At selected cinemas nationwide now
After the long-form meandering depth and heartless nihilism of The Walking Dead it was becoming hard to see where the zombie film could possibly go. Originality in the sub-genre is pretty much as dead as its shambling antagonists. Yeon Sang-ho’s’ Train to Busan certainly doesn’t have the glint of something new, but it handpicks the choicest morsels from its most influential works.
The story is as high-concept as it gets. During a zombie outbreak, a young woman makes it onto a train just before she turns. The infection spreads like Chinese whispers through the train and soon a motley band of survivors representing a cross-section of Korean society are crammed into the relative safe haven of a few carriages.
Among the survivors of the initial onslaught are banker Seok-woo (Gong Yoo) and his little daughter Soo-an (Kim Su-an), en-route to visit his ex-wife, tough working-class Sang-hwa (Ma Dong-seok) and his heavily pregnant wife Seong-kyeong (Jung Yu-mi), and callous COO Yong-suk (Kim Eui-sung). They are stock characters all, but Yeon adds enough emotional moments to the carnage to make us care. Special mention goes to young Kim Su-an who carries a lot of that baggage on her shoulders.
The zombies are the movie’s other big plus point. They have the same ferocious turn of speed as the infected in 28 Days Later, and the unnerving, jerky, spasmodic movements of the ghosts that populate much East Asian cinema. They swarm like insects and smash barriers through sheer weight of numbers, hauling themselves up on shattered limbs to attack again. In a neat bit of plotting, their responses are based entirely on movement, rather like that of the Tyrannosaurus Rex in Jurassic Park. This is utilised in some tremendously tense scenes as the train hurtles through darkened tunnels.
There are moments that are reminiscent of the likes of Alien or The Raid as the enclosed environment is used for maximum claustrophobic effect and as the train careers to an uncertain destination, the air of futility against ridiculous odds intensifies. However, Yeon never forgets a sense of fun, something one can’t easily attribute to The Walking Dead. It’s hugely entertaining, with a propulsive sense of purpose and rarely a dull moment.
If you’re a fan of zombie films, or Eastern horror cinema in general, then Train to Busan is a treat. In a moment when George A. Romero, the godfather of the sub-genre, struggles to get his projects financed, it’s heartening to see the reins be taken up with verve and gusto in such assured fashion.