Train to Busan

"Life-or-death survival begins."

2016 1h 58m KO

🙌

7.8

BANGER

🔥

95%

CERTIFIED FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.6

IMDB

★7.8TMDB · 8,824🍅95%Rotten Tomatoes●73Metacritic★7.6IMDB · 300,921

ActionHorrorThrillerAdventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When a zombie virus pushes Korea into a state of emergency, those trapped on an express train to Busan must fight for their own survival.

“Life-or-death survival begins.”

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Cast

Gong Yoo
Seok-woo
Kim Su-an
Soo-ahn
Jung Yu-mi
Sung-gyeong
Don Lee
Sang-hwa
Choi Woo-shik
Yeong-gook
An So-hee
Jin-hee
Kim Eui-sung
Yong-suk
Ye Su-jeong
In-gil

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Writers: Park Joo-suk
Languages: Korean
Countries: South Korea

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $88M — a 10.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 10 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Train to Busan Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Yeon Sang-ho, shot by Lee Hyung-deok. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Jang Young-gyu. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Yang Jin-mo shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Gong Yoo and Kim Su-an and Jung Yu-mi carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Life-or-death survival begins.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Yeon Sang-ho directs. Lee Hyung-deok behind the camera. Jang Young-gyu scores. Yang Jin-mo cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in South Korea. Dialogue in Korean.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Grossed $88M — a 10.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
2Released 10 years ago.
3Part of the "Train to Busan Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Yeon Sang-ho, shot by Lee Hyung-deok. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Jang Young-gyu. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Yang Jin-mo shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Gong Yoo and Kim Su-an and Jung Yu-mi carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Life-or-death survival begins.".
9IMDB entry: tt5700672 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Released under 29 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Lee Hyung-deok
Original score: Jang Young-gyu
Editing: Yang Jin-mo
Production design: Lee Mok-won
Costume design: Rim Seung-hee
Makeup / hair: Lee Hee-eun
VFX supervisor: Jung Hwang-soo
Sound: Gang Hye-yeong
Runtime: 118 min · 1h 58m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $8,500,000
Box office: $87,547,518
Return: 1030% of budget
Original language: KO
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Train to Busan (2016)
Rotten Tomatoes: 95% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 73/100
IMDB rating: 7.6/10 · 300,921 votes
MPAA: Not Rated

Awards

36 wins & 42 nominations total

Part of

Train to Busan Collection

Director Yeon Sang-ho's series to Busan

Also by

Yeon Sang-ho

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Reno2017-01-24
★ 8/10
Horror express. A week ago I saw a zombie film from Japan called 'I Am a Hero' and now this Korean. I have not seen a quality zombie film at the recent time. The second tier films like 'Cooties', 'Freaks of Nature', 'Scouts Guide...', all these were comedies. Probably 'World War Z' was the last decent zombie film I have seen and after that this is the one. So the timing of the film was another advantage. Since there's no competition, this zombie film rules. And not to forget the Korean style, they are among the best thriller film makers today. Directed by an Anime filmmaker, this is his first live-action film. When I decided to watch it, I thought it would be another Korean film, which rely on father-daughter sentiments. You know I kind of tired of that Korean cliché where at the final stage they let the kid sob and call it a twist. Initially I enjoyed those and later on getting bored of that. With that kind of reasons, I would have missed it. Being a film fanatic, I won't mind to risk a watch, except give up writing a review for it. But in this case, it was completely different. Even the characters, any characters in the film, either in the lead or the supporting ones, all are unpredictable. That's the biggest plus point of the film. At the end you won't be sure, who you were rooting for. You know in those edgy scenes, we blindly back the one we like. You will think you can guess the upcoming scenes, but the writing was very smartly done. Feels like they did not care about a sequel, if this meets a greater success. But who knows, this is a cinema and there were many mysteries kept unsolved, so they can pick up from one of those loops. "Whatever you do, you must finish what you start. It's worse than not doing it at all." This is the story of a divorced, workaholic father and his young daughter. After the progress, many others join them. On her birthday, they decide to visit her mother in Busan. On their train, soon after it took off, they come to know that something is wrong around. With all the chaos unrolling rapidly, a group of survivours gathers in a car since there's no escape as they are trapped in a moving train. How their journey ends, whether they reach a safe place with the fight against the living dead, the narration comes to halt. In the contest of good versus evil, there's no place for sentiments. But at one stage, near the end they cleared the place to attach one. In that final scene you can't resist, even if you are not an emotional person when it comes to the film. As I mentioned earlier that is the part I feared the most would come, but i did not hate it in the context of story development. Because that was a perfect setting to take the story to the next level. There are several twists. Those are from the film characters' perspective than the story wise. They did not bother to tell about the cause of the epidemic. Instead, this film was focused on the train passengers and their fight for survival when the defending options are limited. Just imagine it is a zombie version of another Korean film 'Snowpiercer' or like 'Snakes on a Plane'. I have heard there's another film, an animation which is also directed by the same filmmaker and said to be a prequel to this one. If you had liked it, you would be itching to watch that one as well. Hope I would watch it as soon as I get an opportunity. So, my view on it, the film is very good. It was close to two hours long, but once the train journey begins, you won't going to notice the time. I am saying the pace of the film, as well as the events make you dissolve in it completely and forget everything else. This is the best zombie film right now and you should not miss it, especially if you like this theme. Recommended! 8/10
Gimly2018-10-08
★ 7/10
With a couple of the zombie movies I've watched recently, I've found myself able to go so far in my reviews as to credit the films for some modicum of surprise originality, alongside a rating of four of five out of ten. But it has been years since I've been able to say that I saw a zombie movie I genuinely and wholeheartedly enjoyed. Or I should say, it had been years, right up until last night when I saw Train to Busan. Final rating:★★★½ - I really liked it. Would strongly recommend you give it your time.
Kamurai2020-07-27
★ 9/10
Fantastic watch, will watch again, and can definitely recommend for those looking for a new zombie movie to watch. This one really had me yelling at the screen: I was heavily invested....until I was basically emotionally exhausted. I don't think I reacted quite how the director wanted me to react during that last act. This is a fascinating premise. A zombie outbreak that leaks onto a train (with just one infected), and these are "World War Z" running, 15 seconds to turn (usually) zombies. I'm staunchly against running zombies, but when you do something well, it is really hard to discredit you for it. There is one aspect that is truly odd for zombies, but it would be quite the spoiler, it's basically the 3rd act (out of 4). The writing structure feels very different, it doesn't seem to adhere to a 3 act staple: it really feels like 4 acts broken into chapters (or levels similar to a video game) and as whichever characters survive the transfer from chapter to chapter, the story progresses. There is clearly though pre-infection establishing act, post infection establishing act, confrontation act, and resolution act. Once you get past the first act, it's pretty much non-stop action, by the by. The one frustrating part about this movie is that most of the characters seem to have a death wish: despite trying to stay alive, they all seem to want to die. I understand that a story can't happen without flawed characters, but the things these people do are so remarkably stupid sometimes that the zombies become more believable at times. It does allow for some of the more amazing scenes though, so it might be somewhat forgiveable. This movie is honestly so good, I really feel like I'm reaching on any of the complaints.