Colin (2008) Plot Summary Explained

Colin is infected by his friend Laura during a flashback. Laura traps a zombie in her bathroom and is bitten while trying to kill it. She dies in Colin's arms, then reanimates and bites him. Colin kills Laura in response and returns home, where the film begins.

• zombie infection
• Laura
• bite
• origin

Linda doesn't realize Colin has become a zombie when she rescues him from muggers. She only recognizes him after saving him, and presumably hopes to help him recover or at least get him to safety. The film doesn't explicitly state her reasoning, but family loyalty drives her actions.

• Linda
• sister
• rescue
• family

Linda is bitten by Colin while trying to help him at their mother's house. She dies from the bite, then reanimates as a zombie and is locked in the kitchen with Colin. Her boyfriend later attacks Colin in a grief-fueled rage.

• Linda
• death
• bite
• reanimation
• kitchen

The film uses a circular narrative structure. After showing the flashback of how Colin was infected, it returns to the opening scene where Colin arrives home injured. This creates a tragic loop where the viewer understands Colin's fate is sealed from the start, the film began with the end of his human story.

• ending
• flashback
• loop
• circular narrative

Colin doesn't truly survive intact, he's severely injured by the homemade bomb. The explosion destroys most of his hearing and facial features, leaving him disfigured and deaf. He continues wandering aimlessly despite these devastating injuries.

Foreshadowing: The survivors' attack with a makeshift bomb was foreshadowed by their organized offensive against the zombie group.

• bomb
• explosion
• injury
• hearing
• face damage

The basement scene features a serial killer who has trapped several blinded zombies in his basement. The sole party survivor becomes trapped with them. The madman appears to be using the zombies in some way, though the film doesn't explain his motivations in detail.

• madman
• basement
• serial killer
• blinded zombies

Driven by grief and rage, Linda's boyfriend beats Colin in a fit of anger after Linda dies and reanimates as a zombie. Even though Colin is already dead, the boyfriend takes out his frustration on the corpse, though Colin simply shambles away from the assault.

• boyfriend
• anger
• grief
• beating

Three survivors are bitten during the humans' offensive against the zombies. Rather than let them turn, their own group kills them brutally to prevent the infection from spreading. This demonstrates the harsh calculus of survival in the apocalypse.

• bitten survivors
• killed
• turned
• group execution

As a zombie, Colin has an instinctive hunger for human flesh and is drawn to the living survivor. However, the film doesn't clarify if he follows her specifically or simply moves toward any human presence. He seems driven by the basic zombie impulse to feed.

• party survivor
• following
• zombie instinct

Colin largely avoids direct confrontation despite being a zombie. The film presents him as a passive, aimless figure who drifts through the chaos without actively seeking conflict. This could be interpreted as remnants of his human personality or simply the film's choice to follow a non-aggressive zombie protagonist.

• avoiding conflict
• zombie behavior
• passive