Train to Busan (Busanhaeng) (2016)
93%RT Audience Score: 89%
Awards & Nominations: 35 wins & 39 nominations
Train to Busan delivers a thrillingly unique — and purely entertaining — take on the zombie genre, with fully realized characters and plenty of social commentary to underscore the bursts of skillfully staged action.
Train to Busan is the perfect movie for anyone who loves a good zombie flick. It’s got everything you could want: action, emotion, and of course, zombies. Director Yeon Sang-ho does an amazing job of creating a world that feels both claustrophobic and expansive at the same time. And the sound design? Don’t even get me started. It’s so good, it’ll make you feel like you’re right there on the train with the characters. If you’re looking for a movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish, look no further than Train to Busan.
Production Company(ies)
Shochiku
Distributor
Well Go USA
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Daejeon Station, Daejeon, South Korea
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
2016
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 58m
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Language(s):Korean, Hawaiian, English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jul 22, 2016 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 17, 2017
Genre(s)
Horror/Action
Keyword(s)
Horror, Action, South Korea, Train, Zombie outbreak, Gong Yoo, Ma Dong-seok, Choi Woo-sik, Kim Eui-sung, Kim Soo-ahn, Ye Soo-jung, Yeon Sang-ho, Lee Dong-ha, Written by Yeon Sang-ho, Box office, $2.1M, Reviewed by Chris Stuckmann, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Matthew Lickona, Tara Brady, Charles Bramesco, Kristy Puchko, Victor Pineyro, Brian Eggert, Josh Larsen, David Nusair, MPAA rating, Well Go USA, Stereo, Dolby Digital, Flat (1.85:1)
Worldwide gross: $92,764,199
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $114,331,742
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 954
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 12,468,020
US/Canada gross: $2,129,768
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $2,624,936
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,972
US/Canada opening weekend: $284,776
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $350,986
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,487
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): ?10,000,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Ma Dong-seok – Sang Hwa
Choi Woo-sik – Young Gook
Kim Eui-sung – Yon-suk
Kim Soo-ahn – Soo-an
Ye Soo-jung – Ingil
Director(s)
Yeon Sang-ho
Writer(s)
Yeon Sang-ho
Producer(s)
Lee Dong-ha
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
35 wins & 39 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (123) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (116) | Rotten (7)
It could not be done better. They pulled no punches with this movie.
July 16, 2020 | Rating: A+
Chris Stuckmann
ChrisStuckmann.com
TOP CRITIC
Train to Busan is horror as it should be: intelligent, fun, and celebrating life with every mad twist and new take on death that it can find.
August 25, 2018
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
The Blue Lenses
TOP CRITIC
Director Yeon Sang-ho makes smart use of the cramped quarters, and while it’s true that his zombies’ abilities tend to vary according to the requirements of the moment, it’s easy to overlook amid the onslaught of action and emotion.
January 6, 2017 | Rating: 3/5
Matthew Lickona
San Diego Reader
TOP CRITIC
As with Romero’s still-peerless original, Train to Busan infects its zombie DNA with a keen social and political awareness.
December 2, 2016 | Rating: 4/5
Tara Brady
Irish Times
TOP CRITIC
A zombie movie content not to aspire to any loftier subtextual readings needs little more than a skilled choreographer of action, and there’s plenty of evidence that this film had one in Yeon.
December 1, 2016
Charles Bramesco
AV Club
TOP CRITIC
Train to Busan is an intense and intimate thrill ride that plays like Snakes on a Plane meets 28 Days Later.
November 4, 2016
Kristy Puchko
Nerdist
TOP CRITIC
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]
June 22, 2022 | Rating: 8/10
Victor Pineyro
Seventh Art Studio
Train to Busan defies the notion that all has been said and done when it comes to zombies.
April 5, 2022 | Rating: 3.5/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
…a cleverly concentrated shot of zombie terror.
February 10, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Josh Larsen
LarsenOnFilm
…a top-notch zombie flick…
October 27, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
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.
September 17, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Tom Cassidy
Common Sense Media
The sound design just took it that whole extra level.
April 28, 2021 | Rating: 8/10
Emma Wolfe
SpookyAstronauts…
Plot
Sok-woo, a father with not much time for his daughter, Soo-ahn, are boarding the KTX, a fast train that shall bring them from Seoul to Busan. But during their journey, the apocalypse begins, and most of the earth’s population become flesh craving zombies. While the KTX is shooting towards Busan, the passenger’s fight for their families and lives against the zombies – and each other.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
There is no goofy or funny or odd comment about the film Train to Busan on Fresh Kernels.
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