Review: Train To Busan

2016 Yoo Gong, Dong-seok Ma, Woo-sik Choi

A conflicted businessman and his young daughter board the train to Busan in the midst of a viral out break and must fight for survival.
Director Sang-ho Yeon's Train to Busan is one of those films that just ticks all the boxes. Now most mainstream 'zombie horrors' stick to a very familiar formula and are for the most part light hearted in tone and don't require much concentration. There have been a some real stand out over the last decade however with the likes of 28 Days Later and World War Z achieving massive success.

Train to Busan works so brilliantly because it cherry picks all the best aspects from all the best zombie flicks, then puts it's own flare on them for good measure.
The story begins following the farther and his daughter boarding the train, but as the mayhem unfold other passengers are thrust into the fray. These certain groups then become our main characters. The young childbearing couple, a Junior baseball team and a pair of shifty looking railway network employees.

Zombies films have always prided themselves on their creatures, but sometimes the human aspect is also a main focus and this is certainly to the case with this film too. We have a range of ages, genders and personality types to observe and it was interesting to see how each demographic coped with the apocalyptic situation. I found myself rooting for certain characters and carefully watching and reaming suspicious of others. I was constantly willing them to succeed rather than succumb to horrible fates and that was a first I think!

The zombies/infected are a good blend of popular tropes too. The film opted for the faster running variety like we got in 28 Days Later and they also shared the same swarm like mentality as the previously mentioned zombie in World War Z. The swarms however we in tight knit spaces which made for some truly terrifying scenes when hundred surges forward often scrambling over anything and even each other in order to reach their prey. Train To Busan throws a great curve ball into the mix by making the infected almost blind in the darkness. This original design lead to to absolutely nerve shredding scenes of the survivors creeping through the hordes are the train screamed through railway tunnels. The tension of one of these particular scenes is one of my fondest horror memories of the last few years and will stay with me for a long time.

The Verdict

Train To Busan is a perfect blend of all the best zombie flicks with it's own flare and tale to tell. The film has a lot of heart, emotion and more than enough action to to keep even jaded horror fans glued to the screen. Fantastically written characters, surprises and thrill galore make this one of the best horror films released this year. The subtitles may not be to everyone's liking but its a minor niggle to overcome for a rewarding and gripping watch.

5/5

Review: 31

2016 Richard Brake, Sheri Moon Zombie, Roscoe Pepper

Heavy rocker turned film director Rob Zombie has made his fair share of films over the last decade or so, his latest instalment 31, pits 5 carnival workers against a gang of twisted clowns as they try and survive for 12 hours.

If you are familiar with Zombie's previous works you will know roughly what to expect, black humour, torture, rape and gallons of blood. All these trademarks are present in this film but I cant help thinking he has streamlined his style, simple and honest are the name of the game here. While House of 1000 Corpses was a psychedelic blood bath and The Devils Rejects was a ultra realistic manson-esque thrill ride, 31 veers down the Running Man meets Hostel route.

The film open with a delightfully twisted introduction by Richard Brake as the menacing Doomhead. We soon learn he is talking to his latest victim a bloodied and bound priest, who after a few words of wisdom he proceeds to dispatch with a rather blunt axe. So perfectly shot and gripping was this scene that I went in immediately with expectations through the roof, unfortunately I would soon come back down to earth with a bump.

After we are introduced to our main characters and they are promptly kidnapped and placed into the game, we are then introduced to their first opponent. Itching for more Doomhead action I waited with baited breath, however what I got instead was a Spanish dwarf dressed as Adolf Hitler..... no really.

Sadly this was a recurring theme with the film, every time something really brutal or gripping happened, in the next breath something completely ridiculous or obscene would happen. This constant back and forth of styles was often frustrating and I could never really find my groove. It was like there was a divide between good acting and the downright bad. There is flashy and tense fight scene between our heroes and 2 chainsaw wielding clowns. The scene is well choreographed and features a bloody finale. This scene would have been perfect if the 2 clowns in question would stop making rape jokes and going all out to offend everybody in the room.

Now I am far from a prude and i go into a Rob Zombie film expecting to be shocked and appalled (that's part of his charm) but there were moments that tried way too hard. This is a real shame because there were a few memorable moments here.

Sheri Moon Zombie has definitely got better the more films she appears in, here she took on the role of the reluctant hero, becoming an expert clown killer by the end of the film! In fact most of the band of 5 heroes were all very convincing even if they weren't necessarily the type of people you would root for. Rob Zombie loves to play with characters that the audience hates at first but gradually warms to as time goes on, these people are all horrible and probably deserve it yet I wanted them to succeed. nobody writes these role as good as him.

Another big strength of the film is it's soundtrack, being set in the 1970's down in the deep south we get some cracking tunes to accompany the bloodshed. Aerosmith, Kitty Wells and Lynyrd Skynryd among the pile.

The Verdict

For fans of his previous films there is a lot to like here, but Rob Zombie has also tried to streamline his style it seems and made a fairly solid feature. Inconsistencies in tone and acting quality let in down in a number of places but it isn't enough to completely turn you off. Come for the gore, stay for Richard Brake and Aerosmith.

3/5