31 Days of Horror- Day 4: Train to Busan (2016)

(dir. Yeon Sang-ho)

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A father and his daughter become trapped on a train overrun with zombies when an outbreak consumes the country.

Ok, so the zombie subgenre may be worn out thanks to an over-indulgence in every form of media. I wouldn’t blame you if the idea of watching another zombie movies makes you want to claw your eyes out. But before you do, you should watch what may very well be the best zombie film since 28 Days Later. In his first live-action film, South Korean filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho captures the emotional sincerity and scope that so many blockbusters are missing. And Train to Busan is a blockbuster, one that looks and sounds just as good as anything that Hollywood puts out. The zombies themselves, while great looking and performed with a kind of mad double-jointedness that point to Sang-ho’s background in animation, are merely set pieces. The real drive of this story comes from the characters, particularly workaholic Seok-woo (Gong Yoo) and his young daughter, Soo-an (Kim Su-an) who board the train to Busan to see Soo-an’s mother. The film not only hangs on their survival, along with the other passengers on the train, including a pregnant woman and her working class husband, but whether or not they can repair their relationship. Train to Busan works because its not simply about surviving an outbreak, but surviving as a human being amidst class disputes, ageism, and the expectations of parenthood. The zombie media that works best is built on a social element, and Train to Busan has that in spades. Regardless of what country you’re from, the South Korean-set Train to Busan speaks a universal language.

The action set-pieces are varied, so that even though the film does feel its runtime, the threat of the zombies and the relationships at stake never fall victim to repeated beats. Without the traditional weapons we normally see in zombie movies, the players here must rely on unique means of defense and carefully calculate their odds of survival train car by train car. There’s a tunnel sequence that’s an instant genre classic. The combination of on the move action and simultaneous character building in Train to Busan shares similarities with Mad Max: Fury Road, which is about as high a mark of praise as I can deliver. While an American remake is inevitable, the zombie film doesn’t get much more perfect than Yeon Sang-ho’s film.

Scare Factor: 3/5 I’ve never found zombies to be particularly frightening, but they do allow for some incredible moments of tension which Train to Busan is filled with.  Not only a great horror movie, Train to Busan is just a great movie all around and one of the best blockbuster experiences in the last couple of years.

*Available to watch on Netflix