and mobile, with progress synced automatically, so you can learn wherever it makes sense. Lessons can also be downloaded for offline use, making it easy to practice on a commute, while traveling, or anytime WiFi isn’t available.

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With access to 14 languages and more than 10,000 hours of learning content, the platform is designed for long-term progress, not quick wins. Each language course is broken into 10- to 15-minute lessons built around situations people actually encounter — ordering food, navigating transportation, handling everyday conversations, or communicating in professional settings.

The curriculum was developed by over 100 expert linguists and informed by academic researchers from institutions such as Yale University.

Babbel also includes speech recognition technology to help fine-tune pronunciation and an AI-powered conversation partner that encourages learners to respond naturally in real time. Personalized review sessions reinforce what you’ve learned, so progress feels steady and measurable.

For anyone serious about learning a language — and actually using it — Babbel offers a thoughtful, proven path to fluency.

StackSocial is offering a Babbel Lifetime Language Learning subscription with access to all 14 languages for $129.99 (reg. $646.20) when you use code LEARN for a limited time.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Creating automations in Home Assistant can be a long and time-consuming process. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, however. There are some useful blueprints that you can use to create complex automations in next to no time.

The pressure is mounting on social media companies to enforce their rules and protect children on the platforms. Australia recently instituted a ban on children under the age of 16 from social media platforms. Gaming platforms like Roblox are now using facial recognition technology to prevent kids from interacting with adults in chats.

And now TikTok, the social media platform well known for its popularity with young people, will be rolling out its own age verification system in Europe to detect underage users on its site, according to a Reuters report.

TikTok's age-detection system analyzes a user's profile information, published videos, and behavioral signs to estimate if a user is under the age of 13. Per TikTok policy, users must be at least 13 to sign up for the platform. Once the age detect system flags an account, the user will be reviewed by specialist moderators. User accounts will not be banned automatically.

TikTok told Reuters the age-detection system will be rolled out across Europe in the coming weeks after testing the program in Britain for the past year. The system was specifically designed to comply with European regulatory requirements.

EU regulators have been pushing for social media platforms to act on child safety issues, including ensuring users are of the minimum age required for a platform. The European Parliament is looking into potentially instituting a social media ban similar to the one in Australia for children under the age of 15.

As Mashable covered earlier this week, some online platforms are discovering the difficulties with online age verification. Roblox users, for example, have been uncovering simple workarounds to the platform's age verification, which involved simply uploading animated avatars or even drawing facial hair on their image with a Sharpie.

TikTok's method is bound to pick up some false positives on users who are over 13 but mistakenly get flagged or even removed for being underage. We'll have to see just how accurate it is, and how many disgruntled users it leaves in its path once it rolls out more broadly.

Another weekend arrives, and lucky for us, so does another opportunity for a cozy binge with some of the best shows Amazon Prime Video has to offer—two of which I’ve seen and did not regret watching. My top recommendation, though, is the first thing I’ll be diving into this weekend, right along with you. It’s hard for voracious consumers like me to avoid shows that boast a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score.

I’m tired of trying to plug my printer in and failing multiple times because of the archaic USB-B connector on it. That connector is 30 years old, and it’s time to ditch it. Arduino did, even on its lowest-cost microcontrollers. If Arduino can embrace USB-C, so can printer manufacturers.

Storage prices have been steadily climbing over the past few months, with no slowdown in sight, while files keep getting bigger. Windows doesn’t always make it easy to manage your drive, and before you buy more of that expensive storage space, there’s an easier solution.

The 2026 K4 Hatchback takes everything Kia learned from the K4 Sedan and wraps it in a tighter, more playful shape. After seeing it in the flesh at the 2026 Detroit Auto Show, it’s clear this five-door was built with Civic shoppers in mind.

Smart home devices being discontinued and turned into bricks is a common occurrence, but larger companies like Google and Amazon usually keep their devices running for a long time. That's not true for the Fire TV Blaster, which is getting killed only a year after Amazon stopped selling it.

I was very late to the party with Notion. I tried the all-in-one workspace app a couple of years ago and didn't really get the hype. I recently tried it again, and now that I know just how much you can do by combining Notion with the automation software n8n, I kind of wish I'd left it alone. It's awesome—and that's the problem.

The latest Windows 11 security update from January 2026 is causing a frustrating bug that makes some PCs refuse to shut down or hibernate after installation. This issue stems from the monthly Patch Tuesday bundle, specifically update KB5073455, on devices running Windows 11, version 23H2.

Excel's fill handle is fine for a few rows, but in a big dataset, it's an error waiting to happen. Why drag and drop when you can automate? The MAP function lets you write a single formula that spills logic across your whole sheet, keeping your data clean and your workflow streamlined.

Elon Musk's X may still be permitting the posting of Grok-generated, sexualized images of real people, despite the company’s recent announcement that such content had been banned, according to reporting by The Guardian.

The British newspaper reported that its journalists were able to generate and upload videos depicting real women being undressed into bikinis, using images of fully clothed individuals.

