I’ve always been in love with horror movies, but zombies were never something I had extensive interest in. All zombie movies seemed to be the same with the only difference being whether or not it’s a comedy or horror.  However I had seen Zombieland and World War Z and enjoyed both so I thought I would give another zombie movie a chance.

I skimmed through Netflix looking for something that stood out. Eventually I found a film that seemed different: Train to Busan. Train to Busan is a 2016 Korean film starring Gong Yoo as Seok-Woo, a father trying to keep his daughter and other passengers safe during a zombie outbreak.

I came into this film not knowing what to expect. Looking into the director I saw that this was Yeon Sang-Ho’s first directorial appearance in a live action movie. I was interested in seeing what he would do away from the animation scene a field he had a good reputation in. With it being a Korean cast I hadn’t recognized any of the actors however the cast featured all around good performances, especially from the lead Gong Yoo (Seok Woo)  and Ma-Dong Seok (Sang Hwa). They show genuine emotion throughout the film These performances helped the emotion and tension in throughout the film.

The first train scenes show us just what we’re getting ourselves into. This is where we first see one of the zombies in all their glory. The special effects team does a very solid job throughout the film in taking the stereotypical zombie and adding a little more to them. The eyes turn a milky white and the skin turns pale with veins showing throughout the body. In this scene the zombie gets the attention of a train attendant who comes to help and ends up getting infected as well. From here all hell breaks loose with people getting infected left and right. Survivors rush to a cart in the back and lock the door for their safety.

Seok does a great job analyzing the zombies behavior. During the first attack he realizes that they will only attack and get angered if they see other people. Afterwards a woman named Sung covers the glass door with paper. Seok is shown to be right as the zombies calm down and stop attacking. His quick thinking and ability to analyze the zombies behavior is what allows him to lead our main cast of characters throughout the journey to Busan.

The movie touches on ideas of what to do in a live or die situation. Seok starts by believing he must do what’s needed to keep him and his daughter safe no matter who might die in order to do so. This seems to be different than many of the other passengers who believe that they need to save as many people as possible and use a group effort. As the story progresses however the roles seem to reverse with Seok doing his best to save everyone as soon as they realize how dire their situation is.

No movie is not without its faults however, which while minor are still apparent. The biggest of all would be the pacing as with an hour 58 minute run time some scenes seem to drag on for far longer than they should. This includes a set of scenes where they stop in Daejeon in order to kill off pointless characters. In addition some of the characters were forgettable. Here I’d blame the director over the cast as I just don’t feel the direction was right.  Because there was such a large cast of characters many of them were either used as sacrifices or died meaningless deaths.

Overall I’d say the movie was very good with a lot of things working for it. I’d give it an 8/10 due to the pacing and over abundance of characters, but the strong performances and storytelling produce an interesting story and heartfelt ending that’s new and refreshing for a zombie thriller.