CRITICS AND AUDIENCES have been praising this film for sometime now.
And I may be a little late to the scene, but I finally managed to board the Train To Busan recently to see what all the fuss was about.
And boy did it live up to my expectations.
Not only was it enjoyable and action-packed, it also left you feeling satisfied as a result.
This film will stand the test of time and become a modern classic and should be on every horror fans must watch list.
Here’s 5 Killer reasons why…
- Plenty of heartThe first two points are all about character development.
It’s the core to any good storyline. Make the people care about the characters by building up the relationships they have with each other and in doing so cement our relationship with said character before ripping out our hearts when they inevitably die.
- A lot of soul
Continuing on the character theme, it’s also important to establish flaws in the key characters in which they will be punished for accordingly – death by zombie horde, or overcome and redeem themselves but sub sequentially meet their demise anyway, because in horror, only the pure of heart and soul will survive. - Stamina to stay the distance
The perfect recipe for any decent horror is to establish the rhythm and build up the tension to the nth degree by the time you reach the climax.This is when of the key strengths in Train To Busan.Most horror films can find themselves derailed by the halfway point, but we’re kept well on track, thanks to the brilliant pace depicted by director Yeon Sang-ho and his crew.
- Fucking sick zombies
When dealing with the big ‘Z’, you’re generally dealing with the archaic shuffling zombies from George Romero’s ‘Dawn of the Dead‘ or the kick-ass-quick in ‘28 Days Later‘.And although Train To Busan does lean more towards the latter, it does add another element to the mix – Mass.When these zombies strike, they come as a group and and hunt down their prey with viscous abundance.
- Killer instinctAnd finally, to top it off.
If you’re gonna have a cracking zombie flick, you’ve got to deliver the gore and kills with as much relish and glee as possible to salivate the hungry horde.
And in this instance I’m referring to the audience.
It’s not just the methods of the kills that count here, but the brutal reality of it all as our heroes fight blood tooth and nail in the name of survival.
It raises questions about how we would face such a dire situation, stares humanity in the face and shows us for the savage creatures that we are.
- Paul Farrell
Surgeons of Horror 