TRAIN TO BUSAN / TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS: PENINSULA
Directed by Yeon Sang-Ho.
Starring Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-Mi, Ma Dong-Seok, Gang Dong-Won, Lee Re, Koo Kyo-Hwan.
Horror, South Korea, 118 mins, Certificate 15.
Released on 4K UHD Blu-ray by Studio Canal on May 27th 2024
By 2016, we’d seemingly had it all. Fast zombies, “traditional” slow zombies, zombies on planes, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE with zombies, literal mobile phone zombies (CELL), “zomromcoms” never as good as SHAUN OF THE DEAD and, of course, POULTRYGEIST: NIGHT OF THE CHICKEN DEAD.
And yet, 2016 also gave us the “fast zombies on a train” film we didn’t know we needed. Even ardent fanciers of undead cinema could be forgiven for cynical thoughts about yet another trip to an over-exposed well, but Yeon Sang-ho’s TRAIN TO BUSAN was enough to make most of us feel born again. If you were lucky enough to see it on the big screen – and, better yet, at one of its rapturously received festival showings - you may recall what seemed to be a universal swell of sustained anxiety and emotion.
Sang-ho wasn’t just in it for the gimmick. Hitherto best known as the force behind a pair of impressive, personal, “grown-up” animated features (2011’s THE KING OF PIGS and 2013’s THE FAKE), he minimised the splashy gore gags, refused to fall back on numbing CG-dominated spectacle and crafted a moving, thrilling disaster movie around the carnage sparked by a “tiny leak” in a biotech district. Most importantly, in the form of workaholic hedge fund manager Seok-woo and his young, estranged daughter (travelling from Seoul Station to Busan to see her mother), he gave us people and a relationship to truly care about as potentially apocalyptic chaos exploded all around.
TRAIN was the film WORLD WAR Z might have been if it didn’t cost a fortune and had far less cooks in the filmmaking kitchen. It remains the benchmark for post-SHAUN 21st century zombie outbreak movies: we’ve had nastier fare like THE SADNESS and well-judged intimate pieces like IT STAINS THE SANDS RED, but no one has yet matched TRAIN’s combination of pulse-racing action and emotion – or That heart-stopping moment during the nail-gnawing climax.
Sang-ho’s animated prequel SEOUL STATION was in South Korean cinemas within three months of BUSAN’s debut and his live-action, MAD MAX-infused post-apocalyptic sequel PENINSULA, somewhat aptly premiering in late 2020 amidst a relentless barrage of Covid lockdowns and paranoia, delivered its own, largely successful combination of well-drawn characters and intense action set pieces. Adjust your expectations fairly and you’ll find a genuinely decent sequel.
Both films arrive on 4k from Studio Canal at a time when Sang-ho’s PARASYTE: THE GREY is streaming on Netflix and rumours abound of further TRAIN sequels and U.S. remakes. Shot on digital on a non-Hollywood budget, TRAIN looked good on Blu-ray (with some criticism around things like flesh tones on the living) but the 4k UHD transfer is terrific. You’ll appreciate the renewed colour and detail on the train itself, but when the action shifts away from the locomotive, the ravaged landscapes are stunning. PENINSULA is a visually darker and murkier picture, but still benefits from the visual upgrade, and both are equipped with potent Dolby Atmos audio options that will rattle your living room when all Hell breaks loose.
Extras are sadly sparse: less than an hour of generally shallow archival featurettes across the two discs. PENINSULA has short mini-docs about the sequel’s conception, action, director and characters, while TRAIN’s 20-minute behind the scenes feature has some fun footage – plus a truly alarming bit involving its juvenile lead.
Steven West
