DVD | Crying All the Way from Seoul to Busan |

Train to Busan is a South Korean film that was released in 2016. The movie follows the story of seven protagonists: a business man and his daughter, an expecting husband and wife, two friends with a budding romance, and a ragged looking man, all on their way to Busan by train. However, their trip takes a dark turn when a zombie-like outbreak erupts and overtakes the train’s passengers. The seven struggle to stick together and survive their journey.

What makes Sang-ho Yeon’s tear-jerking action/horror flick so amazing is not only the dynamic characters and their relations, but also the use of soundtrack and camerawork. Each of his characters is memorable and they make you care about them, whether it is a workaholic dad and his angelic daughter or a husband just trying to protect his pregnant wife.

The soundtrack is memorable because of how well it complements the scenes it accompanies. The music gets louder and more intense as the scenes get more intense. On the opposite scale of things, sometimes there is no music playing in the background at all; making the scene that much more tense.

The camerawork is also very good, because they play with many different shot and angles. Sometimes the camera is shaky in a strained scene. Everything about the movie is just played out so well.

Speaking of played out so well, the thing that makes this movie’s horror aspect is the zombies and the survivors from the zombies part of this story. The characters are so smart and clever and watching them do the right things is so relieving from other horror movies—where everyone does the wrong things. That makes it the scariest thing, doing everything right, but still being defeated.

Train to Busan is available to watch on Netflix, iTunes ($4.99), Amazon Prime, Google Play, Vudu, or YouTube (all for $2.99). I would give this movie a solid 10/10 for amazing visuals, incredible storyline, fantastic characters, and the ability to make me cry no fewer than five times. I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys action-packed, thrilling, emotional movies and doesn’t mind subtitles. After all, a few minutes in and the movie is too engaging to even think about how you’re reading them. Travel safely!