TRAIN TO BUSAN
Korean writer/director Yeon Sang-ho’s kinetic masterpiece, TRAIN TO BUSAN, managed to breathe new life into the zombie genre just when we were beginning to get a little weary of the undead. This movie manages to achieve the kind of hat-trick that most directors dream of; the perfect balance of genuine terror, kinetic storytelling and a big bloody dollop of heart.
Firstly, it’s the characters and their relationships (backed up by solid performances from an excellent cast) that keep us engaged and teetering on the edge of our seat until the train reaches its final destination. We truly care for these people, and it fucking stings when most of them meet their grizzly demise along the way.
The second thing Sang-ho managed to achieve was to make zombies scary again. Somewhere along the way, they had lost their mojo. Maybe it was over-exposure, or over-analysis, but here they are back to their primal selves, just savage and relentless, and all the better for it. The movie shifts gears from moments of pure tension to abject mayhem and bloody carnage and back again along its relentless journey, but you can feel the hand of a master at work in every scene.
Finally, this is a film with real energy. There is nothing wasted here, no downtime or tedious exposition. We all know the basic rules by now. The train is in synergy with the momentum of the story, both hurtling the audience away from danger and toward oblivion. Once you're on, you can’t get off, you don’t want to get off, because you want to follow these characters through to the bitter end.
There is a sequel, but for whatever reason, it’s a very different film and lacks the singular focus and drive of this movie, easily one of the top 2 or 3 zombie movies out there.
Neil Marshall