THE COLONY
Starring Kevin Zegers, Laurence Fishburne, Bill Paxton
Directed by Jeff Renfroe
While offering further evidence that a Canadian genre film renaissance is underway, Jeff Renfroes feature occasionally frustrates with its inability to amount to anything more than Exhibit P (for post-apocalyptic). Ultimately, the straight-ahead horror film would have benefitted from throwing viewers the odd curve.
Primarily shot in a decommissioned subterranean NORAD base, The Colony boasts a naturally claustrophobic atmosphere that blockbusters routinely spend millions to replicate. With such an enviable location at his disposal, Renfroe wisely takes the time to explore the space, introduce its hardscrabble denizens, and establish the rules of this post-apocalyptic world.
Catastrophic climate change has forced the survivors into underground colonies like the one governed by Briggs (Laurence Fishburne). With the potential for any illness to spread like wildfire, the sick are offered an unenviable choice: exile in the frozen wasteland or a bullet from cold-blooded Mason (Bill Paxton). And while such callousness irks Sam (Kevin Zegers), he soon discovers that this cruel world has given rise to far more monstrous creatures: a cannibal horde whove acquired a taste for colonists.
Unfortunately, a brief foray into the snow-swept hinterland breaks the films spell, setting us adrift in a digitally-enhanced landscape in which even Renfroe struggles to keep his bearings. The director also loses sight of the fact that limited means need not encumber a productions storytelling. As the film lapses into a series of competently staged chase sequences and death scenes, you yearn to see Sam backed into a corner and forced to make the sort of impossible choice that invariably arises in unthinkable circumstances. Instead, hes just asked to run for his life.
