After receiving an invitation to attend the Chains Bio conference, the unemployed former professor Se Jeong Kwon (Ji-hyun Jun) witnesses an infection spreading unaware that it is a terrorist attack from Young-chul Seo (Kyo-hwan Koo), who claims that he is the vaccine. Think fast zombies except they share a collective consciousness which means they are evolving and sharpening their attack strategy. “Colony” (2026) chronicles how a small group of survivors try to figure out a way to get out of the quarantined area alive. How can humanity survive without succumbing? While it may not be original, it combines enough familiar beats from horror lore and steadily raises the stakes that it becomes an edge of your seat thriller.
Young-chul Seo is a great villain because he is completely unreasonable, inventive and effective. He has a point that humanity is too divided and ready to betray each other. His idea of evolution is more of a cerebral monarchy with him as the master, and the infected are mindless minions. He has zero empathy, a mean streak and a handful of grudges. Koo is a little too good at playing this part. He should stay home until people forget about this movie because people may react negatively as soon as they see him. If “Colony” has a problem, it strains belief that Young-chul’s mind could handle the consciousness of so many people and respond rapidly to the input.
Se Jeong is an interesting take on the iconoclast loner outcast who cannot fit into society. She is a hero with more brains than brawn, which means for most of “Colony,” the entire cast takes turns on center stage, but prepare your heart because South Korean films do not follow the same survival formulas as Western films. Here, if you like a character, they are more likely to die. Just when you think that you understand the rules, director and cowriter Sang-ho Yeon and Kyu-seok Choi change and escalate them. Siblings Hyun-seok (Chang-wook Ji), a security guard, and Hyun-hee (Shin-rok Kim), who is in IT and physically disabled, provide complementary skills to aid the group. So-eun (Dam-hee Lee) keeps saving the life of her bully, Na-yeon Park (Seo-eun Chae), who is the group’s biggest liability. Bon-seok Lee (Joong-ok Lee) is the cop charged with bringing in the vaccine and has an escape plan, but his biggest priority is saving humanity, not individual human beings. Gyu-seong (Soo Go) is Se Jeong’s ex-husband who attended the conference with her and is married to Seol-gee Gong (Hyun-been Shin), who becomes a member of the special investigation team to figure out how to stop the outbreak.
For some moviegoers, “Colony” may lose momentum after the first hour because it is the point when Young-cheol’s point gets proven. The group starts to fracture over the best way to proceed so humanity is not just facing an external threat, but the story’s original sin, betrayal. The audience may not connect the dots between the madman’s rantings and the group’s infighting. It is basically a crisis of the heart: which people are valued, which people dominate and who can be trusted. South Korean films often have social commentary, and the film indulges in delighting over some characters’ deaths because they had it coming.
Is “Colony” scary? No, but it is an adrenalin rush. Jeon Young’s infected choreography is impressive and unique. The trailers show the scene where they imitate the group’s movements mistakenly thinking that they are congregated closely for a reason. The brother is carrying his sister on his back because she cannot walk, and everyone is huddled together because they are scared. Eventually the infected’s imitation does give them an advantage because one can use the group’s leverage to look under a car without moving or attracting attention. They are also gross, but not in a gratuitous way. They puke white liquid, but that mucus helps them communicate with each other. When they are ready for an upgrade, they stop moving and stand or kneel with their torso straight up as if they are receiving a signal. The wall of infected blocking a hallway is nightmare fuel. It starts where “Cell” (2016) ends. There is a scene that feels adapted from “Insidious: Chapter 3” (2015). It takes the human defenses developed in “The Walking Dead” then just as quickly dumps the efficacy to keep the uninfected and movie goersguessing.
The fictional Dongwoo-ri Building, in the middle of Seoul, South Korea’s capital, is a great location for “Colony” because it offers a plethora of variety: parking garages, elevators, hallways, storage spaces, the roof, the mall, etc. It evokes Seventies disaster films like “The Towering Inferno” (1974) and “The Poseidon Adventure” (1972). Using a mall feels like an homage to George Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead” (1978) and the smart zombies in “Day of the Dead” (1985). With people protesting along the perimeter and the media nearby, it is like having a loaded gun in a toddler’s hand. Death could come very soon.
Director Sang-ho Yeon, who is rightfully famous for “Train to Busan” (2016), finally makes up for the dreadful “Peninsula” (2020). Yeon often uses handheld camera, but rest assured that there is no chaos cinema. The action is fully captured, and it is easy to understand where everyone is in relation to each other. It looks great, and the movements are captured in its entirety without putting a camera on a tripod and just taking in the widest shot possible. Most directors who use handheld cameras make a mess of it.
It was a great idea for “Colony” to have a separate thread involving bureaucrats and an investigation. It gives the audience a break from the action but also introduces the possibility of a separate outbreak and additional danger. The writers deserve credit for exploring experimenting on simians, which has not been a movie plot point since “28 Days Later” (2002), and what that experiment looks like when they are loose. Then moving the action to the emergency response team is not utilized as fully as it could. South Korean films usually love critiquing the efficacy of the government, but it gets dropped abruptly instead of playing out throughout the entire length of the story.
If you need subtitles, be prepared to read quickly. I watched a screener at home, and the remote control was my best friend. The pause, rewind and play button got a lot of work. I would still rather see it on a big screen because it is an entertaining, blockbuster, popcorn flick. Even in an oversaturated genre like zombie movies, “Colony” is still worth a watch for the most discerning zombie consumer, and if you are not a fan of the genre, it departs enough from the standard zombie beats to remain relatively fresh.
