The zombie genre has been so thoroughly exhausted throughout film and television that even various reimaginings of the idiom have grown tiresome. But for all the prequel-spinoffs (Fear the Walking Dead), sequels we probably don’t need (Zombieland: Double Tap) and attempts at subverting the very concept (Warm Bodies, Santa Clarita Diet), sometimes all you need for a refreshing take on the zombie flick is a good script and some strong performances. That’s what you get with 2016’s Train to Busan, a South Korean film that does what every really good apocalyptic action-thriller should: It keeps the stakes really high (the end of humanity as we know it!) but the setting really intimate (in this case, a high-speed train headed southeast from Seoul to Busan). Along the way there are themes that certainly any of us can latch onto — familial relationships and abandonment, workaholism, high school crushes, sacrifice. Busan isn’t without its hokey moments, but it’s also got some clever action sequences as well as a star-making performance from Ma Dong-seok as Sang-hwa, the stocky tough guy with a heart of gold. Most appropriately, Train to Busan will screen Halloween night as part of Vanderbilt University’s wonderful (and free!) ongoing International Lens series. 7:30 p.m. at Vanderbilt University’s Sarratt Cinema, 2301 Vanderbilt Place D. PATRICK RODGERS
International Lens: 'Train to Busan'
