Ghost Train (2024) (Blu-ray Review)
DIRECTED BY: Tak Se-woong
STARRING: Choi Bo-min, Jeon Bae-soo, Joo Hyun-young
RATED: UR/Region: A/Widescreen/1080P/NUMBER OF DISCS 1 (BD-r)
AVAILABLE FROM Well Go USA
If clout-chasing were an Olympic sport, the protagonist of Ghost Train would at least qualify for regionals.
Directed by Se-woong Tak, this 2024 horror outing takes the extremely modern premise of “a YouTuber with the lowest number of views” and asks the important question: what if algorithmic failure led you straight into supernatural doom? Honestly, that’s the most believable part of the movie.
Per IMDb, the plot is: “A YouTuber with the lowest number of views meets the station master of a mysterious subway station to find the source of a true horror story and encounters several strange stories.” Which sounds like the start of a creepypasta you’d scroll past at 2 a.m. but somehow end up thinking about for a week.
The setup is deliciously simple. A desperate content creator — scraping the bottom of the engagement barrel — hears about a haunted subway station and decides this is the viral moment that will finally push them past double-digit subscribers. Instead of smashing that Like button, they smash headfirst into a series of eerie vignettes that range from unsettling to full-on nightmare fuel.
And to its credit, Ghost Train knows how to build atmosphere. The subway setting is a gift. Empty platforms. Flickering lights. Echoes that sound just a little too intentional. The film leans hard into that liminal-space dread — the kind where you’re not sure if you’re alone or just being politely observed by something that doesn’t breathe.
Is it subtle? Sometimes.
Is it melodramatic? Also yes.
Does it occasionally feel like a horror anthology duct-taped to a framing device about influencer desperation? Absolutely.
But here’s the thing — it works more often than it doesn’t.
The “lowest views” angle could’ve been played for pure satire, but the film treats it with surprising sincerity. There’s a quiet sadness under the horror: the need to be seen, validated, recognized — even if it means poking at something better left undisturbed. It’s horror filtered through the anxiety of digital obscurity. Forget ghosts. The real terror is irrelevance.
That said, the movie still delivers the goods. There are some genuinely creepy sequences that stick with you, especially when it leans into long silences and lets the station breathe. The sound design does a lot of heavy lifting, and when the scares land, they land without needing to scream in your face about it.
Does it reinvent the genre? No.
Does it sometimes feel like it’s trying very hard to be the next viral horror sensation? Sure.
But there’s an earnestness here that’s hard to mock too harshly — even if I’m contractually obligated to be a little snarky.
Ghost Train may be about a YouTuber desperate for views, but the film itself earns more attention than its fictional creator ever could. It’s moody, creepy, and just self-aware enough to make the ride worthwhile.
Just maybe don’t film your outro on an abandoned platform at 3 a.m.
The algorithm isn’t worth it.
Extras
- None
