Sightlines · reception
How Train to Busan was received
2016 · Yeon Sang-ho · Train to Busan on Sightlines
The arc
A Cannes Midnight Screenings premiere that became South Korea's biggest hit of 2016 — the year's first film to cross ten million admissions — it's since been canonized as the gateway Korean blockbuster of the pre-Parasite era and a fixture on best-zombie-films-of-the-century lists.
What’s debated
Fans endlessly debate whether its full-throttle melodrama is the secret weapon that makes it great or the sentimentality that keeps it from being truly scary.
Its footprint
It's the film that made 'a zombie movie that makes you cry' a whole conversation, turbo-charged Gong Yoo's international fame, and the mere announcement of a Hollywood remake triggered a collective 'just watch the original' backlash.
Where it stands
A Letterboxd crowd-pleaser and reliable 'you must have seen this' entry point to Korean cinema — the rare modern zombie film with near-universal goodwill.
Did you know? Train to Busan was director Yeon Sang-ho's first live-action feature — he'd previously worked entirely in animation (The King of Pigs, The Fake), and his animated prequel Seoul Station came out the same year.