'Colony' (2026) Movie Review

As much as I love zombie movies, there are so many of them, and many of those are formulaic and forgettable as all hell. Yet, on a regular basis we get offerings that remind us there is still life in the undead. 2016’s Train to Busan was one of these. Director Yeon Sang-ho followed that up with 2020’s Peninsula, set in the same world as Train. Now he’s back in zombie-adjacent territory with Colony. While this doesn’t necessarily do anything entirely new, it’s a reminder why filmmakers return to this subgenre, what makes it an effective storytelling vehicle, and adds enough unique tics to keep things fresh enough to entertain.

 

My guess is that if you ask the people involved in Colony, they wouldn’t automatically use the Z-word when talking about the creatures. They’re infected, sure, and they do eat people, but this isn’t your typical “zombie bites you, you become a bloodthirsty canniba” yarn. Instead of nonstop eating machines, the victims become part of a collective consciousness—the film compares them to ants in a colony, and also certain fungi that operate as a single unit, each one for the benefit of the whole. They also learn and evolve, as an entity. These tweaks to the formula aren’t entirely without precedent, with the likes of The Last of Us, the fungal component is especially popular at the moment, but the film deploys them in ways that separate it, to some degree, from the typical walking dead lore.

 

[Related Reading: 'Train to Busan' Movie Review]

Likewise, the plot hews close to the formula but does enough to maybe, just maybe distinguish itself. When the outbreak happens at a biotech conference, as the result of a terrorist action, the survivors must hunker down inside a shopping mall, quarantined by outside authorities. You will be forgiven for immediately thinking of Dawn of the Dead. 

 

Even the ragtag group of leftovers is a familiar collection of mismatched personalities. Our hero, Kwon Se-jeong (South Korean superstar multihyphenate Jun Ji-hyun), is a biotech professor whose staunch opposition to injustice in any form has ruined her career, destroyed her personal relationships, and basically wrecked her life. She’s the only one with much character depth or development, while the rest are defined by their primary distinguishing feature. Like the security guard, his wheelchair-bound sister, a cop, a businessman used to being the one in charge, and so on. Some are brave and heroic, others are cowardly and self-interested, most are capable of both. As a whole, they’re fine and achieve what the film needs from them, but outside of Se-jeong, they’re standard survival-horror fare.

 

[Related Reading: 'The Furious' Movie Review]

While what I’ve described thus far may sound rather middling, Colony is a prime illustration of using a blueprint, tweaking and fine tuning it a bit, and telling an effective, engaging, occasionally moving story. The script doesn’t waste time getting down to business and the film comes out at a brisk clip. Though it bogs down in attempts to over explain the science of it all in a few places, it moves with a propulsive energy, and there are thrilling action scenes, moments of over-the-top gore, and pervasive tension throughout. Working with cinematographer Byun Bong-sun (The Chaser, Space Sweepers), Yeon put together a sharp, slick product full of unique, elaborate framing and visual stylistics. Anchored with a strong lead performance, this elevates the movie above the shuffling masses of genre compatriots. Again, Colony doesn’t veer from the path, but does enough to stand out and remind us that you can still tell an exciting, compelling story within a familiar zombie framework. [Grade: B]