“Train to Busan” proved that humans can’t outrun the infected. “Colony” proves they can’t outsmart them.
Director Yeon Sang-ho returns to the zombie genre with his third live-action thriller, “Colony,” expanding the “Yeoniverse,” the cinematic universe he’s built through his genre-defining horror films. The South Korean film marks Gianna Jun’s (aka Jun Ji-hyun) long-awaited return to the big screen after 11 years alongside Koo Kyo-hwan and Ji Chang-wook.
“Colony,” which made its North American premiere as the opening night film of the 25th New York Asian Film Festival, and will arrive in U.S. theaters August 28 through Well Go USA, follows Kwon Se-jeong, played by Gianna, an unemployed biotech professor who becomes trapped inside a high-rise building after a rapidly mutating virus breaks out. The survivors must escape while the infected evolve into something smarter and more dangerous than you’re run-of-the-mill zombies.
Indeed, the zombies in “Colony” are unlike anything audiences have seen from Yeon before. Rather than standard reanimated corpses, the infected are connected by a collective intelligence, allowing them to learn, adapt and coordinate as one. When one zombie evolves, the entire group evolves with it.
