The Best South Korean Zombie Duology is Currently Streaming on Netflix (and the animated prequel is on Tubi)
Same world, standalone stories, best when viewed together.
There are many amazing zombie films and franchises throughout the history of horror cinema. Some are single outings like Dead Alive (1992) or I Walked with a Zombie (1943). Others are longer series like George Romero’s Dead movies and The Return of the Living Dead franchise.
Rarest of all is the zombie duology, a zombie film franchise consisting of only two movies. Zombieland (2009) and Zombieland: Double Tap (2019) make up a duology. So did 28 Days Later (2002) and 28 Weeks Later (2007) until the announcement of a third film and a spin-off. The best live-action zombie duology? It comes from South Korea.
Train to Busan (2016) is one of the best zombie movies, period. The action is claustrophobic and intense, and the drama is heart-wrenching. It’s about the people aboard an express train on its way to the city of Busan while a zombie outbreak grows around them. Zombies get aboard, and the infection quickly spreads. Train to Busan has been available on Netflix for a while, but it wasn’t until just a few days ago that its sequel joined Netflix as well.
Peninsula (2020) is a standalone sequel set in the same world as Train to Busan. Years after the initial outbreak, the Korean peninsula is under quarantine. A team is sent into the quarantine zone to retrieve a truck filled with money, but zombies attack, leaving them to fend for themselves as they try to escape. Peninsula isn’t as good as Train to Busan, but the two movies do make for a great double feature.
In truth, the Train to Busan and Peninsula make up two parts of a trilogy. There is an animated prequel to the live-action duology title Seoul Station (2016). It documents how the zombie outbreak began. Seoul Station isn’t streaming on Netflix, but you can find it on Tubi to complete the trilogy.
