The film premiered in the Midnight Screenings section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on 13 May.[6][7][8][9] On 7 August, the film set a record as the first Korean film of 2016 to break the audience record of over 10 million theatergoers.[10][unreliable source?][11]
Fund manager Seok-woo is a cynical workaholic and divorced father. His estranged daughter Su-an wishes to spend her birthday with her mother Na-young in Busan. Seok-woo sees a video of Su-an attempting to sing "Aloha ʻOe" at her singing recital and succumbing to stage fright as a result of his absence. Overcome with guilt, he decides to grant Su-an's birthday wish. The next day, they board the KTX 101 at Seoul Station, bound for Busan. Other passengers include blue-collar worker Sang-hwa and his pregnant wife Seong-kyeong; COO Yon-suk; a high school baseball team including player Yong-guk and his cheerleader girlfriend Jin-hee; elderly sisters In-gil and Jong-gil; and a traumatized homeless stowaway hiding in the bathroom. Just before departure, an ill woman boards unnoticed, soon turning into a zombie and infecting a train attendant, sparking a rapid outbreak on the train.
The survivors flee to another car and secure the doors. News reports and phone calls confirm that an epidemic is spreading southward across the country. When the train stops at Daejeon Station, they find the city overrun by zombies and hastily retreat to the train, becoming separated into different cars in the chaos. Seok-woo learns from an employee that his company is indirectly responsible for the outbreak. The military establishes a quarantine zone near Busan, to which the conductor sets the train's course. Seok-woo, Sang-hwa, and Yong-guk fight through the zombie horde to reunite with Su-an, Seong-kyeong, In-gil, and the homeless man in another car. They struggle toward the front car, where the remaining passengers have taken shelter. Prompted by Yon-suk and train attendant Ki-chul, the passengers deny entry, fearing infection. Sang-hwa sacrifices himself to buy the others time to force open the door and enter, but In-gil is killed in the process.
Yon-suk, Ki-chul, and the passengers demand that the survivors isolate themselves in the front vestibule. However, Jong-gil, distraught over her sister's death and disgusted by the passengers, deliberately opens the door to allow the zombies to enter and kill the remaining passengers in the car. Yon-suk and Ki-chul escape by hiding in the bathroom.
A blocked track at the East Daegu Station forces the survivors to stop and search for another train. Yon-suk escapes after pushing Ki-chul into the zombies. A flaming locomotive derails, separating the group and trapping Seok-woo, Su-an, Seong-kyeong and the homeless man beneath a carriage swarming with zombies. Meanwhile, Yon-suk runs into Jin-hee and Yong-guk, pushing the former into a zombie in his attempt to escape. Heartbroken, Yong-guk remains with Jin-hee until she turns and kills him. The conductor starts another locomotive on a separate track but is thrown to the zombies while trying to help an injured Yon-suk. Seok-woo finds a way out from under the carriage, but it is blocked by falling debris shortly after. The homeless man sacrifices himself to buy Seok-woo time to clear the debris, allowing Seok-woo, Su-an, and Seong-kyeong to escape and board the new locomotive.
The group encounters Yon-suk, who is on the verge of turning and desperately begging for help. Seok-woo manages to push him off but is bitten in the process. He puts Su-an and Seong-kyeong inside the engine room, teaches Seong-kyeong how to operate the train, and says a final farewell to Su-an. In his last moments before turning, he reminisces Su-an's birth before throwing himself off the locomotive.
Later, a blocked track forces Su-an and Seong-kyeong to stop the train before a tunnel just outside Busan. They leave the train and continue on foot along the tracks through the tunnel. Snipers stationed on the other side of the tunnel spot them, and prepare to shoot, mistaking them for zombies, but stand down when they hear Su-an singing "Aloha 'Oe".
The film is based on an original story created by Park Joo-suk. The team tried to reference the movements of the zombies in the game 7 Days to Die and the movements of the dolls from Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, and also reviewed the movements of the nurses in Silent Hill.[12] The film was filmed in various stations from Daejeon, Cheonan and East Daegu.[12] The water deer in the movie was created using real videos of water deer and 3D modelling.[12] The scenery that is seen outside the train in the film was shot with an LED plate rear screen technique behind the set piece that was based on the interior of the KTX-I, facilitating the increased focus on the characters.[12] The blood vessels of the zombies were drawn with an airbrush. The zombies were styled differently depending on the progress of the infection.[12]
Reception
Box office
Train to Busan grossed $80.5 million in South Korea, $2.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $15.8 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $98.5 million.[3]
It became the highest-grossing Korean film in Malaysia,[13]Hong Kong,[14] and Singapore.[15] In South Korea, it recorded more than 11 million moviegoers[16] and was the highest-grossing film of the year.[17]
Critical response
The review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes reported that 95% of 129 critics have given the film a positive review with an average rating of 7.70/10. The website's critics consensus states: "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."[18]Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, assigned the film an average score of 72 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[19]
Clark Collis of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the film "borrows heavily from World War Z in its depiction of the fast-moving undead masses while also boasting an emotional core the Brad Pitt-starring extravaganza often lacked," adding that "the result is first-class throughout."[20] At The New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis selected the film as her "Critic's Pick" and took notice of its subtle class warfare.[21]
In a more mixed review, David Ehrlich of IndieWire comments that "as the characters whittle away into archetypes (and start making senseless decisions), the spectacle also sheds its unique personality."[22] Kevin Jagernauth of The Playlist wrote: "[Train to Busan] doesn't add anything significant to the zombie genre, nor has anything perceptive to say about humanity in the face of crisis. Sure, it lacks brains, and that's the easy quip to make, but what Train To Busan truly needs, and disappointingly lacks, is heart."[23]
In 2016, British filmmaker Edgar Wright, director of zombie comedyShaun of the Dead, highly applauded the film, personally recommending it on Twitter and calling it the "best zombie movie I've seen in forever."[24] Rotten Tomatoes lists the film on its 100 Best Zombie Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer.[25]
In 2025, it was one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition of The New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," finishing at number 308.[26]
American distributor Well Go USA released DVD and Blu-ray versions of Train to Busan on 17 January 2017.[41]FNC Add Culture released the Korean DVD and Blu-ray versions on 22 February 2017. It is also available on Rakuten Viki 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.[citation needed]
Peninsula, a standalone sequel set four years after Train to Busan and also directed by Yeon, was released in South Korea on 15 July 2020 to mixed reviews.[45] 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.[46]
Spin-off
In 2016, Gaumont acquired the rights for the English-language remake of the film from Next Entertainment World.[47] In 2018, New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster and Coin Operated were announced to be the co-producing partners for the remake, with Warner Bros. Pictures distributing worldwide, except for France and South Korea. Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto is in talks to helm the film, while Gary Dauberman adapts the screenplay and co-produces the film alongside James Wan.[48][49] In December 2021, the film's official title was revealed to be The Last Train to New York, scheduled to be released 21 April 2023.[50] However, in July 2022, Warner Bros. removed the film from the release schedule[51] with Evil Dead Rise, another New Line Cinema film, taking its original release date.
On June 26, 2025, James Wan tells to Entertainment Weekly that the film is a passion project for them and Wan confirmed that the Last Train to New York is not a remake but more of a spin-off and he also add that the film is set at the exact same time as the original film.[52]
See also
Snowpiercer: Post-apocalyptic action movie also involving low-class passengers on a train rebelling against the ruling elites in the midst of a crisis.
