train to busan 2 movie review

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A zombie virus has in the last four years spread to all South Korea. Four Koreans in Hong Kong sail through the blockade to Incheon for USD20,000,000 on a truck. A zombie virus has in the last four years spread to all South Korea. Four Koreans in Hong Kong sail through the blockade to Incheon for USD20,000,000 on a truck. A zombie virus has in the last four years spread to all South Korea. Four Koreans in Hong Kong sail through the blockade to Incheon for USD20,000,000 on a truck.

• Yeon Sang-ho
• Ryu Yong-jae
• Nazeeh Tarsha
• Koo Kyo-hwan
• Lee Jung-hyun
• 542 User reviews
• 218 Critic reviews
• 51 Metascore
• 8 wins & 20 nominations

• Captain Seo

• Jung Seok's nephew

• Old man KIM

• Jung Seok's sister

• Sergeant Hwang

• American Soldier McClain

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• Trivia Despite marketed as a sequel to Train to Busan (2016) , this film is a stand-alone movie that does not feature or mention any of the previous film's characters.
• Goofs After 4 years without any use it's impossible that the cars' batteries would have enough charge to trigger the alarm when hit.

Major Jane : In a few hours, a new world will be waiting.

Jooni : The world I knew wasn't bad either.

• Alternate versions For the Indian television broadcast, a total of 76 cuts, amounting to 9 minutes were made to the Hindi dubbed version and was given a U/A (parental guidance) rating, with a running time of 106 minutes.
• Connections Featured in Chris Stuckmann Movie Reviews: Peninsula (2020)

User reviews 542

• acinemalens
• Jul 15, 2020
• How long is Peninsula? Powered by Alexa
• August 7, 2020 (United States)
• South Korea
• Official Facebook
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• Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula
• Incheon, South Korea
• Next Entertainment World (NEW)
• RedPeter Film
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $16,000,000 (estimated)
• Aug 9, 2020
• $42,698,327

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• Runtime 1 hour 56 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• IMAX 6-Track

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Yeon Sang-ho’s “Train to Busan” is the most purely entertaining zombie film in some time, finding echoes of George Romero ’s and Danny Boyle ’s work, but delivering something unique for an era in which kindness to others seems more essential than ever. For decades, movies about the undead have essentially been built on a foundation of fear of our fellow man—your neighbor may look and sound like you, but he wants to eat your brain—but “Train to Busan” takes that a step further by building on the idea that, even in our darkest days, we need to look out for each other, and it is those who climb over the weak to save themselves who will suffer. Social commentary aside, it’s also just a wildly fun action movie, beautifully paced and constructed, with just the right amount of character and horror. In many ways, it’s what “ World War Z ” should have been—a nightmarish vision of the end of the world, and a provocation to ask ourselves what it is that really makes us human in the first place.

Seok-woo ( Gong Yoo ) is a divorced workaholic. He lives with his mother and barely spends any time with his daughter Su-an (Kim Su-an). He’s so distant from her that he buys her a Nintendo Wii for her birthday, ignoring that she has one already, and that he’s the one who bought it for her for Children’s Day. To make up for this rather-awkward moment, he agrees to give Su-an what she really wants—a trip to her mother’s home in Busan, 280 miles away. It’s just an hour train ride from Seoul. What could possibly go wrong? Even the set-up is a thematic beauty, as this is more than just a train ride for Seok-woo and Su-an—it’s a journey into the past as a father tries to mend bridges and fix that which may be dead. It’s a perfect setting for a zombie movie.

Before they even get to their early-morning train ride, Seok-woo and Su-an see a convoy of emergency vehicles headed into Seoul. When they get to the train, Sang-ho beautifully sets up his cast of characters, giving us beats with the conductors, a pair of elderly sisters, a husband and his pregnant wife, an obnoxious businessman (a vision of Seok-woo in a couple decades), and even a baseball team. A woman who’s clearly not well gets on the train just before it departs, and just as something else disturbing but generally unseen is happening in the station above the platform. Before you know it, the woman is taking out the jugular of a conductor, who immediately becomes a similarly mindless killing machine. These are zombies of the “28 Days Later” variety—fast, focused, and violent. They replicate like a virus, turning whole cars of the train into dead-eyed flesh-eaters in a matter of seconds. They are rabid dogs. And you thought your Metra commute was bad.