SEE ALSO: Grok ban: The nations considering blocking AI chatbot over nonconsensual sexual content

In its reporting, The Guardian wrote:

"The Guardian was able to create short videos of people stripping to bikinis from photographs of fully clothed, real women. It was also possible to post this adult content on to X’s public platform without any sign of it being moderated, meaning the clip could be viewed within seconds by anyone with an account."

According to the newspaper, the sexualized images were created using the standalone Grok app and then successfully posted to X. Earlier this week, X said it had banned AI-generated, sexualized images of real people.

"We have implemented technological measures to prevent the [@]Grok account on X globally from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis," the X safety account wrote in an update. "This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers."

X has faced criticism in recent weeks over the circulation of sexualized, AI-generated images on the platform. Earlier this month, governments in multiple countries said they were investigating or moving to restrict Grok following reports that it had enabled the creation of sexualized images of minors. X's safety update also stated that the company maintains a "zero tolerance for any forms of child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity, and unwanted sexual content."

The Steam Deck is my go-to platform for retro gaming; I’ve even dedicated a 1TB microSD card to it. But it’s ill-suited to multiplayer sessions and non-portable use. Though I could invest in yet another USB hub, I’d rather make use of hardware I’ve already got, like my under-utilized Raspberry Pi.

LibreELEC is a Linux-based operating system that’s designed purely with media consumption in mind. Pair it with an old (or new) Raspberry Pi and hide it behind the TV for an invisible and highly capable media center setup.

Minivans and off-road capability don’t usually belong in the same sentence, but one American people-mover concept is challenging that assumption. With a focus on rugged design, enhanced traction systems, and adventurous styling cues, it pushes the idea of what a family van can do, not just on pavement, but on unpaved backroads too. It turns heads not because it debuted at a major show, but because it signals a new direction in how minivans can be configured for modern lifestyles.

SAVE $35: As of Jan. 16, the Soundcore C30i open earbuds are on sale for only $34.99 at Amazon. That's a 50% discount from their usual cost and the lowest price on record.

Opens in a new window Credit: Soundcore Soundcore C3i open earbuds $34.99 at Amazon
$69.99 Save $35.00   Get Deal

Open earbuds are everywhere at the moment. Several new pairs debuted during CES 2026, but they've been on the market for awhile now (check out our roundup of the best ones). If you've been curious about these air conduction-based earbuds, but don't want to spend a fortune, the Soundcore C30i open earbuds are majorly discounted at Amazon so you can give them a shot.

As of Jan. 16, the Soundcore C30i open earbuds are on sale for only $34.99 at Amazon. That's 50% or $35 cheaper than usual and their lowest price on record.

Open earbuds are designed for folks who want to actually stay in tune with the world around them and/or find in-ear designs uncomfortable. Instead of sitting inside of your ear canal, they use air conduction to transmit sound to your ears. While they come in several different varieties, the Soundcore C30i feature a clip design (similar to the popular Bose Ultra Open earbuds). They attach to the outer edge of your ears like a cuff and stay in place with the help of attachable ear grips.

Since they don't sit in your ear canal, the C30is don't offer noise cancellation. So in order to boost sound, they offer a surround sound mode through the Soundcore app to make listening more immersive. If you're a runner, cyclist, commuter, or anyone who wants to stay in tune with the outside world, the Soundcore C30is are a low stakes way to see if open earbuds are right for you (without breaking the bank).

SAVE $199.01: As of Jan. 16, get the Alienware AW3423DWF QD-OLED gaming monitor for $499.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $699. That's a discount of 28% and the lowest price we've seen.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Alienware AW3423DWF QD-OLED gaming monitor $499.99 at Amazon
$699 Save $199.01   Get Deal

Now that we're at the start of a new year, we're facing down plenty of new games coming down the pipelines in 2026. Why not be ready with a monitor that can handle all the action with ease? You can do just that with this deal on one of our favorite gaming monitors right now, as it's available for its lowest price yet.

As of Jan. 16, get the Alienware AW3423DWF QD-OLED gaming monitor for $499.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $699. That's a discount of 28% and the lowest price we've seen.

SEE ALSO: The Samsung Odyssey G5 ultra-wide gaming monitor just dropped to under $300 at Amazon

This 34-inch curved OLED monitor is all about making you feel like you're right in the middle of your favorite games. It offers a gorgeous, crisp picure with sharp details, deep hues and contrasts, and two HDR modes to offer the best possible performance: HDR 400 True Black and HDR Peak 1000.

It boasts 1,000 nits of brightness with a 0.1ms respnse time as well as AMD FreeSync and VESA AdaptiveSync. It's perfect for twitchier games where you need to make sure you're as precise as possible, so if you need a bit of help improving your game, this very well may do it for you.

You can customize the look and feel of the monitor thanks to its RGB lighting, and adjust and tilt it to your liking when placed on a desk. All of these features come together to give you one of the most comprehensive suites possible in terms of gaming monitors, which almost certainly means you'll be seeing some true improvement with your games. Just be sure you grab it now before it's no longer on sale.