[FrightFest 2026] FILM REVIEW: Colony

Colony - FrightFest UK Premiere Review

Director: Yeon Sang-ho

Starring: Jun Ji-hyun, Koo Kyo-hwan, Ji Chang-wook, Kim Shin-rok

Written by: Yeon Sang-ho, Choi Kyu-seok

Produced by: Yeon-ho Kim, Hailie Yoomin Yang

Cinematography by: Byun Bong-sung

Synopsis:

Professor Se Jeong attends a biotech conference, only to witness it spiral into catastrophe when a rapidly mutating virus is unleashed. As the outbreak spreads and the infected begin to transform, authorities seal off the entire facility.

Thoughts:

In 2016 Yeon Sang-ho released 'Train to Busan', a rip roaring zombie action film with a lot of heart that stands as one of the greats of the subgenre. He followed it up with an animated prequel called 'Seoul Station' in the same year and in 2020 his stand alone sequel 'Peninsula' was released. Although both of those follow ups failed to live up to the greatness of the original it has not deterred the director from exploring the genre further as shown with his latest film, 'Colony'. 

Set in a high-rise building in Seoul, the film follows the aftermath of a bio terrorist attack at a science conference. It has transformed its victims into an ever growing and ever evolving group of zombie-like creatures with a hive mind mentality save for a small group of survivors. With little to no help from the outside world they must find a way to survive the onslaught of the infected to escape. 

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The key to survival in any zombie/infected person story is communication. When a rag tag group of survivors from different backgrounds with different motivations are flung together they have to work to find a common ground to survive. What Yeon Sang-ho does to great effect with 'Colony' is to take that trope and apply it to the zombies where their hive mentality (like that of an ant colony) allows them to make evolutionary changes through communication in order to survive. It is a brilliant idea that is applied well to the film (particularly in the early scenes) where it serves to act as a battle of wills between the living and the dead. It is a fresh twist to a subgenre with countless clichés and ideas that have been done to death. Even when it indulges in these tropes the overriding main idea is what holds your attention most. 

Yeon Sang-ho isn’t slow and methodical with his exploration of this idea though as the film moves at a breakneck speed leaving you little to no time to catch your breath. Any time it does, it merely builds tension (quite effectively) to the next set piece whilst lacing these moments with some exposition (sometimes needlessly) about the nature of the threat we are presented with. During the action sequences, Yeon Sang-ho uses handheld camera movements a lot which induces a sense of panic and urgency making the main threat feel all the more dangerous. 

With this kind of pace the film leaves very little time for much character development.

At the beginning of the film we are introduced to the main characters and given a little bit of information about their backgrounds. Although the amount of information we get about them is minimal it is enough to make an emotional attachment to most of them, particularly the siblings (played by Ji Chang-wook and Kim Shin-rok). The stand out character though is the cold and calculating Dr. Seo Young-cheol (played by Koo Kyo-hwan). He carries a silent menace throughout but also has a hateful aura of self righteous smugness to him that makes for a villain that you love to hate. On the other hand, the scenes with government officials trying to figure out what is going on and what they can do to stop it detracts from the film and feels unnecessary as a whole. 

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We all know that characters making the wrong decisions is part and parcel with zombie films and here its intent is to shine a critical light on how the nature of governmental action (or in some cases inaction) can exacerbate a situation. But a lack of intelligence stretches to the main characters who make decisions so mind numbingly stupid you are left scratching your head. For instance, the survivors at one point agree to communicate via text only to avoid giving away key information to an antagonistic figure only to start openly talking about where they are and what they are planning to do next in the following scene leading to danger for the group. 

Whilst it might not scale the heights of 'Train to Busan', 'Colony' certainly feels like Yeon Sang-ho’s best work since that film. An action packed zombie film fraught with peril and a group of likable (albeit at times stupid) characters, it makes for a fine piece of Friday night popcorn fun that appeals to the broadest audience possible. 

Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

-Joseph McElroy

'Colony' received its UK Premiere at FrightFest '26 on August 27th