Train to Busan

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

Fund manager Seo Seok-woo is a cynical workaholic and divorced father. His young daughter Su-an wants to spend her birthday with her mom in Busan. He tries to soothe her with the gift of a Wii, forgetting that she already has one. He watches a video of Su-an suffering from stage fright while singing "Aloha 'Oe" at a school recital he could not attend. Overcome with guilt, he decides to take her to Busan via an early KTX 101 train 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 that includes baseball player Min Yong-guk and his girlfriend cheerleader Kim Jin-hee; train attendant Ki-chul; elderly sisters In-gil & Jong-gil; and a homeless stowaway.

As the train departs, an infected woman runs aboard, 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 secure themselves in the front and rear cars, observing that the infected zombies only attack if they can see them or hear them, but they cannot 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 a vacant station, but soon find the soldiers have become zombies, who quickly charge the group. Several 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 manage to take shelter in the restrooms. Seok-woo, Sang-hwa, Yong-guk and two of his classmates, stayed back to provide cover, race to board the moving train. Yong-guk's friends are killed and infected during the escape, and the rest end up in the back cars. The captain drives the train to Busan after learning it has been established as a quarantine zone.

Seok-woo's group learns their loved ones are in the cars ahead and crosses through the zombie-filled cars by fending them off and using the cover of the darkness of tunnels to reach them. The group reaches Seong-kyeong and her group and continue towards the front cars where Jin-hee and the others are. They inadvertently alert the zombies in the last car before reaching the car Jin-hee is in. Seok-woo and Sang-hwa stay back to hold the door closed while the others attempt to open the blocked door. After learning of the attempt by Seok-woo's group to reach them, Yon-suk convinces Ki-chul and the other passengers that they are potentially infected and they block the door. While struggling to close the door behind him, Sang-hwa is bitten and infected. After breaking open the door, the group escape to the next car, In-gil sacrifices herself to give time for the survivors to lock the door.

Yon-suk and Ki-chul lead the other passengers to believe Seok-woo's group is infected and force them into a closed vestibule, which Jin-hee joins them. Jong-gil, shaken by the passengers' selfishness and In-gil's selfless death, lets the zombies into the car, killing the other survivors, though Yon-suk and Ki-chul manage 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. An out-of-control train causes a derailment, separating Yong-guk and Jin-hee outside and trapping Seok-woo, Su-an, Seong-kyeong, and the homeless man under a derailed train car.

Yon-suk pushes Ki-chul to the zombies when escaping restroom and then later run into Yong-guk and Jin-hee in another train car. Yon-suk pushes Jin-hee into a chasing zombie and she was bitten. Yong-guk stayed with Jin-hee till she reanimates and kills him. The train captain starts a locomotive and sees Yon-suk, being chased by zombies, running after the locomotive and he falls. The captain comes down the locomotive to help Yon-suk but was pushed by him into the zombies and dies while Yon-suk escapes onto the locomotive .

Seok-woo finds a way out of their trapped situation and the homeless man sacrifices himself to hold back the zombies while Seong-kyeong and Su-an escape. They see the moving locomotive and boarded it. They find Yon-suk at the locomotive's cab and discovers that he was infected and becomes a zombie. Seok-woo struggles with him and is bitten before he can throw Yon-suk down the train. Seok-woo quickly passes instructions to Seong-kyeong on how to stop the train and says his farewells to Su-an. He leaves the locomotive's cab and throws himself off the locomotive.

Seong-kyeong and Su-an stop at a blocked train tunnel just before Busan and walk through the tunnel. At the tunnel's exit, unable to verify whether they are infected, military snipers prepare to fire until they hear Su-an singing "Aloha 'Oe". Realizing that the pair are survivors, they rush over and help them to safety.

• Gong Yoo as Seok-woo, a fund manager whose wife left him because of his selfishness.
• Kim Su-an as Su-an, daughter of Seok-woo who wants to see her mom in Busan for her birthday.
• Ma Dong-seok as Yoon Sang-hwa, husband of Seong-kyeong
• Jung Yu-mi as Seong-kyeong, Sang-hwa's pregnant wife
• Choi Woo-shik as Min Yong-guk, a high school baseball player
• Ahn So-hee as Kim Jin-hee, a friend of Yong-guk's
• Kim Eui-sung as Yon-suk, a business executive
• Choi Gwi-hwa as a homeless man
• Jang Hyuk-jin as Ki-chul, a train attendant
• Park Myung-sin as Jong-gil, an elderly woman
• Ye Soo-jung as In-gil, the older sister of Jong-gil
• Jeong Seok-yong as the captain of the KTX
• Han Seong-soo as the KTX train Team Leader
• Kim Chang-hwan as Deputy Kim Jin-mo
• Shim Eun-kyung as a runaway girl
• Lee Joo-shil as Seok-woo's mother and Su-an's grandmother

The film 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, and also reviewed the movements from 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 and by focusing 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 of zombies.[12]

American distributor Well Go USA released DVD and Blu-ray versions of Train to Busan on 17 January 2017.[39] 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.

In 2016, Gaumont acquired the rights for the English-language remake of the film from Next Entertainment World.[43] 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. 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.[44][45] In November 2021, the film was confirmed to be titled Last Train to New York.[46]

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