TRAIN TO BUSAN/BUSANHAENG

Korea, 2016, 118 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Sang-ho Yeon.


The title makes it sound like one of those old thrillers, where all kinds of things happen on the trains like that of the Orient express. This train, however, is on a one-hour-long journey from the capital of Korea, Seoul, to the city of Busan. What happens is certainly disaster but not so much in the vein of those old disaster movies.

What distinguishes this film is not that it is a zombie film but that it is a Korean zombie film.

It opens in the familiar way, a truck driver on the highway being stopped by masked military, told that there has been an accident at the local plant, he grumbling about threats to his crops, and then hitting a deer on the road which rises up with zombie eyes.

So, the scene having been set, we are introduced to the characters who will be on the train, most explicitly a father who has his daughter living with him but tends to neglect her, is separated from his wife, is caught up in his job as a fund manager, making some ruthless decisions. Urged by his mother, and it being the little girl’s birthday and his giving her a lavish present which he has given to her on a previous occasion, he decides to take her to see her mother.

At the platform, there is a sports team, there are two elderly sisters, and on the train there is a large worker guarding the toilet for his pregnant wife.

Pretty soon it is clear that the zombie effect is all the rage, zombies on the platform storming the train, causing mayhem – and observers have noted that Koreans, unlike Americans in similar situations, don’t carry guns so combat is either with fists or baseball bats. When the passengers think they have arrived safely at the station, more zombies have taken over and they have to flee back to the train, some in a compartment, some in a toilet who have to be rescued by the father, the worker, a rather wild man who first alerted people to the zombies and one of the sports team – the pregnant wife, the daughter and one of the old ladies are trapped in a toilet.

A lot of the action takes place as the rescuing group tries to get through the zombie-filled compartments, distracting, crawling along the luggage racks and relying on tunnels because zombies cannot see in the dark. There is further complication when a self-centred businessman does not want the rescuers to come in for fear they are infected and, when they do get in, the crowd relegate them to isolation.

The zombie special effects are quite effective, faces infected, angular contortions – and there are a lot of scenes with crowds of zombies, at one stage massing against the glass wall and crashing and falling through, leaping onto trains and, finally, being dragged en masse by an engine through the railyard.

One of the main points is self-sacrifice, exemplified by the little girl but all the men characters, the rescuers, have to face up, and do, to the challenge of saving others through self-sacrifice.

This is certainly one of the better zombie films.

1. The popularity of zombie films? The genre, the now familiar conventions? From American films?

2. A Korean zombie film? Budget, style, the importance of the visuals, the musical score?

3. The locations, the capital, the train, the scenery of the countryside, the cities and destinations? The highways, the train stations and train lines?

4. Audiences identifying with a real situation, passengers taking the train, ordinary people, the reaction to the situation?

5. The opening, the truck driver, his being stopped by military with masks, his comment about his crops and losses, his hitting the deer – and the deer with the zombie eyes?

6. American conventions, using them, variations – especially with the people having no guns, no shooting of zombies? Reliance on physical strength, baseball bats?

7. Introduction to the father and daughter? His hard work, supervising funds, personal ruthlessness, his assistant and the warnings? The daughter living with him, his being too busy for her, the phone calls to her mother, his mother looking after the girl? The mother urging him to take his daughter to see her mother? The gift, elaborate, already having it? The decision to take her? Later phoning and his mother infected?

8. The passengers getting on the train, the team, the young men, the girlfriends? The two elderly sisters? The pregnant woman in the toilet, her worker husband? The businessman? The train staff?

9. The presence of the wild man, getting on the train, his being there throughout the film, his having witnessed people dying – his help and his ultimate self-sacrifice?

10. The theme of self-sacrifice, the little girl and her beliefs, giving her seat up to the old lady, wanting to help? The wild man? The large workingman, the young sportsman and his girlfriend, the father – all learning how to save others and give up on themselves?

11. Alarm, the people on the platform, trying to get on the train, the invasion of the train, the number of zombies?

12. The visuals of the zombies, facial disfigurements, limb contortion? The faces and the infection, the eyes? The groups of zombies jumping onto the train, from the train? The group behind the glass and the falling through it? The heaps of zombies being dragged by the engine?

13. The staff, trying to contain the situation, their becoming victims? The dangers on the train, arriving at the station, everybody getting out, the father and his phone information and trying to go on alternate route, the number of zombies attacking, the dangers, people hurrying back to the train, getting into the different compartments?

14. The group saving themselves in the toilet? The others in the carriage? The men, the clash between the fund manager and the worker, the concern about the daughter, the concern about the pregnant wife? The pregnant wife and her initiatives, strong character? The decision to go through the carriages, the links, binding the arms, the dangers, the timing, the importance of zombies not able to see in the dark, using the tunnels? The rescue, the return? The husband sacrificing himself? The strategies, avoiding noise, crawling along the luggage racks?

15. The group that was in safety, the businessman and his domination, his fears, locking the door and preventing the others returning, the bashing down of the door, the decision to expel the newcomers and isolate them?

16. The older sister, the younger sister, her being infected by what was happening? The younger sister opening the door and letting the zombies in? The mayhem, the businessman and the driver saving themselves, the businessman pushing out the driver, his being infected, the businessman running?

17. Getting into the station, the group trying to get to another train, the driver and his finding another train, avoiding the zombies? The overturned carriages, the fire? The rescue? The pregnant woman and the daughter on the engine? The businessman and the fight with the father, biting him, the father sacrificing himself? His farewell to his daughter?

18. The pregnant woman and the girl, walking to safety, the ruins, through the tunnel, the military seeing them, the decision that they should be shot, hearing the little girl sing – and
their being saved?

19. One of the more entertaining and interesting zombie films?