They're the most unlikely of film stars. Yet zombies, the rotting, lurching undead with an insatiable craving for flesh and blood are tailor-made for movies. Be they solo or en masse in spectacular ravaging hoards, they've earned their place on the big screen with their own distinctive style of horror, one that's proved to be extraordinarily malleable and adaptable. Musicals, comedies, romances, you name it, they've all got their own zombie versions. Now they’re invading Netflix in style, courtesy of one of the best and most popular movies from the genre, Train To Busan (2016), which has been added on Tuesday, 11 February (UK fans can watch via ITVX or rent on Prime Video).
Regarded as the father of the "Hollywood zombie", George Romero put them firmly on our radar with the legendary Night Of The Living Dead (1968), giving audiences their first taste of the infected, flesh-craving monsters we're familiar with now. Less than twenty years later, the first South Korean zombie movie emerged, A Monstrous Corpse (1981) and, although it was an investigative drama rather than a blood-soaked horror, it was the foundation for movies that are perhaps now more immediately associated with filmmakers from the East than the West.
One of a handful of horrors to be shown at Cannes over the years, Yeong Sang-Ho's Train To Busan made its debut at a midnight screening in 2016, marking the start of its stampede to critical acclaim and international box office success. Made for just $8 million, it raked in over $92.7 million, picking up 36 awards around the world on the way. The premise was simple. A cynical workaholic father is taking his daughter to visit her mother but, unbeknown to them, a sick woman has boarded their train, changed into a zombie, attacked a guard and the virus is spreading ferociously. The father urgently tries to protect his little girl from the swarm of monsters overrunning the train, while other characters realize they were personally responsible for the outbreak.
More of an action film than an out-and-out horror, Train To Busan went a long way to cementing South Korea's popularity with filmgoers around the world. With unique characters, intense performances and relentless action, it also had a thought-provoking side, a satirical commentary on the class system that resonated with international audiences. The combination made the film an instant and huge hit, setting the standard for subsequent zombie movies, Korean and otherwise.
With a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes, it has since gone on to feature in just about any top twenty zombie movie list you care to name, usually in the first ten. Whittle that down to lists of the best ones from South Korea and it’s more often than not in pole position. And, while its filmmaking wasn’t wholly groundbreaking, it set the bar extremely high with its techniques and use of one of cinema’s biggest conventions — the speeding train.
The confined setting, with ravenous zombies smothering the corridors, gangways and carriages, ramped up the already nerve-tingling tension that went with the father trying to shield his daughter. It ticks every box for a thrilling high-speed horror adventure, one with lots of blood, gore, wonderfully revolting zombies and action all the way. It's a train that also runs on time, coming in at just below two hours, a running time that races by as people die left, right and centre.
Fans of the undead, as well as what has now become a franchise in its own right, are also in for a double whammy on 11 February, with Peninsula, Train To Busan's stand-alone 2020 follow-up arriving on Netflix in the US. This time, South Korea is already overrun by the zombie plague and a former soldier goes on a deadly mission to recover a truck full of money in the heart of the undead’s territory. The franchise's legions of followers can sink themselves into their two favorite zombie films, while first-timers can discover what makes the original in particular such a stand-out. It’s a win-win situation.
Train To Busan landed on Netflix in the US on Tuesday, 11 February 2025. It is available on ITVX and Prime Video in the UK.
Peninsula also arrived on Netflix in the US on Tuesday, February 11 2025. It is available on ITVX and Prime Video in the UK.
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