Beautifully done thrill ride

Rating: 9/10 (24 April 2019)

After telling my girlfriend that Train to Busan was an amazing movie, I found I couldn't quite tell her why. It doesn't really have any of those moments you talk about after or anything; it's a movie that's simply really engrossing and exciting on a minute-by-minute basis rather than one with amazing set pieces.
It starts slowly, setting up a bunch of characters in a way that reminds me of 70s disaster movies like The Poseidon Adventure. A neglectful father and his young daughter, a couple of middle-aged ladies, a bunch of school kids, all taking a train trip. Then there's a sick passenger who comes back from the dead and suddenly a zombie virus is tearing through the train like wildfire.
Trapped on a moving train, and seeing the outside world is also in the grip of zombies, a shrinking set of passengers fights for survival, beset by zombies as well as the worst of human nature.
The movie is beautifully structured. There is a lovely compactness to the way characters are introduced; you quickly have a sense of who they are and become invested. The pace is fast and disasters come on on another like dominoes.
It's not too gory, which is how I like my horror. It's really closer to something like The Birds or Jurassic Park, and is as much action and suspense as horror. You should watch it.