During the weekend, news about the Train to Busan remake was shared online and it renewed conversations about the necessity of the film and English-language remakes in general. The discourse gained enough traction that the director attached to the remake, Timo Tjahjanto, decided to weigh in.
Tjahjanto is a long-time horror director with credits like V/H/S/2, May the Devil Take You, and Headshot. His films have received lots of attention due to their schlock, gore, and extreme violence, as well as their entertaining action sequences. He was announced as the director of the Train to Busan remake back in February.
Since then, Tjahjanto has apparently received many mentions on Twitter about his vision and the remake, so he decided to offer up his own take on the matter. In the first of two tweets, Tjahjanto referred to words that producer James Wan gave in regards to the remake: "Timo, we need to rise above & beyond everyone’s expectations, just like other great remakes have done such as The Ring or Dawn of the Dead remake."
Furthermore, Tjahjanto went on to sing the praises of Wan:
"Needed to add that James has been my hero since my college days. As a South East Asian kid from a conventional middle class family who doesn’t exactly encourage artistic endeavors ( i.e blowing up heads, smearing fake blood) his rise from Saw inspired alot of us SEA genre doofus."
It seems as though Tjahjanto is hoping to capture the spirit of these two films, one of which was a very quick remake. Ringu was first a Japanese horror film that came out in 1998, whereas the English-language remake with Naomi Watts came out only four years later in 2002. Both remakes certainly paid homage to the original, while providing enough of a spin to entertain audiences. However, I doubt that anyone would say there were necessary films that needed to be made, or improved upon the original in any way.
Tjahjanto has some points — a good remake can be successfully made, and with his directorial background, it will most likely be very entertaining, gory, and bloody. On the other side, fans of the original clearly do not see the use for it. English-language remakes of international films have started to become more controversial as the film industry becomes more globalized, and the use of subtitles is common in every part of the world besides English-speaking countries. It is also terribly soon for a remake, especially since the film has had a long and successful afterlife on streaming services.
2016's Train to Busan was directed by Yeon Sang-ho, and follows a father and daughter who become trapped on a train during a zombie apocalypse. Along with a band of passengers, the survivors attempt to make it out alive and uninfected. It's already established a burgeoning franchise of its own, including an animated prequel Seoul Station and a standalone sequel Peninsula.
The Train to Busan remake is still in pre-production, but we'll keep you up-to-date on future announcements. Check out Tjahjanto's tweets below.