Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Night Train Murders Blu-ray Movie Review

This ain't the Hogwarts Express.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 28, 2012

Hasn't there been enough violence?

Night Train Murders represents something of a minor but perceptible departure from the more traditional I Spit on Your Grave "rape and revenge" picture while also serving as a stabilizing force that's largely representative of what that sub-genre is all about. The film is on one hand awash in indecency, grotesque actions, and despicable people, and it most definitely doesn't let the perpetrators off scott-free. Yet the differences remain in resolution, differences that seem to almost add to, rather than detract from, the immediacy, the devastation, maybe even the gut-level justification for meeting violence with violence, for perhaps the only thing more natural in the animal kingdom than self-preservation is protecting and avenging loved ones. Rather than the battered and beaten girl, or in this case girls as in "plural," Night Train Murders dabbles in The Last House on the Left formula where a concerned third party doles out the punishment to the scum responsible for sickening the audience with their vile actions. And that's how all these movies make their living, by sucking the life out of the viewer only to reinvigorate those who make it through to the end, asking them to cheer on even more violence, the harder the better, an eye for an eye, and all of that stuff. No, there can never be enough violence when the tables are turned, when the heroes necessarily and understandably sink to the level of the villains for a little retribution that superficially feels really good but does make one wonder just what sort of vicious circle exists out in the wild when violence may be either shunned or celebrated only by the slightest tipping of the scales of justice.

The cigarette before the storm.

A pair of inhuman hoodlums -- Blackie (Flavio Bucci) and Curly (Gianfranco De Grassi) -- slice open the fur coat of a German aristocrat outside of a Munich train station. They run inside, evading a policeman by hopping aboard an outbound train just in the nick of time. Unfortunately for friends Margaret (Irene Miracle) and Lisa (Laura D’Angelo), the lowlifes have boarded their train. The girls are en route to Italy for the Christmas holiday, but with scum like Blackie and Curly on board, those plans are likely to be placed on permanent hold. The girls settle in as well as they can -- the train is packed and there's nowhere to sit -- and pass the time working on some cigarettes that came into their possession before leaving home. It's not long until the girls come face-to-face with Blackie and Curly, helping them to hide from a ticket puncher who would just as soon toss them off the train. Soon, they're forced onto another train, this one far less crowded and seemingly far more peaceful. But when Curly, Blackie, and a mysterious older woman (Macha Méril) also board that same train, they collectively take advantage of the girls, getting off by physically and emotionally tormenting them. Can the girls survive on to Christmas, and will the trio of lowlifes get what's coming to them?

Night Train Murders is, superficially, a fairly basic example of 1970s Italian Horror; the picture comes with a good bit of style, little substance, flat characters, midlevel acting, and quite a bit of questionably-paced exposition. Nothing is done particularly well, and nothing is done particularly poorly. The movie is an exercise in Revenge Horror basics, following basic genre credo and only changing up some specific details and never adding anything new, really, to the genre, outside of who serves as the bearer of justice. Nevertheless, its core is largely intact and in sync with many likeminded films; it's all very much black-and-white in terms of structure and story, even if the confined spaces of the train and the slightly different resolution offer an ever-so-different take on a rather well-established genre. Still, it's all very much transparent and thematically hollow even as it speaks on heaping violence upon violence. It certainly doesn't help that it's comprised of characters who add nothing to the film outside of serving as vessels to accept punishment, dole out violence, or deliver revenge, with any contextual commentary largely lost to the brutality and despair that's so admittedly wonderfully conveyed in the film's most dire scenes and those leading up to them. Ultimately, however, the good characters are only worth rooting for because they're good, the bad characters only worth rooting against because they are bad. They're anybodies, flat, interchangeable pieces that serve only the plot rather than vice versa; of course the audiences with a heart and conscience will cheer on what is right over what is wrong -- whether they believe in an eye for an eye or turning the other cheek -- as the picture only plays on the most basic of emotions rather than take the time to really create any characters for whom the audience may find any sympathy aside from that very basic "good" versus "evil" perspective.

