Nightmare Fuel 2018: Day 19 – Train to Busan

Nineteen days in and we’re taking things international once again during Nightmare Fuel, jetting across the Pacific to return to South Korea.  (I know, I can hear SL Kim, too, but he’s just gonna haveta be patient.)  It’s been a minute since my last zombie flick, and even longer since my last zombie-action flick, so Train to Busan scratches a nice dual itch.

The stage is set in Seoul, where a fund manager is busy with business-y business, as the saying goes, resulting in some slightly unintended neglect toward his young daughter.  It’s her birthday this coming weekend, though, so he wants to do whatever will make her happy.  As it turns out, she wants to head down to Busan so that her mother can join in on the birthday celebration.  Divorce is a bitch, amiright?  Somewhat begrudgingly, our fund manager gives in, and the two head to the train station to begin their journey.  On the slightly crowded train, the daughter shows herself to be a much better human being than her selfish, gotta-get-yours father, giving up her seat to an elderly fellow passenger and just generally being a nice, polite little girl.  Takes after her mother, we find out.  But a late passenger jump-on turns everything sideways, as this particular passenger is infected (yeah, that sounds like a good word for what’s going on here) with something gnarly, causing bodily convulsions and unceasing fits of violence that tend to result in other people getting viciously bitten, spreading the infection along.  As you might expect, this unexpected passenger gets a little bitey and begins something of a chain reaction of zombie-fication that leaves much of the train a mess of blood and lunacy.  Our fund manager must fight to protect his daughter and somehow make it to Busan – which may actually be safe from the infection apparently spreading faster than wildfire outside – alive, soon to be helped by a baseball player, his cheerleader, and a pregnant couple.  Insert zombie-fighting shenanigans, all on a fast-moving train.  Oh, and there’s a subplot of sorts following an extreme version of the fund manager’s initial attitudes as he does his damnedest to try to ensure his survival, usually at the cost of everyone else.

Now, fittingly, we’re dealing with some fast-moving zombies here, so danger and tension are ramped throughout as our heroes constantly jump cars and dodge hordes of rampaging zombies.  The action is appropriately fast and hard, and there’s just the right amount of gore without things ever even considering going too far (take notes, Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl).  The acting is pretty solid across the board, and the camera only moves enough to get the point across, keeping everything sane and level in spite of the chaos aboard the train.  The script makes a very easy-to-follow and in no way unsubtle statement about popular morality that bends toward the utilitarian: ‘tis better to help out your fellow man and work toward the greater good of the group than to merely look out for only yourself.  Not a bad message, if you ask me, and it’s one that resounds all the louder during an emergency like a zombie apocalypse.

It’s this mix of positive messaging (complete with fable-style comeuppance for those who run counter to the message) and fast-paced action that elevates Train to Busan above other zombie flicks out there.  It’s definitely worth a watch if you’ve got a zombie itch to scratch.  (I’ve also recently heard that James Wan is set to direct an American remake.  I guess we’re not allowed anything fun if it’s from another country.  (You can’t see it, but I’m shaking my head in disappointment with the world.))