IT'S HELLISH OUT THERE: A TOP TEN OF TRANSPORT HORROR

To celebrate the official launch of Train to Busan, ( released 28 October ) Ginger Nuts of Horror is proud to bring you our top ten of travel horror.  Whether it's a leisurely day trip or a trans-continental journey across Europe, travelling has never been more fraught with danger and death.  From flesh eating zombies to demonic motor vehicles, it looks as though we would all be better off staying indoors.  Read on for our top ten favourite transport themed horrors, please comment with your favourite examples of transport themed horror films.  

1. horror express (1972) 

Should have gone to Specsavers

Mode of Transport: Victorian steam train, has a slightly bothersome passenger.  

Demonic driver:  Eugenio Martín 

Petrified passenger: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing

What the Fat Controller failed to mention: 

 "A Nightmare of Terror Aboard the Transsiberian Express" 

An English anthropologist has discovered a frozen monster in the frozen wastes of Manchuria which he believes may be the Missing Link. He brings the creature back to Europe aboard a trans-Siberian express, but during the trip the monster thaws out and starts to butcher the passengers one by one.

2. DUEL (1971)

He looks like a three Yorkie man

Mode : A 1955 Peterbilt 281 tanker truck driven by a teamster/possible serial killer who is having a really bad day.

Demonic driver: Steven Spielberg

Petrified passenger: Dennis Weaver
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What the owner’s manual failed to mention: 

“Fear is the driving force.”

While traveling through the desert for an appointment with a client, the businessman David Mann from California passes a slow and old tanker truck. The psychotic truck driver feels offended and chases David along the empty highway trying to kill him
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3. Christine (1983)
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Don't bother with third party fire and theft they said

Mode: A beautiful but berserk 1958 Plymouth Fury with a penchant for regeneration and plowing down innocent people.

Demonic driver: John Carpenter

Petrified passengers: Keith Gordon, Alexandra Paul, John Stockwell

What the mechanic failed to mention: 

“How do you kill something that can’t possibly be alive?”

​In 1957, in Detroit, a red Plymouth Fury is built and is the cause of two accidents, one of them fatal, still in the assembly line. Twenty-one years later, the outcast and bullied nerd Arnold "Arnie" Cunningham is getting a ride with his best and only friend Dennis Guilder and he sees the wrecked car for sale in a garden. Arnie immediately falls in love with the car. The car was given the name Christine by it's first owner. He brings the car to a repair shop of the despicable Will Darnell and works hard to restore the classic car. While he works in the restoration, he changes his personality to a cocky teenager and he dates the most beautiful girl in the high-school, Leigh Cabot. Soon Arnie becomes selfish and jealous of the supernatural Christine that kills everyone that is a threat to them.

4. Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Mode: Various marauding and murderous vehicles including, most notably, a gang of sinister semi-trailer trucks.

Demonic driver: Stephen King

Petrified passengers: Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Yeardley Smith

What the owner’s manual failed to mention:

“Evil’s Wheels”

When Earth passes through the tail of Rea-M rogue comet, the machines come to life and threaten and kill the mankind. A group of survivors is under siege of fierce trucks in the Dixie Boy truck stop in a gas station and they have to fight to survive.

5. Black Cadillac (2003)
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Should have listened to Springsteen and got a pink one

Model/make: A sinister 1957 Cadillac driven by a mysterious, drag-racing crazy who has apparently seen “I Know What You Did Last Summer” one too many times.

Demonic driver: John Murlowski

Petrified passengers: Randy Quaid, Shane Johnson, Josh Hammond

What the owner’s manual failed to mention: 

“Revenge is in the driver’s seat”​

Every year Scott Robertson, a generally admired Yale student, and his screw-up mate C.J. Longhammer from Minnesota cross the Wisconsin border for a wild night. Scott has a girl in his Saab, but as usual must return to the bar as CJ started a fight and this time Scotts adoring kid brother Robbie is with them, and just was about to lose his tormenting virginity. Scotts fists get them out. They are followed by a black Cadillac, make a risky drive on the lake to shake it, allow Robbie to take an urgent leak and give a lift to a neighboring sheriff, Charlie, who has car trouble in Arctic weather. The Cadillac keeps following and even ramming them, so they start wondering why and suspecting each-other, and it gets worse...

6.  Snowpiercer (2013)

That's the last time I let you book the tickets on Trainline

Mode : Futuristic megatrain with the last of humanity has a dirty little secret and some nasty food options.  First Class never looked so good.  