Where there film does work rather well is in its stylings and delivery. Though exposition is overlong and the characters still underdeveloped, the movie shows good, steady photography and exudes a sense of creepiness and foreboding that enhance the overall effect of helpless terror wrought by heartless criminals. The movie's rhythm is shaped by the rattling, uneasiness of the train. Not only does the sound convey the sense of a rapidly-beating heart that seems, at any moment, primed to explode from the chest, but the sense of tightness and inescapability -- it's moving too fast to leave, and the confinement of the close quarters leaves no wiggling room when at the mercy of the villains -- is what sets the movie apart from others where the relatively wide-open spaces of the great outdoors, or even houses where they's room to move, offer some, albeit rather slim, hope for escape and survival. It's all staged and photographed to where the movie plays alluringly, but dangerously. It's harsh but admirable, difficult, yet easy to fall into. The picture literally darkens as its dangers become more apparent, its most terrible scenes drenched in a harsh blue nighttime overlay that only seems to further tighten the grip on the audience and reinforce the notion that there's nowhere to go but further into depravity and ever closer to death.

Night Train Murders Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Night Train Murders' 1080p Blu-ray transfer is quite the looker. The image may feature the occasional speckle, vertical line, or static piece of debris around the edges of the frame, but Blue Underground's transfer nevertheless handles aging material quite well. The image is very nicely detailed; the wool caps and scarves worn by the two leading ladies appear naturally complex and almost tactile. Additional clothing textures are strong, as are little fine details around the train, but faces range from complex to a touch smooth. Colors are stable, with the daylight scenes perhaps looking just a touch washed out. Black levels are deep and accurate, though skin tones, following the lead of the entire palette, can look slightly pale. Clarity is strong, the image can look a tad sharp at times, and grain does look frozen in place in spots, but the image manages an overall very positive, cumulative effect. It's not quite the pristine transfer of a fresh-from-theaters movie done right, but fans of Night Train Murders are in for a real treat when they see this one up on their high definition screens.

Night Train Murders Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Night Train Murders features a DTS-HD MA mono soundtrack that delivers exactly the kind of sonic experience one would expect of a dubbed and aged presentation. It's quite compact and shallow at times, with music, of course, lacking range but also body. Sound effects are on the wrong side of "mushy," whether sliding doors, screams, or the din of the train station that's little more than a clouded jumble of undefined sound straight up the middle of the soundstage. Gunshots as heard near the end of the film lack in energy and precision, but are suitably potent and get the point across. Dialogue is generally fair and clear, though there are stretches where it plays with a slight sense of detachment. Despite all these observations, this is still a fairly decent track considering the source, and kudos for keeping it fairly in-line with expectations and original stylings rather than working it over to better fit the criteria of modern presentations.

Night Train Murders Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Night Train Murders contains a featurette and various promotional materials.

• Riding the Night Train -- Interview with Co-Writer/Director Aldo Lado (1080p 14:57, Italian with English subtitles): The filmmaker discusses the picture's origins, its similarities to The Last House on the Left, the picture's themes, its style, the work of the actors, music, the role of the color blue in the film, the picture's banishment, the title, and audience reaction.
• U.S. Trailer (480p, 2:33).
• International Trailer (1080p, 3:49).
• Radio Spot #1 (1080p, 0:28).
• Radio Spot #2 (1080p, 0:28).
• Poster & Still Gallery (1080p): Includes images of posters, ad mats, lobby cards, publicity stills, and soundtrack & video artwork.

Night Train Murders Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Night Train Murders succeeds beyond the typical and lesser revenge Horror picture because its stylings and pandering to base emotions work so very well in tandem. It brings nothing new to the genre, really -- it largely copies Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left -- yet the movie's powerful photography and novel setting that truly engenders a sense of captivity and imprisonment more than mask its other shortcomings, such as midlevel acting, shaky dialogue, poor characterization, and absent thematic relevance even where it attempts to say something about the excesses of violence in the modern world. Blue Underground's Blu-ray release of Night Train Murders features good 1080p video, a passable lossless mono track, and a few supplements. Recommended to genre fans who can appreciate what the film tries to do -- in its successes and failures -- and see what it has to offer beyond the raw brutality of it all.