Train to Busan

All the news, gossip and information about FrightFest 2016
jonbly
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Train to Busan

Post by jonbly »

10/10 - Awesome.
hemi777
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Re: Train to Busan

Post by hemi777 »

The best Zombie horror movie and fitting end to frightfest 2016..
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Re: Train to Busan

Post by djwoody »

Amazing- best film of the weekend
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Re: Train to Busan

Post by scarebear »

BOOOOM - Had to wait all weekend for this, and boy it didnt dissapoint.

Can see why its been such a success over there, it has everyting. Including the Maddest Zombies ive seen.

Absouletly Brilliant.
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Re: Train to Busan

Post by The Soapmaker »

Last film on the Monday night is always a bit of an unknown quantity, sometimes it's the best film of the weekend, sometimes it's something mainstream and formulaic just to wrap things up and get us out of there.

This was definitely the former. I wasn't sure about the director's filmed intro (cheery chap, wasn't he, sorry we had to take him away from his barbecue for two minutes) but as soon as that run-over deer came back to life I knew this would be a winner. Great tension, the usual Asian-movie disregard for life and limb in the stunt scenes, all the standard disaster-movie leading characters, everything just worked very well indeed (although I was a little disappointed by the lack of head-shots and crushed skulls, I guess that was a conscious choice). They saved the best till last, for sure.

I have to say though, the train to Busan full of zombies wasn't enough to prepare me for the horrors of the Central Line full of Notting Hill Carnival survivors...
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Re: Train to Busan

Post by The Aylmer »

Fantastic way to close this years Frightfest with some fabulous set pieces. Loved the shots of rabid zombies falling through windows and out of train carriages en masse and the movie had arguably the most hissable viillain of the whole festival (although I'd say Richard Brake's articulate Doom-Head from 31 was the most memorable). My only complaint is the bad guy didn't have a more spectacular death so we could have a proper cheer at his inevitable demise. He certainly deserved it. Gret movie though. 9/10.
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Re: Train to Busan

Post by sherbetbizarre »

The Soapmaker wrote:I wasn't sure about the director's filmed intro (cheery chap, wasn't he, sorry we had to take him away from his barbecue for two minutes)
I liked the fact despite making one of the biggest Korean hits ever, he makes us a DIY intro with what sounds like his wife doing the washing up in the background! :D :D
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Re: Train to Busan

Post by Alex J »

Certainly non-stop with plenty of action and some likeable characters built around a story with heart.

Those looking for a horrifying zombie movie won't find it here though, as fear and gore are in relatively short supply given the amount of action.
Spoiler:
I wondered whether the ending would have been more impactful had the bleaker option been chosen?
In terms of zombie action flicks then I still prefer a number of others, e.g. some of Romero's, 28 Days Later, Rec etc. 8 / 10
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
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Re: Train to Busan

Post by Veganluke »

Thought it was absolutely fantastic and a perfect way to close the festival!
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Re: Train to Busan

Post by jerichodark »

Loved this film, best of the festival and best horror film of the last year. Amazing stunt work and choreography and the cries of the little girl at the end were genuinely affecting. Amazing.
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Re: Train to Busan

Post by The Aylmer »

The Soapmaker wrote:I have to say though, the train to Busan full of zombies wasn't enough to prepare me for the horrors of the Central Line full of Notting Hill Carnival survivors...
Tell me about it. I drove to Frightfest each day (at £6 a pop for parking it was far cheaper than the West End's £35 a day!). After Train To Busan a bunch of us had a farewell drink in the bar then I offered to give a couple of them a lift back into the west end where their hotel was as, by the time we left, there were no more trains (they'd already booked the accommodation before the move to Shepherds Bush had been announced). Alas I took a wrong turn (bloody satnav) and ended up in a queue of non moving traffic slap bang in the middle on Notting Hill with wasted revellers and cops on all sides. When Kev in the back seat announced he couldn't wait any longer and he needed a wee I let him out and the rest of us were treated to the sight of a desperate man running through the zombie/police lined streets looking for a safe port of call and being denied at every turn. A bit like the movie, if he didn't find somewhere in time there was no way I was letting him back into the safety of my car.
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Re: Train to Busan

Post by ChrisReynolds »

The best film of the festival by miles and better than anything at Frightfest for the past couple of years. The action is stunning, rising and falling with masterful precision and with some remarkable set pieces that get as much mileage as possible from the "zombies on train" concept. Even with all the chaos and running about, it's always clear where the characters are and what they're doing. The script's ramping up of the threat with a series of increasingly deadly obstacles is skilfully done and the some of the twists and turns in fortune the film throws up are highly effective, although not entirely unexpected. The most interesting thing about it is the use of zombies as a metaphor for selfishness. Zombies are always at their most effective when they function as an allegory for some human weakness, and using them to comment on selfishness was a unique concept that will make this film memorable.

The film only puts a foot wrong at the end, where it piles on too much sentimentality
Spoiler:
(it's inherently moving to see a father sacrifice himself for his daughter, having a montage of happy memories and glowing shots of babies ruins the moment. I agree a bleaker or even ambiguous moment would have worked better for an end: having the girl's train heading away into the distance towards an uncertain future with the possibility of hope would have been more effective)
and the climactic highs of the action die away. I don't think these problems stop this being one of the great horror movies, but they're enough to prevent it being the film of the year or best film ever as some people were saying.

Coming soon: the British remake where the characters just stand on the platform for two hours before an announcement that all trains are cancelled because of the wrong type of zombies on the tracks and alternative transport must be used. To be titled "Bus to Three Bridges."
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Re: Train to Busan

Post by FranksWildYears »

My favourite too. I would have liked the bad guy to get a nastier end and there was a moment of misplaced excitement when the good guys entered a carriage at stage left where I thought we were in for a homage to the corridor scene in Oldboy, but even without these happening I thought it was just jawdroppingly spectacular. I had friends texting afterwards to ask what it was like after and I hope it's as huge a hit as it deserves to be. I'll definitely be seeing it again.
The Soapmaker wrote: I wasn't sure about the director's filmed intro (cheery chap, wasn't he, sorry we had to take him away from his barbecue for two minutes)
I suspect that'sjust a culture clash. Body language differs in other countries and Koreans don't smile to indicate happiness or friendliness (instead it usually means somebody has been shallow or thoughtless) and in China it's different again and smiling is for nervousness or embarrassment. Hence the stony-faced families often seen posing for pictures in front of the London Eye, Buckingham Palace and suchlike :).

I also found there was terrifically funny bits, especially in the dialogue. A 9.5 out of 10 from me.
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Re: Train to Busan

Post by killer guinea pigs »

aweaome film only wish the rest of the fest was as good as this.........hollywood remake will not doubt we on the way

9/10
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Re: Train to Busan

Post by soberdave72@hotmail.com »

A Tremendous end to the festival. Best Zombie film since Romero's Dawn Of The Dead, and also one of the most emotional films I have seen in a long long, time. The pacing was just outstanding, with characters you really care about. 10/10
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