Demonic driver: Joon-ho Bong 

Petrified passenger:  Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton
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What the travel agent failed to mention: ​

"Fight your way to the front" 

Set in 2031, the entire world is frozen except for those aboard the Snowpiercer. For 17 years, the world's survivors are on a train hurtling around the globe creating their own economy and class system. Led by Curtis, a group of lower-class citizens living in squalor at the back of the train are determined to get to the front of the train and spread the wealth around. Each section of the train holds new surprises for the group who have to battle their way through. A revolution is underway.

7. Death line (1972) 

Hello I'd like to speak to Amanda Hugandkiss

Mode:   The London Underground proves yet again to be a rather nasty way to travel.  When something worse than Londoners starts munching on the commuters 

Demonic driver: Gary Sherman

Petrified passenger: Donald Pleasence, Norman Rossington, David Ladd​

What the conductor failed to mention: ​

"They are the raw meat of the human race" 

​There's something pretty grisly going on under London in the Tube tunnels between Holborn and Russell Square. When a top civil servant becomes the latest to disappear down there Scotland Yard start to take the matter seriously. Helping them are a young couple who get nearer to the horrors underground than they would wish.

8. "Quarantine 2: Terminal" (2011)

Please no, not a Pauly Shore film!

Mode : Jumbo jet, as way more to worry about than mere snakes being on a plane, when an outbreak of zombies threatens to disrupt the duty free alcohol.  

Demonic driver:  John Pogue 

Petrified passenger: Mercedes Mason, Josh Cooke, Mattie Liptak 
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What the flight attendant failed to mention : ​

"the most deadly mutant virus just went airborne"

In Los Angeles, the police put a residential building in quarantine. Meanwhile, the flight attendants of Trans Sky Air, Jenny and Paula, are welcoming the passengers of flight TS Air 318 from Los Angeles to Kansas City with Captain Forrest and Co-Pilot Wilsy. Teacher Henry brings a cage of hamsters to the cabin, but Jenny tells him that it should be transported in the cargo hold. However, one hamster bites the fingertip of the fat passenger Ralph. Soon, Ralph vomits and becomes aggressive, attacking Paula. The male passengers help Jenny and lock Ralph in the bathroom while Captain Forrest requests an emergency landing. When they land in the airport, they find all the gates closed and the Captain heads the plane to an abandoned terminal. Employee Ed helps the crew and passengers to reach the exit, but they find that they are closed. Soon they discover that the place is in quarantine and there is no way out.

9. Race with the Devil (1975)

everyone wished Roger had laid off the egg sandwiches

Mode : A great American road trip in an RV descends into a devilish nightmare that makes truck stop hotdogs look appealing. 

Demonic driver:  Jack Starrett

Petrified passenger:  Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit
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What the man from Winnebago failed to mention:

"if you are going to race with the Devil, you got to be as fast as Hell"

Frank and Roger and their wives take off for Colorado in a recreational vehicle, looking forward to some skiing and dirt biking. While camping en route, they witness a Satanic ritual sacrifice, but the local sheriff finds no evidence to support their claims and urges them to continue on their vacation. On the way, however, they find themselves repeatedly attacked by cult members, and they take measures to defend themselves.

10.  Triangle (2009)

They were told to stay away from the Fish Soup

Mode : A holiday cruise, has more horrific things on offer than a Bucks Fizz tribute act in the grand ballroom.  

Demonic driver: Christopher Smith

Petrified passenger: Melissa George, Joshua McIvor, Jack Taylor

What the Ship's Captain  failed to mention: ​

"Fear Comes in waves"

When Jess sets sail on a yacht with a group of friends, she cannot shake the feeling that there is something wrong. Her suspicions are realized when the yacht hits a storm and the group is forced to board a passing ocean liner to get to safety, a ship Jess is convinced she's been on before. The ship appears deserted, the clock on board has stopped, but they are not alone... Someone is intent on hunting them down, one by one. And Jess unknowingly holds the key to end the terror.

train to busan (2016)

A mysterious viral outbreak pushes Korea into a state of emergency. The government declares martial law just as divorced Seok-woo and his daughter catch the KTX bullet train from Seoul to Busan to see her mother. But someone on the journey has been recently infected sending the hurtling carriages into complete chaos. As the living dead transform the voyage into a nightmare excursion, father and daughter and a small group of uninfected passengers must fight for survival. Get on board to stay alive!


We like it because:
TRAIN TO BUSAN, the stunning live action debut from Korean animator Yeon Sang-ho, has got the lot - white-knuckle tension, superbly choreographed action set pieces, and production values that would shame a Hollywood blockbuster. It’s been hailed as THE RAID meets 28 DAYS LATER but at the core, TRAIN TO BUSAN has a real heart with the central relationship between a workaholic dad and his estranged daughter (Yoo Gong and Soo-an Kim) giving the film a powerful emotional punch.


Train To Busan is released on 28 October 2016 at a cinema near you