Colony is a bloody thrill ride with hive mind zombies (Fantasia 2026 review)
- Brian Fanelli
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho is back with another high-octane zombie movie. His latest, Colony, has hive mind zombies and a not-so-subtle social commentary about our age of algorithms and AI that's quickly replacing critical thinking skills and individuality. There's also plenty of action and gruesome fun to be had in the two-hour feature.
The movie stars Gianna Jun, who plays professor Kwon Se-jeong. She attends a biotech conference with her ex-husband, Han Kyu-seong (Go Soo). The two are still on friendly terms, but their lives are upended when they're trapped in an office building after Dr. Suh Young-Chul (Koo Kyo-hwan) alerts police that he's about to commit an act of bioterrorism by unleashing an unknown virus into the high-rising building in downtown Seoul. He also injected the vaccine into himself.
It doesn't take long for the zombie outbreak to begin, starting with the CEO of a big tech firm and then spreading one by one through the office building. These zombies aren't George A. Romero's slow-walking ghouls. They're similar to the monsters in Sang-ho's other films in that they're fast and vicious and easily take down their targets. Meanwhile, Kwan and Han do what they can to survive, and along the way, they meet security officer Choi Hyun-seok (Ji Chang-wook) and his wheelchair-bound sibling Hyun-hee (Kim Shin-rock). Together, the group does what it can to survive against the nasty horde that eventually overruns the building and works in tandem with each other.
Like Train to Busan, the single location works really well for Colony, in that it gives the survivors few places to hide and it also allows some focus on the relationships, especially between the siblings and the ex-spouses. This raises the stakes and adds depth and weight to the danger and potential fatalities. That said, the film could have benefited from slightly more character interactions to counter all of the action. However, there are some fantastic action sequences in this, especially when Choi grabs a knife and stands on his own against zombie after zombie. He throws himself into danger and jabs the infected in the skull or neck again and again and again. These sequences are beautifully shot. Additionally, Kwan makes a resourceful and strong final girl that also learns how to hold her own.
What separates Colony from other zombie films, including the director's previous work, is the introduction of the hive mind and the use of technology. It's a great concept that adds social commentary against some of the non-stop action and gore. More specifically, Dr. Suh Young-Chul can control the zombies and gives more than one speech about how collective thought is better than individuality. He sees it as the next stage of evolution. It sounds like the argument that the tech bros frequently make about why AI is so necessary. The commentary doesn't come across as heavy-handed, but it is quite effective, and zombies have long been used as social and political metaphors, be it in Romero's work, or even much earlier films like White Zombie. In that regard, Sang-ho continues working within a long-standing tradition.
It's best not to compare Colony to Train to Busan, the director's first film. It works well on its own, with plenty of blood, guts, gore, and pulse-pounding zombie action. The hive mind element adds a creative new layer that's also a sharp commentary on our algorithm age. Overall, Colony is a riveting thrill ride that makes for one entertaining midnight feature.
Colony recently screened at the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival.
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