20 Hit Horror Movies NOBODY Saw Coming
15. Train to Busan
South Korean zombie film Train to Busan is one of the most impressive horror success stories of the past decade - an $8.5 million genre offering which few expected to be anything more than a modest success, especially with the zombie subgenre being well into its decline by the mid-2010s.
Yet by way of its novel zombies-on-a-train premise, emotionally charged character work, and strong reviews since its Cannes premiere, Train to Busan went on to gross an incredible $98.5 million worldwide, more than $80 million of which came from its native South Korea alone, where it became 2016's highest-grossing film.
This was a rare genre export that managed to perform well across the globe, with especially strong hauls in Thailand, France, Australia, Brazil, and Mexico propelling it to basically unprecedented levels of success.
Sadly, 2020's polarising standalone sequel, Peninsula, topped out at a more modest $42.7 million against a far higher $16 million budget.