The Sydney Film Festival is one of the world’s longest running and most prestigious film festivals. The 73rd edition, taking place from 3 to 14 June 2026, will showcase the very best in contemporary cinema and offer audiences the chance to experience premieres, red carpet events, and exciting special programs across Sydney. There are films sourced directly from film festivals including Cannes and Sundance.
ALL FILMS REVIEWED BY GREG KING
LAST UPDATED JUNE 4 2026
COLONY.
Korean director Yeon sang-ho returns to the zombie genre of his superb fast paced 2016 zombie horror drama Train To Busan with the entertaining Colony, another film about rampaging zombies. But here he replaces the train setting with the claustrophobic confines of the Dongwoo-ri building, a multi-storey business tower that houses a mix of retail and commercial spaces and even a convention centre. Bitter scientist Seo Young-chui (Koo Kyo-hwan) unleashes a highly contagious virus in the centre where the CEO of his former employer is holding a seminar. The virus transforms people into savage zombies. But even more frightening is that those infected operate in a hive mind like a colony of ants, acting together with a swarm mentality and even communicating via sensory data and evolving. A group of uninfected people desperately struggle to survive and stop the plage from spreading outside to the wider community. As the group dynamics play out there are those who make dumb decisions, act selfishly and are willing to sacrifice others to ensure their own survival. The building is quarantined and meanwhile the authorities outside watch and wait for the right time to act. Colony offers another variation on a theme that we have seen many times before, but Yeon maintains a fast pace throughout and ramps up the tension and the increasing sense of dread. There is plenty of gore and some great prosthetic effects here. Regular collaborator choreographer Jeon Young has worked on creating the contortions and body movements for the fast-moving zombies.
★★★
