The Colony

The Colony is a Canadian science fiction thriller set after a new ice age has driven the surviving population underground. In Colony 7, food is running out, the cold is creeping in, and illness and tension wear the inhabitants down. Their only known contact is Colony 5, so when that outpost suddenly goes silent, its leader Briggs assembles a small team to cross the frozen surface and find out what happened there. The journey proves punishing, and what the group discovers at the other end is a danger far worse than the weather.

Jeff Renfroe directed and co-wrote the film with Patrick Tarr and Pascal Trottier, following his earlier feature Sand Serpents. Laurence Fishburne plays Briggs, with Bill Paxton as the wary Mason, Kevin Zegers as the mechanic Sam, and Charlotte Sullivan, John Tench and Atticus Mitchell among the supporting cast. The production, made in Canada with a budget of 16 million dollars, runs 95 minutes.

Reception was modest. On IMDb the film holds 5.3 out of 10 across roughly 49,000 votes, and on TMDB it sits at 5.5 out of 10 from about 1,283 ratings. A critics' score of 4 out of 10 from 34 reviews places it below even those audience figures, suggesting a chilly reception on both sides.