The claustrophobic tension of “Train to Busan” is amplified after a brilliantly staged sequence in a train station in which our surviving travelers learn that the entire country has gone brain-hungry. They discover that the undead can’t quite figure out door handles and are mostly blind, so tunnels and lines of sight become essential. Sang-ho also keeps up his social commentary, giving us characters who want to do anything to survive, and others who will do what it takes to save others. Early in the film, Seok-woo tells his daughter, “At a time like this, only watch out for yourself,” but he learns that this isn’t the advice we should live by or pass down to our children. Without spoiling anything, the survivors of “Train to Busan” are only so lucky because of the sacrifice of others. And the film is thematically stronger than your average zombie flick in the way it captures how panic can make monsters of us all, and it is our responsibility to overcome that base instinct in times of crisis.

After the near-perfect first hour of “Train to Busan,” the film slows its progress and makes a few stops that feel repetitive, but the journey recovers nicely for a memorable finale. You could call it “Train of the Living Dead” or “'Snowpiercer' with Zombies.” Whatever you call it, if it’s playing in your city and you’ve ever been entertained by a zombie movie, it’s hard to believe you wouldn’t be entertained by this one.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Film credits.

Train to Busan (2016)

118 minutes

Gong Yoo as Seok Woo

Ma Dong-Seok as Sang Hwa

Jung Yoo-mi as Sung Gyeong

Choi Woo-shik as Yeong Gook

Ahn So-hee as Jin Hee

Kim Soo-Ahn as Soo Ahn

• Yeon Sang-Ho

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• TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS: PENINSULA 4K UHD...

TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS: PENINSULA 4K UHD (2020) Review Four years after South Korea’s total decimation in TRAIN TO BUSAN, the zombie outbreak thriller that captivated audiences worldwide, acclaimed director Yeon Sang-ho brings us PENINSULA, the next nail-biting chapter in his post-apocalyptic world. Jung-seok (Gang Dong-won), a soldier who previously escaped the diseased wasteland, relives ..

TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS: PENINSULA 4K UHD (2020) Review

Four years after South Korea’s total decimation in TRAIN TO BUSAN, the zombie outbreak thriller that captivated audiences worldwide, acclaimed director Yeon Sang-ho brings us PENINSULA, the next nail-biting chapter in his post-apocalyptic world. Jung-seok (Gang Dong-won), a soldier who previously escaped the diseased wasteland, relives the horror when assigned to a covert operation on the quarantined peninsula with two simple objectives: retrieve and survive. When his team unexpectedly stumbles upon survivors, their lives will depend on whether the best—or worst—of human nature prevails in the direst of circumstances.

Originally entitled PENSINULA, but marketed internationally as TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS: PENINSULA, this zombie infested apocalyptic heist flick is co-written and directed by Yeon Sang-ho. It is a standalone sequel to the original 2016 film TRAIN TO BUSAN which refreshingly chooses to not opt for being a simple rehash of the original as most sequels are.

It starts promisingly, with a zombie outbreak aboard an evacuation ship, but soon after it flounders and never regains its footing. It all looks great; any stills photos from the film would make it look stunning but to sit through it is too long and fails to match the tension or thriller of its predecessor. On paper it reads like ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK and MAD MAX with fast moving zombies but onscreen its oddly flat and unengaging.

TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS: PENINSULA SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Peninsula: Making of Featurettes – The Action

• Peninsula: Making of Featurettes – The Characters

• Peninsula: Making of Featurettes – The Director

• Peninsula: Making of Featurettes – The Sequel

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‘Peninsula’ Review: The ‘Train to Busan’ Series Derails with this Chintzy and Generic Zombie Sequel

David ehrlich.

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It can be frustrating to watch a film that doesn’t seem to understand its own strengths; it’s downright maddening to watch three of them. With “ Peninsula ” (stylized for its North American release as “ Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula”), director Yeon Sang-ho has now made an entire trilogy of exuberant, maximalist, and ultimately tiresome zombie movies that cannibalize their best ideas in a crazed dash towards mediocrity. This erratic and derivative new chapter is by far the most chewed up of the three, as its outsized ambition (or at least its scale) makes it that much easier to see how Yeon’s latest yarn shrinks away from its own potential like it’s scared of the movie it could’ve been. At the end of a summer that we’ve all just been trying to survive, there’s definitely some fun to be found in a go-for-broke action saga that isn’t afraid to play around with the inhumanity that tends to follow a pandemic, but “Peninsula” is just another two hours of screaming at all the self-sabotage you see on your TV.

Set in the same world as “Train to Busan” and “Seoul Station” (but sharing none of the same characters from Yeon’s crossover hit or its stilted animated prequel), “Peninsula” continues the series’ tradition of hitting the ground at a full sprint and ensnaring you with a strong hook. While most of the film is set four years after the fast-acting zombie outbreak seen in the previous installments, the story kicks off with a Z-day prologue that forefronts all of the things this trilogy does best.

