Product Details

• Actors: Robert Amico, James Avery, David Campbell, Cristi Conaway, Michelle Davison
• Directors: Peter Geiger
• Writers: Peter Geiger, Richard Kletter
• Producers: Braddon Mendelson, Jana Sue Memel, Thom Colwell
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Vidmark / Trimark
• VHS Release Date: October 14, 2003
• Run Time: 91 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 1573624217
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #443,297 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Even connoisseurs of low-budget alien invasion flicks will be hard-pressed to recall one in which the weapon of choice for Earth's champion is a Swiss army knife. This alone makes The Colony a prime candidate for cheesiest movie ever shown on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Consider the opening credits--a naked blonde dances in slo-mo, languidly running her slender fingers over her--well, let's just say that what we're supposed to get from this dance solo is that the aliens are intrigued by the sensual possibilities of assuming human form. O-o-kay.... In any event, the premise here is that aliens have chosen Earth as their next target for invasion; quite naturally, they've decided that Southern California provides the optimum beachhead.

Our champion (Michael Weatherly) is one of four earthlings taken hostage aboard an orbiting space station by the alien invasion force. He and his companions have been abducted for study by an alien doctor, gamely, if not convincingly, portrayed by Isabella Hofmann. Of course, all the technical wizardry of a galaxy far, far away doesn't stand a chance against the Swiss army knife. The discerning viewer, therefore, will quickly overlook the plot to consider the deeper thematic question in The Colony--namely, why is our planet so often saved by blondes from Los Angeles? --Stephan Magcosta

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 Humans Against the Aliens, June 23, 2004

By 

Joshua Koppel (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Colony (DVD)

A brutal race of expansionist aliens has just target Earth for harvesting. The planet will be stripped of its resources and the inhabitants will be enslaved. But before the fleet arrives, there is a chance to discover more about humans; particularly why so many are resistant to the alien's mind control.

Four humans have been collected for study. Three are resistant to mind control and one is not. But while the alien scientist pushes for understanding, the commander pushes for elimination of the humans. The scientist has been worried. The normal expansion methods enslave alien races but they have all died out within a year of servitude. Can this be prevented? Meanwhile, the captive humans keep trying to escape and pull every trick they can think of.

This is a good drama where characters' behavior is more important than effects. The sets are rather crude, looking like old sci-fi shows of the 70's but as such they do not distract from the real point of the film. The acting is surprisingly good and the casting is excellent. My only problem was the use of gratuitous nudity at several points in the film. Sometimes we just see a naked girl posing while the dialog still goes on. I do not know why this was included. Otherwise this is a very decent film and well worth watching.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars SWISS CHEESE, April 17, 2004

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Colony (DVD)

The Scifi Channel coproduced this lame, low-budget yawner. Once everyone gets on the space ship, the set looks like something thrown together by a junior high thespian troupe. Isabella Hofmann plays Harper, an alien out to experiment and study humans to find out their makeup. (ho hum). John Prosky is the alien leader, shaved head and filled with misanthropic nothings. Michael Weatherly is the somewhat hunky hero; Cristi Conaway is the sexy but bland other alien; only Eric Allan Kramer as the almost beefcake Bravo makes an impression: watch as he follows Conaway's sinewy, sexy glide in an attempt to pick up girls--it's funny. Even Jeff Kober (from Falcon Crest) doesn't do his usual seedy job as a snarly redneck. Low production credits, a meandering pace, and relatively poor acting sinks this one fast.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A made for TV science fiction on an alien threat to Earth., January 8, 1999

By A Customer

The colony is a story about a group of scout aliens sent to check out the earth for the possibility of exploiting it. The story is a bit confusing at first, but by the middle one figure out what is going on. The story revolves arround a small sample of humans that are captured and experimented on. They try to escape and fight back, but in the end their humanity saves themselves and us from these aliens. The special effects are ok for a TV series but not at par with say STARTREK-INSURRECTION. There are also three un-necessary nude scenes which probably earns the film the R rating. The DVD features are basic and the version reviewed did not have a Dolby 5.1.