Train to Busan (2016)

directed by Sang-ho Yeon
South Korea
118 minutes
4.5 stars out of 5
----

Train to Busan has been getting a satisfying amount of praise recently, and I'm happy that that praise is going to something other than an American film for a change. South Korea is no stranger to the horror genre, but I think not many zombie films have been made there yet. There's some that are at the fringes, but they deal mostly with biological outbreaks rather than actual zombies.

But anyway. The zombie, especially when it travels in hordes, has long been the domain of any director/screenwriter/combination of both who wishes to explore the ills of modern society and bring them to scrutiny, which I think is interesting because there's not really any other monster in horror that has been used so often as a tool to interpret the actions of an increasingly bizarre real-world populace. Emphasis on "world", because Train to Busan marks the emergence of zombies-as-society into the larger international picture- other countries have done it before, I mean, but Train to Busan seems poised to break into the mainstream.

Compare/contrast George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, which, in a philosophical sense, I think Train has the upper hand on. It has long bothered me very muchly that Romero had such a true message but chose to go after the consumers rather than targeting the people who peddle the unnecessary, occasionally harmful products that they convince the consumers to buy. Train to Busan goes at the authority figures, and it is very satisfying to watch. It carries the message that the government in charge is largely useless and ultimately is actually harmful. Helicopters are shown offloading zombies onto uninfected parts of the city. A squad of military men in fatigues get turned at one point, proving that they were as much a part of the shuffling masses as any civilian. This criticism of the government is subtle, but it's what the zombie genre has always been for, in my opinion.

Aside from its statements, this is just a good movie overall. A train is a wonderful setting for a horror movie because of the diversity of characters it can bring and the confined atmosphere it can push onto the viewer. This movie has everything it needs: Visual prowess (sometimes a bit... much), scenes of anti-zombie violence that get the adrenaline up, obstacles that come in in obvious but logical places, and above all, characters that you can care about. The main character is a jerk and you will cry about him later on. Redemption is a fairly large elephant in this room full of zombies; the concept that if you only think for yourself, you're harming your fellow human beings. All in all it has a moral at its core about looking out for people, and knowing that when it comes down to the wire, you can trust individuals more than you can trust any governing faction.

I'm excited to see if this director does anything else with live-action horror in the future. Glancing at their back catalogue it looks like they've only done animated films before, which is interesting since Train to Busan is so obnoxiously in-your-face with its visuals. If their second entry into horror doesn't come any time soon, though, I feel like this one will do well to hold us over for a while.