While it’s true that North America has released memorable zombie media — Dawn of the Dead (1978), The Walking Dead (2010-2022), and The Last of Us (2023-) among them — classics like Train to Busan (2016), Kingdom (2019-2020), All of Us Are Dead (2022-), and the newly released film Colony (2026) prove that nobody portrays zombies quite like South Korean studios do.
10 years after the release of Train to Busan, director Yeon Sang-ho has returned with yet another successful zombie movie. Colony follows professor Kwon Se-jeong (Jun Ji-hyun) as she attends a biotech conference that quickly spirals into undead chaos. Sealed off inside a mall, the survivors must locate the scientist who started it all (Koo Kyo-hwan) while fighting a colony of living dead operating through a hivemind.
With Train to Busan and Colony sharing both director and genre, the question on my mind before I walked into the theatre was: is Colony just an attempt to capitalize on the timeless success of Train to Busan, or is it actually worth the hype?
This was quickly answered when I saw how Colony depicts its zombies. At first glance — with their jarring movements, hissing gargles, poor eyesight, and crooked limbs — the monsters seem similar to the ones in Train to Busan. However, Yeon quickly reminds you that this is a completely different film with new and improved creatures. While the undead’s characteristics in Train to Busan remain fairly constant throughout, Colony introduces a new fear to keep you up at night: what if zombies could not only communicate with each other, but also evolve?
The undead aren’t the only things that evolve in Colony. Seen through the white mucus spewing from the film’s grotesque monsters, the environment itself morphs and grows as the movie goes on, thus adding to the unsettling atmosphere. With pale slime coating much of the set and the creatures themselves, the mucus not only adds to the film’s overall aesthetic, but also serves as a visual reminder to never confuse Colony’s zombies with those in Train to Busan.
Another element I absolutely loved about Colony was the film’s score. Composed by Chae Min-ju, the movie’s tense and chilling music amplifies the unsettling nature of the zombies and emphasizes their unpredictability with a uniquely alarming sound. Compared to Train to Busan — which features a chilling, adrenaline-inducing, yet intimately isolating score composed by Jang Young-gyu — Colony’s leans into an overall epic, foreboding dark ambience.
The contrasts in Colony and Train to Busan’s scores highlight one of the biggest differences between the films. While Colony is no doubt worth the watch, it just doesn’t have the same emotional versatility that Train to Busan does. The few emotional scenes in Colony didn’t hit nearly as hard as the heartbreak I still feel every time I revisit Train to Busan. Seriously, I don’t think a single movie makes me cry even half as much as that [REDACTED] movie does.
And Train to Busan is not only heartbreaking, it’s also funny. Right after crying with Su-an (Kim Su-an) as she delivers one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from a 10-year-old, you can laugh at Ma Dong-seok’s portrayal of the hilariously hypermasculine Sang-hwa. All of that to say, while Colony is undeniably entertaining (and definitely earns points with me for its compelling anti-AI message), the film lacks emotional range and I wasn’t as deeply invested in most of Colony’s characters — or maybe I just wanted Gong Yoo to show up to play another DILF.
While Colony’s characters didn’t resonate with me as much as Train to Busan’s, there was one character who easily stole the show. Seo Young-chul — Colony’s brilliant antagonist — was the best part of any scene he appeared in. An unbothered shit-starter, Seo’s constant efforts to make things worse for everyone else were genuinely hilarious to watch. Beyond the movie’s unique zombies, watching Koo — known for We Are All Trying Here (2026-) and Peninsula (2020) — play such an amusingly sociopathic role was my favourite part of Colony.
Okay, I’ll cut to the chase. Which movie is better — Train to Busan or Colony? The truth is, nothing can top Train to Busan. At the end of the day, I love media that makes me feel things, and while Colony is amazing in its own right, it just doesn’t hit the same. That being said, Colony is still 100 per cent worth the watch. It’s interesting, it’s visually and audibly satisfying, its cast puts on a great show — but most of all, it’s creative. It’s something I haven’t seen before, and it further proves why, in my opinion, Korean writers and directors like Yeon have truly perfected the zombie genre.
