In the post-Romero era of zombie horror filmmaking, there are only a few titles that really stand out, and one that deserves to be considered not only among the best zombie movies but the best horror movies of the century is Yeon Sang-ho’s. Train to Busan. The high-speed mastery of a zombie-eating apocalypse that takes place on a train from Seoul to Busan has become an instant classic. While the action sequences, gore, make-up, and effects all make it a glorious treat for horror fans, the dynamic cast and dramatic themes of family work (especially the father) make it a full story of tragedy and survival. All this to say, the director returns to the zombie outbreak colony, debuting in the Midnights section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, set expectations higher than Ralph Fiennes’ skull tower. Alas, everything comes down, as A colony it’s just a shadow of the director’s previous triumph.
Taking place in a Seoul high-rise that is home to a conference center and a busy shopping center, a deadly virus is unleashed by a vengeful employee of the biomedical company Chains Bio. Our main characters are his spouse and colleague Professor Kwon (Jun Ji-hyun). and Professor Han (Go Soo), who attended a conference held by CEOwho turns out to be a zero patient quickly. As the people around them become flesh-eating zombies, Kwon and Han form a heavy-hitting team with others as the building is isolated. Every few minutes they see zombies encountering a shared mindset, and they quickly realize that when one zombie learns something new, it can connect to the rest of the world.
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A colony it wastes no time in getting to the good stuff, which works to get the audience into the groove of things but also results in every character feeling limp. Kwon is our protagonist, but we don’t learn much about him other than her ex-husband moving on with a new family while she is alone. The entire team falls into every type of character you can think of in the genre: the sketchy cop, the determined underdog, the confused teenage girl, and the arrogant businessman. No one ends up matching the arc, with most of the two hours devoted to the villain, Seo Young-cheol (Koo Kyo-hwan), who is responsible for the outbreak.
The repetitive and heavy script reinforces the gimmick around which the entire story seems to revolve: the fact that zombies can communicate. While it’s always interesting to see how an old brand can be reinvigorated, this is a new one .“development” is probably not changed enough to hang a two-hour movie in. Action sequences are scarcer than Train to Busan and nowhere near as fun. However, it is worth mentioning that making zombies – especially in those psychological moments – is very good, with scary facial expressions and unusual body movements that are one of the few sources of fear. It’s just not enough to compensate for the lack of suspense, lifeless characters, and a corny script that suffers from predictable tropes.
