IR Film Review: GHOST TRAIN [Well Go USA]

The tenets of South Korean horror are usually good in using a setting or object to create a mythology. "Ghost Train" uses that in a similar way though the now interesting parallel to Clive Barker's "Midnight Meat Train" is a little more apparent. What does work well is the build of this one to almost tell a Twilight Zone nature of a couple different people who have been affected by the train. It is not so much about the train itself but the station it inhabits which has its own past. Not unlike The Overlook Hotel which has a similar dark spot or even The Black Lodge which definitely figured itself out in "Twin Peaks: The Return", the Ghost Train here is more of a concept where it takes on different forms in different stories. The reality is what plays out is who is the caretaker of the train.

The set up of the story involves a You Tuber who is trying to build up her views at the company she works at. She is the horror girl but she is jealous of the beauty influencer. This is meant to act as the baseline for the story. The original girl though that begins the film seems to be just affected by the place so we don't really hear or see her reason. It begins then again with a random guy who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time...again not as connected. The way this is dolled out is through The Stationmaster (Jeon Bae-soo) who tells the Horror YouTuber Da-Kyung (Joo Hyun-young) these different stories to draw her in. He speaks of a person she eventually needs to be meet who controls everything. That is actually is one of the more creepy moments of the film is his approach of her (though again, it is done for effect and not necessarily to explain what is actually going on).

The best key in scenario is its own Twilight Zone episode which involves a homeless man whose motivation is unknown with a vending machine who offers a very specific progress in terms of lifespan but also revenge. Its eventual reset is a really neat time structure. But again it is not necessarily really connected to the bigger lore, except for the station. Then again, the narrator within this situation also might be inherently unreliable because of misaligned intentions. The lead up to the final makes more sense since the film, towards the end, begins to use time against itself and how we see certain actions reflected. This is the main point where the script tries to tie everything back together. Its slow build with this lead up to the final girl is visually interesting but again doesn't tie into what the station actually is doing and why. The reason with Da-Kyung makes sense...not necessarily why she was chosen but how the train perpetuates itself. "Ghost Train" has some interesting ideas, some select good segments and a specific structure that helps it but doesn't tie everything together as close as it should. B

By Tim Wassberg