A mysterious plague has just begun to sweep across Korea, and military man Jung-seok (“Haunters” star Gang Dong-won) is speeding his family to the ferry that will take them to the safety of Japan; he’s too scared and self-concerned to stop for anything, even the desperate mother and her two young kids who plead for help on the side of the road. All seems well once Jung-seok makes it to the crowded boat, but it only takes one infected passenger for things to go south in a hurry, and just a few minutes later Jung-seok is watching his nephew feast on his sister in agonized slow-motion (echoes of the MV Sewol tragedy are even more pronounced here than they were in “Train to Busan”).

When we reconnect with Jung-seok and his widowed brother-in-law (Kim Do-yoon) in the present, they’re scraping by in a Hong Kong that’s afflicted by virulent prejudice against Korean refugees — the phrase “China Virus” comes to mind. As we learn during an inexplicable exposition dump in which some random white guy brings us up to speed while guesting on a late night talk show, North Korea is the only part of the peninsula that hasn’t been overrun by the walking dead (no logical reason is given for this strange quirk of fate, so we’re left to assume that zombies just have a lot of respect for the DMZ — not that this tantalizing bit of world-building is ever the least bit relevant to the story).

Awkwardness aside, this setup is basically the triple Yahtzee of Yeon’s auteurist touch: Flesh-eaters in confined spaces, Hobbesian incivility between strangers, and ultra-violence that walks the line between slapstick and tragedy. By the time a gangster hires Jung-seok and his brother-in-law to slip back into zombie-infested Incheon and steal one of the massive caches of money that was left behind in the exodus, it seems as if Yeon has successfully managed to scale his vision up to blockbuster size without letting things get away from him (and done so on a tight $16 million budget).

The first big set piece back on Korean soil betrays a few of the more obvious cost-cutting measures — the dreary fuzz of the computer-generated Incheon cityscapes during the nighttime heist is almost as video game-like as the car chase that follows — but the film’s irreverent tone excuses much of its shoddiness. It’s only during the third act that it really starts to feel like Yeon’s pockets aren’t deep enough for what he’s trying to do. Before that, most of the movie is devoted to lame dialogue scenes between kooky characters in cramped ruins who just want to find a way out of this story altogether; Yeon’s take on the genre might be inspired by the horde mentality of “World War Z” and its rotting waves of the undead, but “Peninsula” itself owes more to DIY post-apocalyptic visions like “Escape from New York” and “The Road Warrior.”

And for much of the first act, “Peninsula” is able to channel large-scale zombie spectacle through a confined setting and convey the palpable feeling of a world overrun. The heist angle isn’t as strong a hook as the narrow train cars from the previous movie, but some fun characters show up to buoy the action once Jung-seok’s party is ambushed by the demented remnants of a rogue militia called Unit 631. Our hero is rescued from the attack by two scrappy little girls (Lee Re and Lee Ye-won) who’ve grown up in the wasteland, rock a solid day-glo aesthetic, and think of the zombies and the soldiers as their play toys — their “six years old and already out of fucks to give” attitude is a nice contrast against Jung-seok’s permanent state of panic, and the girls even come with their own kooky grandpa character (Kwon Hae-hyo) to keep the focus on the family.

Despite how Jung-seok and his brother-in-law are warned not to “screw up trying to save each other,” “Peninsula” is predictably keen on exploring the flaws of such self-preservation, and how the continued survival of our species is dependent upon our rejection of capitalism, racism, and the rest of the dehumanizing forces that drove us against each other even before the whole world got sick of each other. The good guys save Jung-seok because it’s the right thing to do; the bad guys force his brother-in-law to participate in a trite zombie fight club for their own sick amusement (yes, we’ve reached a point in movie history where the idea of a “zombie fight club” can feel trite). But Yeon’s script explores this stuff with the disinterest of a first draft and wastes its unique setting on a paint-by-numbers plot; the preamble might tease a politically-tinged examination of empathy and self-interest, but all of that is tossed aside in favor of internecine squabbles and limp inevitabilities. Did these people even watch “28 Days Later?” Keeping zombies “alive” for sport never ends well!

The idea of South Koreans fleeing to the zombie-free North is never unpacked, the world’s treatment of Korean refugees becomes a moot point once the movie arrives at Incheon, and Jung-seok himself is an unremarkable protagonist whose festering sense of guilt becomes the closest thing the film has to a coherent emotional arc. The redemption arc that Yeon contrives for him hinges on an unforgivably stupid narrative convenience that should have been tweaked long before anyone got to set. You can feel the air wheezing out of the bag as “Peninsula” tries to downshift away from a more nuanced portrait of post-apocalyptic living.

