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Sarah and I are still at it for the 30th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal. Healing is pain, as Sarah keeps reminding me, but we’re still getting out to movies.

On July 29th we actually split up because two interesting films were screening at the same time. Sarah decided to go full intellectual and catch the documentary. I went for the zombies-in-a-mall option. Both were worth talking about.

First up is Colony, the latest from Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan). A bioterrorist unleashes a fungal-style zombie virus inside a big Seoul office-mall complex that gets locked down. The infected have a hive mind and keep evolving, which gives the usual siege setup some fresh wrinkles. Gianna Jun plays a sharp professor who’s basically the Ripley of the piece — competent, figuring things out on the fly, holding it together. It’s action-packed, loaded with practical effects, and looks more expensive than it likely was. At just over two hours it does throw in a few extra speed bumps that maybe weren’t needed, but if you like high-octane zombie movies in the 28 Days Later vein, this is an easy recommendation.

Sarah, meanwhile, saw Black Zombie, a Canadian-Haitian co-production documentary about the actual origins of the zombie. It starts with Haitian voodoo culture and the plantation history, then tracks how the concept mutated through early cinema (White Zombie), Romero, and into the modern biochemical versions we know today. It also digs into how Western pop culture has pretty thoroughly misrepresented and vilified voodoo along the way. Slash from Guns N’ Roses even shows up as one of the talking heads. Educational, well-made, and especially interesting if you’ve ever wondered why “zombie” can mean so many different things depending on the movie. Bilingual and an easy watch for anyone who likes docs about horror genres.

Two very different films about zombies, both solid. We’ll keep going as long as the festival (and Sarah’s leg) allows.

Go see some Fantasia.

The Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 16th to August 2nd 2026 at Concordia University.

The song during our intro and outro is “Until I Sleep” by Henry Homesweet and is licensed under a Attribution 2.0 UK: England License.

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