Best of Frightfest: ‘Train to Busan’ Dir. Yeon Sang-ho

Best of Frightfest: As the twentieth anniversary of Arrow Video Frightfest approaches, we at team THN take a look back at some of the best and brightest films that have screened over the last two decades. Frightfest 2016 closing film Train to Busan fills today’s selection.

While the zombie movie may seem a very overcrowded subgenre of horror, it is often responsible for some of the most iconic moments in horror, ones that manage to leave a bite mark on the subconscious of those brave enough to enter an outbreak. 

It’s easy to forge a metaphor out of the insatiable appetite of zombies, but some films can focus on that aspect a little too much and forget to deliver the thrills. It also works the other way too, with some films paying too much attention to the gore, without giving much of a thought to the human characters who find unwittingly find themselves on the menu of the undead. 

Train to Busan is one such zombie film that manages to find that perfect balance between brawn and brains, resulting in one of the most ferociously paced and purely entertaining zombie films of the last 20 years, and one that FrightFest fans were happy to chow down on following its premiere at Cannes 2016. 

The film follows divorced fund manager Seok-woo (Gong Yoo), whose work-life balance very much favours the former, leading him to largely neglect his only daughter, Su-an (Kim Su-an). When Su-an asks her Dad to take her to Busan to see her mother for her birthday, the two unwittingly board a train just as a virus of a zombifying nature hits the city. And, of course, there’s someone infected on the train. 

Taking elements of Hithcockian thrillers, namely settings and caricatures, and blending them with hyper-kinetic action, Yeon Sang-ho’s film delivers a zombie movie that is propelled on pure momentum and adrenaline, breathing a great deal of life into its zombie movie mould. With the masses of the undead imbued with a feral rage that makes them quicker than your Romero creations (we’re very much in 28 Days Later style of zombie here), the contained nature of the train cabins matched with this ferocity makes for a tremendously tense experience. 

Sang-ho constructs action scenes of a real intensity that has you squirming, cheering and shouting in shock and perverse satisfaction at seeing good guys triumph, and sinister, single-minded fools get the fate they deserve. It may be B-movie thrills, but this is a B-movie made with an exceptional level of craft, and with writing sharp enough to make the big scenes truly hit.  

This sense of involvement in the action comes down to Sang-ho’s playful use of archetypes aboard the train, with passengers coming from all walks of life. Joining Seok-woo and Su-an on their journey are a working-class couple expecting their first child (the husband of whom is a true stand out character with a terrifically tough performance from Ma Dong-seok), a young baseball star, a rich and callous COO, a delightfully cheery pair of elderly sisters and a homeless man who’s the first to get a hint of the coming madness. 

Having these archetypes allows us to easily align ourselves with characters that we want to see make it out alive, but more than that it allows for the film to play almost like a horror of manners, taking a shot at class structures and the prejudices that individuals from different class sectors can have for each other. It gives the film a level of personality and subtle moments of satire amongst the mayhem, as well as an efficient but nonetheless rich means of telling a story with characters worth rooting for, who just so happen to find themselves placed in the most extreme of situations. 

You don’t just have to take my word for it. Since its release three years ago, Train to Busan has been warmly received by fans and critics alike, becoming one of South Koreans most successful films in the process. Edgar Wright, a man who knows a thing or two about zombie movies, listed the film as one of his top 100 horror movies of all-time. Now, if that isn’t enough to convince those of you that missed the train the first time out to get aboard, I don’t know what will! 

Arrow Video Frightfest returns for its twentieth year on 22nd August 2019. Full details about the event can be found on the Frightfest website.