Yeon eventually just throws his hands up and surrenders to the cheesy spectacle of it all with a frenzied third act that finds the entire cast in a death race to the border. It’s here — in an amusingly unmoored but ultimately exhausting sequence that looks like someone trying to recreate “Fury Road” on a Nintendo 64 — that Yeon stops being able to afford his own ambition, and the film’s budget suddenly feels like a rubber band stretched over a hula-hoop. A trained animator who isn’t afraid to abandon verisimilitude the moment it threatens to get in the way of a good time, Yeon mines a certain “Speed Racer”-esque delirium from the cartoonish finale, but the comicality of this mayhem doesn’t square with the rest of a movie that, at one point, had more serious things on its mind. By the time “Peninsula” clumsily arrives at its closing statement about the possibility of forgiveness, you can’t help but wonder if this entire franchise is beyond salvation.

Well Go USA will release “Peninsula” in select theaters on Friday, August 21.

As new movies open in theaters during the COVID-19 pandemic, IndieWire will continue to review them whenever possible. We encourage readers to follow the safety precautions provided by CDC and health authorities. Additionally, our coverage will provide alternative viewing options whenever they are available.

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Review: All Aboard ‘Train to Busan’ for Zombie and Class Warfare

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By Jeannette Catsoulis

• July 21, 2016

Elite passengers on a South Korean bullet train face a twitching, hissing threat from the cheap seats in “ Train to Busan ,” a public-transportation horror movie with a side helping of class warfare.

The setup is lean and clean. A flattened deer, mowed down in a quarantine zone in Seoul where some kind of chemical spill has occurred (echoes of Bong Joon-ho’s 2007 enviro-horror film, “The Host” ), springs back to life. Then, in just a few swiftly efficient scenes, we meet a harried hedge-fund manager and his small, sad daughter (Gong Yoo and an amazing Kim Su-ahn), see them settled on the titular locomotive and watch in dismay as a vividly unwell last-minute passenger lurches onboard. And we’re off!

Sprinting right out of the gate, the director, Yeon Sang-ho, dives gleefully into a sandbox of spilled brains and smug entitlement. (“In the old days, they’d be re-educated,” one biddy remarks upon spying an undesirable fellow traveler.) As zombies chomp and multiply, an assortment of regular folks face them down while furthering an extended critique of corporate callousness. The politics are sweet, but it’s the creatures that divert. Eyes like Ping-Pong balls and spines like rubber — I’d wager more than a few chiropractors were required on the set — they attack in seizures of spastic energy. They’re like break-dancing corpses.

Often chaotic but never disorienting, the movie’s spirited set pieces — like a wriggling ribbon of undead clinging doggedly to the last compartment — owe much to Lee Hyung-deok’s wonderfully agile cinematography. Dipping and levitating, his camera injects air into tunnels and washrooms and luggage compartments, giving the action a hurtling vigor. Even more impressive is the train itself: marveling at its freakishly strong doors and dedicated staff, you might find yourself mourning the state of our own rail services more than the fate of the characters.

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Film Review: ‘Train to Busan’

By Maggie Lee

Chief Asia Film Critic

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Following a motley crew on a bumpy ride from Seoul to Busan to escape a zombie outbreak, writer-director Yeon Sang-ho ‘s action-horror railroad movie “ Train to Busan ” pulses with relentless locomotive momentum. As an allegory of class rebellion and moral polarization, it proves just as biting as Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi dystopia “Snowpiercer,” while delivering even more unpretentious fun. Yeon has displayed recognizably cinematic sensibilities in his last three indie anime features — “King of Pigs,” “Fake” and “Seoul Station” — so it’s not surprising that he transitions easily into live-action, though his scathing, nihilistic vision of humanity is watered down for wider mainstream appeal. Buyers for Asian-friendly genre products should clamber to board “Train.”

Despite the vibrancy of genre cinema in Korea, you can count the country’s zombie films on the fingers of one hand. But whether it’s alleged prototype “Let Sleeping Corpses Lie” rip-off “A Monstrous Corpse” or the more recent “Zombie School” (2014), they’ve all been slapdash and unoriginal.

However, with a MERS epidemic sweeping South Korea in 2015 and soaring discontent with corruption and economic disparity, a zombie apocalypse serves as a potent allegory for the dog-eat-dog world. In “Seoul Station,” Yeon depicted a homeless enclave inside the central train station as the ground zero of a zombie outbreak. “Train to Busan” picks up where that film left off. While the anime’s excoriation of the police and army is softened in the live-action sequel, scenarios of humans and zombies precariously separated by carriages fittingly symbolize the dangerous gap between society’s haves and have-nots.

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Workaholic fund manager Seok-wu (Gong Yoo) takes his estranged young daughter Su-an (Kim Su-an) on the KTX high-speed train to Busan to visit his ex-wife. The last person to hop on is a teenage girl whose bare thighs are crisscrossed with bulging veins. Yet, passengers and train crew get more alarmed over a homeless man hiding out in the washroom — one of the film’s frequent barbed comments on snobbery in Korean society.

