This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Korean director Yeon Sang-ho breathes new life into the zombie genre in "Train to Busan," a fast-moving horror thriller with even faster undead people.
Yeon and screenwriter Park Joo-suk generate pulse-pounding tension and gasp-inducing shocks through a time-honored device: putting his monsters on a moving vehicle. Here, it's a fast train from Seoul, Korea's capital, to the port city of Busan, about three hours away.
We board the train with Suh Seok-woo (Gong Yoo), a hedge-fund manager whose attention to work has already ruined his marriage and is threatening his relationship with his daughter, Su-an (Kim Su-an). For her birthday, Su-an guilts her father into accompanying her on the train from Seoul to Busan, where her mother, Seok-woo's ex-wife, has relocated.
The passengers on the train are a varied lot. They include a pregnant woman, Sung-kyung (Jung Yu-mi), and her burly husband, Sang-hwa (Ma Dong-seok), as well as a standoffish executive (Kim Eui-Sung) and the members of a high-school baseball team.
The last passenger to board the train is writhing on the floor, infected by a mysterious zombie virus. Soon she infects others, until half the train is filled with zombies and the other half is barricading doors to keep the zombies out of their train car. And, as the epidemic spreads to other cities, the passengers learn that stopping would mean certain death.
The action moves at a rapid clip, as the passengers — led primarily by Seok-woo and Sang-hwa, who go from distrust to admiration — frantically try to outrun or outwit the zombies. When groups of passengers are separated, distrust and mob paranoia become as dangerous as the zombies.
Yeon and Park devise some deliciously terrifying set pieces, through train cars and up station escalators, as the surviving humans scramble to avoid becoming part of the zombie hordes. (Choosing fast zombies, of the "28 Days Later" variety, gooses the excitement in ways slow-moving "Night of the Living Dead"-style zombies could never do.)
The scares would mean nothing, though, if Yeon also didn't invest some heart into the characters, from the worried parents-to-be to Gong's late-blooming fatherly tendencies. That dose of humanity propels "Train to Busan" beyond the usual meat-grinder horror fare.
Twitter: @moviecricket —
HHHhj
'Train to Busan'
Train passengers face a slew of zombies in this fast and furious horror thriller from South Korea.
Where • Tower Theatre.
When • Opens Friday, Oct. 28.
Rating • Not rated, but probably R for horror violence and language.
Running time • 118 minutes; in Korean with subtitles.