REVIEW: Colin
Recently I was able to finally see Colin at Zombie Outbreak in Chicago. If you haven’t heard of Colin by now that would be quite surprising, the $70 budget that the movie had which took the Cannes Film Festival by storm has been getting a LOT of attention in both the horror and non-horror media world. Honestly, it’s surprising that it’s taken me THIS long to take it there just hasn’t been a screening in the area earlier (or a screener copy sitting in my mailbox for that matter.)
The premise is simple- we follow around Colin as he turns into a zombie and what he does as a zombie who doesn’t seem to fit into the world that he is now a part of. It gets interesting in a few areas the first of which that his own sister stumbles upon him and tried to rehabilitate him. She truly believes that he is just infected and can be ‘cured’ with enough time, patience, and love. The entire film shows his adapting process as well as a world torn asunder. The most impressive aspect of how this story is told was due to how little dialogue existed in the entirety of the film. Only in a small area at the introduction as well as the very end do we get to hear any conversation and everything else is completely visual and can be taken in a variety of ways. Honestly the concept of doing a film through the eyes of one of the undead is original, creative, and amazingly well done.
The $70 budget is clearly visible in many of the scenes of this film. From a shaky cam to limited special effects it shows through time and time again that Hollywood was not behind this production. On the flip side with the ability to show London so artfully devastated, some of the quality of the zombie attacks, and special effects on most of the wounds was stunning on such a budget. The fact that they were able to have so many areas of London just empty was either pulling in favors, in areas that were condemned, or really just lucking out on now having anyone else in the area. If they had a slightly larger budget I can’t even imagine how well this film would have done. On course if they didn’t have the $70 bragging rights it is also just as likely that this gem may have never received the recognition that it has.
The actual cause of his infection is not shown until the very end of the film. It is shown in a way that is almost painful to watch considering where he ends up, what he is doing, and the fact that he is supposed to be just a mindless flesh eating creature now. The director has clearly taken a cue from the most recent Romero works as well as a few other sources as of late that show the undead do not lose all of their previous life when they cross over into the new existence. It’s a bittersweet moment at the end where you can feel bad for Colin and not just what he has become.
If you are a zombie or independent horror fan you will absolutely love this unique take on the undead.
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VERY good movie,I actually saw this one before,but after seeing all the trash for the past few months my brain’s been mushy so It was hard to remember,so I revisited the movie,this could be called “the one that got away” they used the “shaking” cam,but it was VERY tolerable to view story was great as was the effects & acting was pretty good too.
Not bad for such a budjer,they could teach these OTHER directors a thing or two!
Colin’s clearly one of the better stand out indie films of the last few years. Period. Let alone being one of the best indie zombie films that have come out. That low of a budget to tell that great of a story?
On the flip side I’m not sure why it took them so long to make a film more through the eyes of one of the undead then the living…
Yea,there’s one out called I Zombie,that’s similar and Wasting Away that’s kinda a comedy but they should do more of em.
Wasting Away is another one I haven’t seen yet that’s on the list but looking like it was a Zomedy I wasn’t sure how I felt about it..
When I wrote that post I completely forgot about I Zombie (I tend to forget about I Zombie though…) 😉