Train to Busan

A chemical leak at a biotech plant causes the start of a zombie apocalypse that slowly spreads across South Korea.

Fund manager Seo Seok-woo is a cynical workaholic and divorced father. His daughter Su-an wants to spend her birthday with her mother Na-young in Busan. After being overcome with guilt after watching a video of Su-an suffering from stage fright while singing "Aloha 'Oe" at a recital due to his absence, he decides to take her to Busan via an early KTX 101 from Seoul Station. Other passengers include working-class man Yoon Sang-hwa and his pregnant wife Seong-kyeong; selfish COO Yon-suk; a high school baseball team, including baseball player Min Yong-guk and team cheerleader Kim Jin-hee; elderly sisters In-gil and Jong-gil; and a homeless stowaway.

As the train departs, signs of chaos from the infection reach the station, and an infected woman runs inside, unnoticed, just before the doors close. She soon turns into a zombie, attacks an attendant, and many crew and passengers are quickly turned into zombies. The remaining passengers quickly secure themselves in the front and rear cars, observing that the infected zombies only attack if they can see them or hear them nor can operate the train's doors. They learn from news reports of the rapidly-spreading epidemic across the country, and Seok-woo discovers the biotech plant was connected to his business. He uses his connections to try to secure safe travels for Su-an and himself.

The train stops at Daejeon Station, supposedly secured by the South Korean Army. The passengers disembark into an a vacant station, but soon find the soldiers have become zombies, who quickly charge the group. 24 passengers are attacked and killed as they race back to the train, while most of the surviving ones safely board the front cars. Su-an, Seong-kyeong, In-gil, and the homeless man find themselves between two cars of zombies and quickly take shelter in the restrooms. Seok-woo, Yong-guk, Sang-hwa and two of Yong-guk's three surviving classmates, having stayed back to provide cover, race to board the moving train (though sadly, Yong-guk's friends were killed and infected during the escape) and end up in the back cars. The operator drives the train to Busan learning it has been established as a quarantine zone.

Learning of their trapped loved ones, Seok-woo's group uses the darkness of tunnels along the route to cross through the zombie-filled cars and rescue them. The group continues moving towards the safe front cars. They inadvertently alert the zombies in the last car before the safe one. Seok-woo and Sang-hwa stay back to hold the doors closed while the others escape, but Yon-suk has convinced the other passengers that they are potentially infected and they should not help. Sang-hwa sacrifices himself to give Seok-woo time to get the others to safety. In-gil is too slow and is caught by the zombies to Jong-gil's horror.

Yon-suk leads the other passengers in the front cars to force Seok-woo's group into a closed vestibule, believing them infected. Jong-gil, shaken by the passengers' selfishness, lets the zombies into the front car, killing most of them, though Yon-suk manages to escape into a restroom. The train is forced to stop near East Daegu train station due to a blocked track, forcing the survivors to seek a new train. Yon-suk, in his escape, pushes Jin-hee and the train captain and attendant into a pack of zombies; Yong-guk stays with Jin-hee until she dies and kills him. An out-of-control train causes a derailment, trapping Seok-woo, Su-an, Seong-kyeong, and the homeless man under a train car. The homeless man holds back a zombie horde while the others escape out a small hole and find a working locomotive. As they head toward Busan, a zombiefied Yon-suk attacks Seok-woo and bites him before Seok-woo can throw him from the engine. Knowing he will turn, he quickly teaches Seong-kyeong how to operate the train and says his goodbyes to Su-an before throwing himself off the engine.

Seong-kyeong and Su-an are forced to stop at a blocked tunnel just before Busan and walk. At the tunnel's exit, military snipers prepare to fire on them until they hear Su-an's singing of "Aloha 'Oe", realize they are human, and quickly help the pair to safety.

American distributor Well Go USA released DVD and Blu-ray versions of Train to Busan on 17 January 2017.[37] FNC Add Culture released the Korean DVD and Blu-ray versions on 22 February 2017. It is also available on Rakuten Viki, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video streaming. The Indian version is a minute shorter than the original version due to a few violent zombie shots being censored.

An animated prequel, Seoul Station, also directed by Yeon, was released less than a month later.[38]

Peninsula, a follow-up film set four years after Train to Busan and also directed by Yeon, was released in South Korea in July 2020.[39] Yeon has stated that, "Peninsula is not a sequel to Train to Busan because it's not a continuation of the story, but it happens in the same universe."[40]

• Official website
• Train to Busan at the Korean Movie Database
• Train to Busan on IMDb
• Train to Busan at Rotten Tomatoes
• Train to Busan at Metacritic
• Train to Busan at HanCinema