The first 15 minutes tease audiences with glimpses of zombie threat, like a shadow lunging spastically across the platform, or ominous news reports of riots in the capital. Once the infected girl claims the first victim, however, the action surges ahead with exhilarating mayhem, abetted by the claustrophobic layout of train compartments.

The main reason zombies rank less scarily on the ghoulish scale is their slow waddling gait, but the resident evil here is so deliriously energetic and agile it’s like they’re powered by ginseng and soju. Yeon’s background in animation definitely lends their assault a cartoonish ferocity. The creatures’ only weakness is the fact they see poorly in the dark, giving rise to several mini-climaxes when Seok-wu exploits this to outwit them.

Whereas in Hollywood disaster or apocalyptic movies, the chief protagonist tends to take charge and puts him or herself in the line of fire, Seok-wu subverts the cliché by acting on his elitist, self-preserving instincts, telling Su-an off for giving her seat to an old lady, and shutting the door on escaping passengers Sang-hwa (Ma Dong-seok) and his pregnant wife Sung-kyu (Jung Yu-mi, “Oki’s Movie”). It is up to Su-na, with her child’s innate decency, and the burly but dauntless Sang-hwa to undo the financial go-getting, cutthroat attitude, so he can learn that it is cooperation and altruism that ensures survival in a catastrophe.

Fans of Yeon’s edgier animations may miss his remorselessly evil characters, whose misogyny, sadism and dirt-filthy expletives exert repulsive fascination. In their place, “Train” features something one never expected from Yeon — nice people — such as a pair of high school lovebirds who stay faithful till the end, two deeply affectionate elderly sisters and the selfless tramp. The only major villain comes in the form of a a middle-aged corporate weasel (Kim Eui-sang) who’s calculating cowardice is bland compared with the conmen, religious hypocrites or bullies in Yeon’s past works. But his ability to incite the passengers into callous behavior is instrumental in illustrating how mob mentality works.

Given the sheer velocity of the action, some emotional connection is needed to prevent the film from turning into sheer technical exercise. Thus, Seok-wu’s gradual reform and other humane elements are essential to offset the insentient aggression of the zombies. Their sentimentality are also gleefully tempered by the jumpy, unpredictable script, which constantly teeters between nerve-racking and hilarious, as when Seok-wu hears his mother zombifying over the phone while still bitching about her daughter-in-law.

Shooting in standard 1.85.1 instead of widescreen, the confined mise-en-scene nonetheless affords lenser Lee Hyung-deok plenty of room for nifty camerawork of stunts in unexpected nooks. Washrooms become thrilling battlegrounds and unlikely sanctuaries. An extended sequence in which the driver tries to switch trains is choreographed with the utmost suspense.

However, like most Korean blockbusters, the production cannot resist showing off its visual and special effects clout, resulting in a bombastic stunt toward the end that’s incongruous with the film’s lean, gritty style. Likewise, the screenplay piles on the hysteria and the schmaltz in the last leg, and the hitherto restrained cast have no choice but to dial up performances to a borderline farcical level.

Craft contributions are top-drawer, especially breakneck editing by Yang Jin-mo, who raises suspense to nearly unbearable levels. Music by Jang Young-gyu and sound effects by Choi Tae-young are both sparingly and effectively deployed for genuine shocks rather than false jolts.

Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (Midnight), May 13, 2016. Running time: 118 MIN. (Original Title: "Busan haeng")

• Production: (South Korea) A Next Entertainment World release, presentation of a Redpeter Film production. (International sales: Contents Panda, Seoul.) Produced by Lee Dong-ha. Executive producer, Kim Woo-taek. Co-producer, Kim Yeon-ho.
• Crew: Directed, written by Yeon Sang-ho. Camera (color, HD), Lee Hyung-deok; editor, Yang Jin-mo; music, Jang Young-gyu; production designer, Lee Mok-won; costume designer, Kwon Yoo-jin, Rim Seung-hee; sound, Choi Tae-young; special make-up, Kwak Tae-yong, Hwang Hyo-kyun; special effects, Demolition; visual effects supervisor, Jung Hwang-su; visual effects, Digital Idea.
• With: Gong Yoo, Kim Su-an, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Eui-sung, Choi Woo-sik, An So-hee. (Korean dialogue)

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Train to Busan Reviews

This is viral horror with an organic purity and a cinematic distinction to it, and in its own bloody, diseased way, it's a thing of beauty.

Full Review | Sep 8, 2023

Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan continues this legacy of the genre from which it draws its premise, while providing plenty of unspoiled flesh for a ravenous audience to sink their teeth into.

