Colony Resurrects Some of Zombie Cinema’s Greatest Hits

When the undead start ravaging a mall, it’s impossible not to think about George Romero. The influence of the Dawn of the Dead filmmaker is pretty inescapable in zombie movies in general, but it’s particularly pronounced when one of them adds a dab of social commentary to its bloody mayhem. In this way, Yeon Sang-ho is one of Romero’s most faithful disciples: Beginning with Train to Busan in 2016, the Korean writer-director has used a series of zombie-themed horror-action hybrids to explore big ideas about social cohesion and individual self-interest. His latest, Colony, is no exception.

Colony is unrelated to the Train to Busan movies, and takes place in a shopping center that’s also hosting a research conference tied to a top-secret lab where scientists have been conducting risky experiments within biting distance of the public. That might sound far-fetched, but mixed-use skyscrapers like Colony’s (fictional) Dongwoo-ri Building are fairly common in places like Seoul. Still, having these wildly different locations literally stacked on top of each other is an apt metaphor for the film, which crams a lot of ideas into its familiar framework.

Besides Romero, Colony also borrows elements from the Resident Evil games — think sinister biotech and shady corporations — as well as, more crucially, Yeon’s own work. Some scenes recall Yeon’s breakout Train to Busan, as the human characters’ initial willingness to work together breaks down under what, to be fair, is an absolutely brain-boiling level of stress. The director’s big innovation here is contrasting human behavior with the “collective intelligence” of the zombie horde, which is explained by the movie’s two lead scientists in terms of ants. (And where do ants live? In a Colony, of course.)

That means that the zombies communicate primarily through pheromones, using a network of weblike mycelium that covers every surface of the building where most of the film’s action takes place. They also evolve as one: If one zombie learns how to walk, for example, the rest will soon stand up. When one of the undead receives new information, all of them freeze in place, their mouths hanging open as they collectively process it. It’s a striking image, and Yeon uses it to chilling effect throughout the movie.

At the center of this hivemind is the film’s villain, Seo Young-cheol (Koo Kyo-hwan), a biologist who’s inoculated himself with a vaccine that makes him impervious to the zombies’ attacks and makes him indispensable to the Korean military’s effort to stop them. Seo’s reason for creating this crisis is one of those out-of-nowhere twists that Korean cinema is known for. But compared to, say, the ending of Oldboy, the effect here is more silly than shocking. Colony’s overstuffed and unfocused second half is full of such tonal misses, which is unfortunate — especially considering how compelling some of the details can be.

The stoty begins with former college professor Kwon Se-jeong (Jun Ji-hyun), who comes to the aforementioned conference at the suggestion of her ex-husband Han Gyu-seong (Go Soo). He’s trying to set her up for a job before he moves out of the country with his new wife, Gong Seol-hee (Shin Hyun-been), who also happens to be a biotechnologist. (This is one of those silly coincidences that becomes important in the second half.) Then Young-cheol injects his former boss with a bioweapon made of mutated slime, turning the CEO into Patient Zero and Se-jeong’s networking opportunity into a fight for survival.

She’s joined by a collection of typical horror-movie character types, most of whom are capable but not particularly memorable. That being said, Ji Chang-wook is a highlight as Choi Hyun-seok, a mall security guard who’s touchingly devoted to his sister Choi Hyun-hee (Kim Shin-rok). Hyun-hee uses a wheelchair, which makes it difficult for her to keep up with the rest of the group as they flee for their lives. So Hyun-seok carries her on his back, and it’s great fun watching the temporarily conjoined siblings slash and stab their way through the maze-like corridors on their way to (hopefully) being rescued.

Colony’s action-horror set pieces are well done: Another highlight comes when Se-jeong figures out that the creatures recognize humans by scent, leading to a tense diversion involving antifreeze and bottles of perfume. The zombie actors also deliver thrills: Yeon likes to cast contortionists in undead roles, and their uncanny movements are the best practical effect a film like this could ask for.

But while individual elements of the movie are exciting, by its final act Colony has introduced a few too many of them, which means that none of them really stand out. Its zombies might all blend together into one big mass, but that doesn’t mean the movie has to.

From Well Go USA Entertainment, Colony opens in U.S. theaters on August 28.