Train to Busan

Rating: 9/10 (7 August 2019)

Seok-woo is a workaholic fund manager living in Seoul with his mother and Su-an, his young daughter. She is desperate to see her mother, who lives four hundred and fifty kilometres away in Busan. Eventually her father agrees to take her and together they board the train to Busan. As the train prepares to depart we are introduced to a few other characters; a man and his pregnant wife; a pair of older women; a school girl and her boyfriend a wealthy business executive; a homeless man who keeps saying 'everybody is dead!' and a girl who is behaving strangely. Soon after the train sets off this girl attacks a train attendant... it is clear that she was infected with something that causes extreme violence. It isn't long before more and more become infected and survivors are barricading themselves in the remaining safe parts of the train. If that weren't enough it is clear that the infection is affecting people throughout South Korea.
I really enjoyed this South Korean zombie film; it provided tension from soon after the start right to the final scene. The zombies are more like those infected in '28 Days Later' than classic slow shuffling ones some people might not be keen on that but I think so long as they are scary all is good... and these provided the scares. The film nicely establishes rules that these particular zombies follow. Inevitably there are plenty of gory scenes, but nothing too excessive, and it isn't entirely obvious who, if anybody, will survive. The key characters are introduced well and fairly quickly; they include a good cross section of society and both heroes and cowards. Setting the film in the confined space of a speeding train adds an extra danger as there are limited places for survivors to hide safely for any length of time. The cast is solid and make us believe in their characters; similarly the special effects are pretty impressive. Overall I'd say that this is definitely a film to watch if you like zombie movies.
These comments are based on watching the film in Korean with English subtitles.