Full Review | Aug 1, 2023

"Train to Busan" does a great job at depicting how people deal with death during unthinkable times. When your loved one is infected and your only option is to perish with them or kill them so that you (and others) can survive, what would you do?

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 26, 2023

Train to Busan is arguably the best zombie apocalypse movie of all-time. The subgenre finds in Yeon Sang-ho's mind-blowing flick the masterpiece it deserves. I can't find a single flaw. It left me emotionally drained.

Full Review | Original Score: A+ | Jul 24, 2023

Yeon Sang-ho concocts something here that is uniquely gripping and emotional. By its finale, Train to Busan becomes an entry into the zombie entourage that is compelling and full of nonstop action sure to bring your blood pressure up.

Full Review | Oct 4, 2022

Its good characters, deeper themes, and impeccable execution helps it to defy any dismissive genre perceptions some folks may have.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 27, 2022

I would say the hardest part of horror is to make the audience feel empathy. A good horror story only feels horrifying if you feel it's being done to someone you care about. And that's exactly what this movie does well. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Jun 22, 2022

Train to Busan defies the notion that all has been said and done when it comes to zombies.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 5, 2022

...a cleverly concentrated shot of zombie terror.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 10, 2022

...a top-notch zombie flick...

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 27, 2021

Writer-director Sang-ho Yeon's smashing together of the disaster movie genre with modern running zombies -- and all the frantic, breathless action they bring with them -- makes Train to Busan a treat for fans of both genres.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 17, 2021

The sound design just took it that whole extra level.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Apr 28, 2021

Although it's predominantly horror, many of the concepts wisely double as opportunities to comment on the government's inability to handle widespread predicaments.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 5, 2020

...one of the best zombie films ever...

Full Review | Aug 7, 2020

It could not be done better. They pulled no punches with this movie.

Full Review | Original Score: A+ | Jul 16, 2020

Train to Busan doesn't blaze any new trails, but it transcends the tricks and tropes of a genre that so often feels it has nothing more to offer.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jul 2, 2020

In the narration of the zombie apocalypse express there is speed, fun and exciting sequences. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 27, 2020

During the harrowing ordeal, you're hunkered down with a likable group of survivors who jump resourcefully from one trap to the next, with the real monsters being the executive types...

Full Review | Jun 11, 2020

Train to Busan is one of the coolest, freakiest and most terrifying works slowly making its way across the country.

Full Review | Apr 30, 2020

[T]his South Korean thrill-ride feels fresh -- not because it does anything new, but because it greases the wheels of the old machine so well, delivering an unending series of emotional gut-punches at a breakneck pace.

Full Review | Apr 15, 2020

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Train to Busan review – a nonstop zombie thrill ride

Social satire competes with melodrama and gore into this frenetic South Korean horror movie about a rail-borne plague

T his rip-roaring, record-breaking South Korean zombies-on-a-train romp barrels along like a runaway locomotive – The Railing Dead. Owing as much to Bong Joon-ho (director of creature-feature hit The Host ) as to George A Romero , Yeon Sang-ho’s breathless cinematic bullet train boasts frantic physical action, sharp social satire and ripe sentimental melodrama designed to reach into your ribcage and rip out your bleeding heart. Faster on its feet than 2004’s Dawn of the Dead remake, wittier than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and more thrillingly spectacular than World War Z , Train to Busan joins The Girl With All the Gifts in breathing new life into a genre that simply refuses to lie down and die.

We open with a truck driving through a biochemical quarantine zone (“tiny leak, my arse”) and hitting a deer that promptly springs back to life with milky malice in its eyes. Meanwhile, divorced fund manager Seok-woo (Gong Yoo) scans news reports of “Mysterious Fish Death”. He is too tied up with a big business deal to attend his daughter’s singing recital, while all young Su-an (Kim Su-an) wants for her birthday is to visit her mother in Busan, a request to which Seok-woo grudgingly accedes. But as father and daughter board the high-speed KTX train from Seoul to Busan, so too does a wildfire plague that will give new meaning to the phrase “passenger disturbance”.

Moving nimbly from the confrontational animation of The King of Pigs and The Fake to the more mainstream live action of Train to Busan , Yeon retains a sharp graphic sensibility that pays snappy dividends. A platform attack eerily glimpsed from the window of a departing train gives a shiversome taste of what’s to come, alongside a homeless man’s traumatised declaration that they’re “all dead, everyone’s dead” (“Hey kid,” Su-an is told, “if you don’t study hard, you’ll end up like him!”). Before you can say Snowpiercer meets 28 Days Later , a thundering tide of flesh-eaters is pouring through the aisles, over the seats and down the corridors, a necrotising, limb-cracking wave of contorting, gnarly nastiness.

