THE COLONY is an early TV movie that comes from the Sci-Fi Channel and turns out to be just as bad as the CGI monstrosities they were churning out throughout the 2000s. It's a trite and low budget story that feels a bit like an episode of the 1990s version of THE OUTER LIMITS, except not as well written. A bunch of aliens (in human form, of course) visit Earth and capture an array of people they plan to experiment upon and analyse; the humans aren't too chuffed about this and fight back. Thankfully, one of the aliens is sentimental and comes across to their way of thinking. Cheesy effects and wooden acting are the order of the day here, with an occasional familiar face (such as THE WALKING DEAD's Jeff Kober) popping up in support.

This thing was bad. Really bad. I mean, low budget can sometimes be very inspiring, but not this. The story was so off-the-shelf, the alien's behaviour so illogical, the characters so clichéed. I found nothing good in it. And I did try.

While it seemed long and drawn out in a few places, it was put into context so that you can understand why it had to be that bland in places. The aliens were searching for a world to use the bodies for own shells. Each world they destroyed supplied the bodies they needed to survive. They could not stay in their own bodies for long. The use of the new bodies was normally only a year long. Their bodies used the energy in their new bodies so that they would have to recharge their new bodies on a daily basis. The signs of courage, caring and self sacrifice demonstrated by the earthlings was the cause for the saving of the earth. Kept you wondering what was going to happen next and which of the alien examiners would win, the good or the bad.

This is a very enjoyable TV movie. Yes, it is a low-budget film. But the writing is strong and the sets are done well. What is nice about the human characters in this movie is that they all act like real people. Each one has moments of anger and fear, but each also show strong, decent, heroic sides. There aren't any "weakling" or selfish jerk characters. The ending is no surprise, but getting there is what counts. And this nice little film delivers the goods.