Train to Busan (2016)

Seok-Woo is a fund manager who’s busy job has put a strain on the relationship he has with his daughter Su-an. Trying to deal with a divorce he agrees to take Su-an to see her mom by train. Along the way to the train station Seok-Woo notices that something may be wrong in the city. After boarding the train they soon find out just how wrong things are getting as they find themselves caught in the middle of a zombie outbreak. On a fast race to survival, Seok-Woo and his daughter, along with a small group of survivors who have banded together, must out run the zombie horde who are fresh on there heels!

The build up to this horror film was done incredibly well by first time director Sang-ho Yeon whos previous work has been in animated films. The character development and story flow nicely, all while serving major story plots without feeling like your basic zombie flick. The connection with all the characters here is fantastic, making you care for each and every one of them! From Seok-Woo (Yoo Gong) and his daughter Soo-an (Soo-an Kim) to Sang Hwa (Dong-seok Ma) and his pregnant wife Sung Gyeong (Yu-mi Jung), every scene with them is heart felt. One important thing in any zombie movie is the zombies themselves, and boy did they capture the true zombie in this film!

These running zombies were done on a “World War Z” type level, with a scene that reminds you of those ant-like zombie hordes of that film! And for a low budget indie film, the special effects were not that bad. The zombie genre can seem over done, at fault is the many bad zombie flicks that we get each year that have become satire. In Train to Busan nothing felt generic or derivative and its these types of movies that keep the zombie genre alive! (no pun intended). As with many foreign indie films this movie is in English subtitles, which can put some people off and which is my only gripe of the film. This is zombie story telling at its finest and if your a fan of the genre you don’t want to miss this one! A very solid 9, in a genre that’s gotten a bad name in recent years.

SCORE:                  9/10