“At a time like this, you only look out for yourself,” Seok-woo tells Su-an when she gives up her seat, reinforcing her belief that “you only care about yourself – that’s why Mum left”. It’s no surprise that, as the ensuing carnage escalates, this failing father will be forced to reassess his insular view of the world, but as with all the film’s disaster movie tropes, familiarity does not detract from the fun. Indeed, there’s an impressive efficiency to the introduction of disparate characters through Airport -style thumbnail sketches (the bullish, blue-collar husband and his pregnant wife, the young baseball player and the cheerleader etc), all facing broad-strokes life-lessons that may or may not see each of them through to the final reel.

As with Yeon’s previous work, a healthy distrust of authority underpins the action, a theme amplified here in the wake of the 2015 Mers outbreak . “Fellow citizens, please refrain from responding to baseless rumours,” burbles an authoritarian voice on TV, even as social media is awash with apocalyptic images of bodies falling from the skies and bloodshed on the streets. “We must stay calm and trust the government. We believe that your safety is not in jeopardy!” Crucially, the virulence of this outbreak is clearly equated with poisonous traits already embedded in society, with Seok-woo being pointedly described as “a bloodsucker” who “leeches off others” even as zombies sink their teeth into passengers.

When reports of rioting hit the onboard TVs, someone sneers that “in the old days, they’d be re-educated”. Later, a selfish mob who bar their doors against our ragtag band of heroes seem indistinguishable from the ravenous hordes eating their way through the train, with Yeon playfully conjuring mirror images of horror crushed up against the opaque glass.

Kim Eui-sung is in splendidly hissable form as the snotty executive who becomes the embodiment of first-class fiendishness, while Lee Hyung-deok’s agile camerawork and Yang Jin-mo’s dextrous editing crank up the ferocious pace as the undead swarm like insects up escalators and along tracks. Jang Young-gyu’s music alternates from squishy stabs and honking alarums to more lyrical piano tinklings, with scenes of carnage often offset by stirring melancholy melodies that emphasise heartbreak over horror.

Those looking for more back story may seek out Yeon’s animated scene-setter Seoul Station , but you don’t need a primer to be swept up in the torrential momentum of Train to Busan ’s non-stop thrill ride.

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Train to busan, common sense media reviewers.

South Korean zombie action film is intense, bloody, violent.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Teamwork, courage, compassion, and communication a

Seok-woo is a busy fund manager who is separated f

Intense scenes of zombie horror throughout. The ac

Some flirting between teens.

Infrequent language includes "arse," "s--t," "bull

Visible brands include Burger King, Audi, and Nint

Parents need to know that Train to Busan is an excellent South Korean zombie horror -- with English subtitles -- that features frantic, bloody violence, and intense scenes in enclosed spaces. Despite the intensity it is more of a fun action movie than a chilling horror. Zombies kill many people and they in…

Positive Messages

Teamwork, courage, compassion, and communication are all shown to help in desperate situations.

Positive Role Models

Seok-woo is a busy fund manager who is separated from his wife and has been missing key events in his daughter's life. He accompanies his daughter, Su-an, on a train journey to see her mom for Su-an's birthday. When the train is overrun with zombies, he teams up with other characters who risk their lives to save others and have smart solutions to problems. Su-an is thoughtful and kind. The train conductor is diligent, dedicated, thoughtful, and resourceful. One character causes the deaths of others to save himself.

Violence & Scariness

Intense scenes of zombie horror throughout. The action is frantic and often features blood and gore. A burning train crashes and people fall from a helicopter. Buildings explode. Zombies are attacked with baseball bats. Hordes of zombies rampage through cities and attack people.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Infrequent language includes "arse," "s--t," "bulls--t," "pissing," "a--hole," "bitch," and "hell." "Jesus" is used as an exclamation.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Visible brands include Burger King, Audi, and Nintendo. A kid is given a Nintendo Wii and a DS, and a DS poster also features.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Train to Busan is an excellent South Korean zombie horror -- with English subtitles -- that features frantic, bloody violence, and intense scenes in enclosed spaces. Despite the intensity it is more of a fun action movie than a chilling horror. Zombies kill many people and they in turn instantly become zombies. The movie features scenes of civil unrest, a train crash, and people falling from helicopters. Most characters are courageous and resourceful. Teamwork, courage, compassion, and communication help train passengers under siege from zombies to get out of desperate situations. A father, Seok-woo (Gong Yoo), takes care of his daughter, Su-an (Su-an Kim), and forms a group with survivors to help others escape. One character lets others die to save himself. Infrequent strong language includes "bulls--t," "bitch," and "arse." A few brands feature in the movie, including Burger King, Audi, and Nintendo. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (7)
• Kids say (14)

Based on 7 parent reviews

A tense train ride!

