Feature

We’ve Seen ‘Peninsula’ Before… It Was Called ‘Doomsday’

This overlooked British action film isn’t cited as an influence on the South Korean zombie sequel, but it’s strangely familiar…

I liked Yeon Sang-Ho’s Train to Busan (2016), a rare highlight of a sub-genre that, much like the monsters it portrays, always refuses to die: the zombie film. There was nothing original in Train to Busan, but director Sang-Ho was particularly competent with its incredible action choreography, in communicating the claustrophobia of a train, and even in the generous doses of melodrama — which elicited tears between the scares.

Four years later, Yeon Sang-Ho returns with a sequel to his unexpected box office hit, and at an appropriate moment, when viruses and contamination are suddenly part of our daily reality.

The problem this time, however, is that as soon as I finished Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula, two thoughts crossed my mind: (1) that it was nowhere near as good as its predecessor… and (2) that I’d seen it all before…