I love how good the zombies looked and also it was really sad and made me cry also was really cool

What's the Story?

In TRAIN TO BUSAN, a father and daughter's journey is disrupted when a zombie outbreak occurs on their train and they are forced to fight back.

Is It Any Good?

The zombie genre is so well worn, anything fresh to sink your teeth into is always darkly delicious. As such, writer-director Sang-ho Yeon's smashing together of the disaster movie genre with modern running zombies -- and all the frantic, breathless action they bring with them -- makes Train to Busan a treat for fans of both genres. Here a diverse group of people are brought together to fend off zombies on a very narrow train. This includes Seok-woo (Gong Yoo) and his young daughter, Su-an (a brilliant Su-an Kim). Throwing a kid in the mix adds heft to the drama, as does pregnant character, Seong-kyeong ( Yu-mi Jung ). When key events kick off midway, the realization that you've grown to care for the main gang serves to up the emotional investment as the action continues to escalate.

Setting it apart from most horror movies, nearly all the action in Train to Busan takes place in daylight, adding an eerie, mundane quality. The sleepy train carriages are easily recognizable until the blood baths occur. Masterful touches such as having a baseball team onboard to add a believable reason for the survivors to have access to weapons is simply a delight. More an action thrill ride than a chilling horror, this is a refreshing and exhilarating movie that packs a few emotional punches alongside its blood-soaked action.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Train to Busan 's violence . Did the blood and gore seem over the top? Was it shocking or thrilling? Why? Does exposure to violent media desensitize kids to violence?

How did this movie compare to other zombie films? Was it more or less intense? What's the appeal of zombie movies in general?

Discuss the father-daughter relationship between Seok-woo and Su-an. How did it change throughout the course of the movie?

Movie Details

• In theaters : July 22, 2016
• On DVD or streaming : December 6, 2016
• Cast : Gong Yoo , Su-an Kim , Jung Yu-mi
• Director : Sang-ho Yeon
• Inclusion Information : Asian actors
• Studio : Well Go USA Entertainment
• Genre : Horror
• Topics : Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires , Trains
• Character Strengths : Communication , Compassion , Courage , Teamwork
• Run time : 118 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : February 25, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Seoul Station Streaming: Watch & Stream Online via Amazon Prime Video

By Disheeta Maheshwari

Seoul Station is an action horror film directed and written by Yeon Sang-ho. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the film follows a runaway girl, her estranged father, and her boyfriend as they navigate a harrowing zombie apocalypse. The film originally premiered on August 18, 2016, and serves as the prequel to the Train to Busan film series. 

Here’s how you can watch and stream Seoul Station via streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video.

Is Seoul Station available to watch via streaming?

Yes, Seoul Station is available to watch via streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Set against a zombie outbreak in post-apocalyptic Seoul, the film follows Hye-sun, a young woman who escaped her past life in a brothel and now lives with her boyfriend, Ki-woong. Financial pressures drive Ki-woong to suggest pimping Hye-sun out again, leading to a heated argument and their separation. Meanwhile, Hye-sun’s father, Suk-gyu, searches for his daughter. As the zombie outbreak spreads across the city, the three must navigate the chaos and danger to survive and reunite.

Suh Youngjoo, Lee Dong-ha, and Yeon Sang-ho are the producers of this film. It is edited by Lee Yeon-jung and Yeon Sang-ho.

The main cast members of the Seoul Station include Shim Eun-kyung as Hye-sun, Ryu Seung-ryong as Suk-gyu, and Lee Joon as Ki-woong among others.

Watch Seoul Station streaming via Amazon Prime Video

Seoul Station is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.

Amazon Prime Video is a subscription based streaming service that was founded in 2007. It is available in most of the countries across the world.   

You can watch via Amazon Prime Video by following these steps:

• Go to  Amazon Prime Video
• Select ‘Sign in’ and ‘Create your Amazon account’
• $14.99 per month or $139 per year with an Amazon Prime membership
• $8.99 per month for a standalone Prime Video membership

Amazon Prime is the online retailer’s paid service that provides fast shipping and exclusive sales on products, so the membership that includes both this service and Prime Video is the company’s most popular offering. However, you can also opt to subscribe to Prime Video separately.

Seoul Station synopsis is as follows:

“In this animated prequel to “Train to Busan,” a group of survivors deals with a zombie pandemic that unleashes itself in downtown Seoul.”

NOTE: The streaming services listed above are subject to change. The information provided was correct at the time of writing.

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Disheeta is an SEO Contributing Writer for ComingSoon, addicted to movies, coffee, traveling, and making the internet a more entertaining place.

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