Late Night Trains (1975)

Not even bad in a good way

Dreadfully Boring

Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

This is Italy's version of Wes Craven's The Last House On The Left, though I have to say I prefer this film. For the main reason is there's no annoying music on this film. Also, it's more throughout and deeper in psychological content. The principles are the same, here you have two girls on their way out to the country for the Christmas holidays. While on the train they meet the two thugs, who have previously mugged a street Santa. Their attack is unbeknown to the girls so they are friendly with the two men. Though as the train travels further they become more wary of the pair and the blonde woman the men have met. When the train is stopped for a bomb search the girls hop off the train to board another. It's not until they're on the move that the girls realise the trio had hopped trains too. From here on in things get nasty, violent, and cruel.It's these scenes that are the hardest to watch as they lead to the girl's deaths. However, this isn't where the movie stops It's the second half which treads on the unbelievable. The evil trio is picked up by the girl's parents. Who, when they realise what's happened, take their revenge. It's the coincidence of the group meeting that stretches the boundaries of reality.That said, that incident is the only issue I have with the film.It's Macha Meril as the lady on the train that gives this film a nasty and depraved edge. In the beginning, she appears to be a reserved nymphomaniac. Though when they start to torture and rape the girls she's the one who's controlling the thugs, even though she's only known them for a matter of hours. She is definitely twisted and coldly calculating. She stole the show.Even though you know what's going to happen and you probably know how the film will end, the director Aldo Lado does a fantastic job of weaving a subtle and disturbing story into a watchable film with believable characters. It's nice that he doesn't go the exploitation route, especially in the torture sequences. The reality of the scenes really strengthens the film.I cannot say I really enjoyed this film as some of the scenes are disturbing, both visually and psychologically. It is, however, truly watchable and does emote emotions. It is a film that I may watch again... though not for some time.

To be fair to director Aldo Lado, he may have taken the scenario for L'ultimo treno della notte from Wes Craven's The Last House On The Left, but, Mr. Craven may not be as innocent too. The Last House On The Left idea originates from the 1960 film by Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007) Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring), so nobody here is perfect, unless you're Ingmar Bergman. Either way, the subject matter here, as with the previous films, makes for disturbing viewing. Director Aldo Lado has produced a film that gives off a sense of the human condition at its lowest, and depraved, if somewhat hedonistic, form, depending on whose viewpoint you take. While a simple format, two young, if somewhat virginal in life's ways, are travelling across Europe, and are joined, reluctantly, by three strangers, one nameless middle-class nymphomaniac woman and two brutish lower-class thugs. What makes this an interesting case is the fact that the depravities hold no bounds across the class barrier, occupying this train compartment is a mixed bag of the class system. What else counts for a plus here is not the fact that it is the two alpha-males who are in control but the petite, slim, attractive sexual deviant, the unnamed Lady On The Train, that is holding the reins, and the fate, of these two young girls. The men, from backgrounds that can only be best described as lacking in style and sophistication, seem to be controlled by the higher intelligent, manipulative worldly woman, it is only the common bond of power and lust that binds these classes together, worlds apart yet both the same in their amoral attitudes. This is a dark world that Margaret and Lisa have inadvertently stumbled upon and with chilling atmospheric lighting by cinematographer Gábor Pogány (1915 – 1999) and the added combination of composer Ennio Morricone's (b. 1928) eerie harmonica underscore, seen in the opposite vain as the character "Harmonica" from Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). This time, the sounds of the distant harmonica bring not justifiable revenge but fear and anxieties in these extreme conditions of claustrophobia, revulsion and narcissistic pleasure. It is the ironies that fill the screen here, too, giving a sense of helplessness toward the two unfortunate victims as the narrative jumps from train compartment to dinner party, and back, in which the expectant parents are holding, whilst waiting for their fledglings to arrive. This setting is a middle-class affair and it is here that we are witness to the proceedings of its surroundings and the opinions of the discussion of violence that begets violence. So much so in fact that the director's work here may consist of little violence, a large part of the film is bringing the characters together and seeing, individually, their respective lives, roles and traits before the twain meet. It is in the manner of the subject matter that on its 1976 cinema release, in the United Kingdom, the then British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) deemed fit to ban its release altogether and its legacy then cemented in stone during its video (VHS) banning during the 1980s thus forever cursed a video nasty. This, of course, does the film little justice, as the team of Lado, Pogány and Morricone etc have brought us a film that consists of character building, its not in a rush to get to the end of the line and we see who exactly is who and we learn a little more of each of them as the film, too, rides on. Then, added with this, we have a mood of lighting, music, fine edits and interesting camera work bringing a fine movie together. The turning point of L'ultimo treno Della notte is not just the despicable, indifferent manner in which the symbols of innocents are exploited but also in which the ironies of middle class principles clash in so opposing contradictions. Setting the piece well in advance we already understand the theories of the middle class, and their attitude toward violence, but it isn't until they are truly tested that we also see that even amongst the confines of bourgeois society the walls of conformity and constraint can so readily and needfully come tumbling down. Even to the point of believing, of wanting to believe, the innocent cries for her life of a desperate Lady On The Train when confronted with the vengeful, now killer, father. Violence has begot violence and is, as always, a classless and faceless entity; this is the true massage of L'ultimo treno della notte and it is done with extreme charm and style which in the end, brings the message home, at heart, the human soul is open to uncertainties and is most capable when needs be.

Night train murders registers itself in the category of most disturbing movies of all times. It is inspired by Wes Craven's Last house on left,which was released couple of years earlier but it appears more brutal because the story looks more realistic and believable. Two girls travelling by train on Christmas Eve are humiliated and tortured sadistically by two men and a woman. Its amazing what wonder, a good direction does to a pretty tame storyline. Firstly we are introduced to two super pretty and innocent characters and when we start liking them, the movie get switched to its darker phase showing ruthless violence & extreme brutality towards the most affectionate characters in the movie. Some may categorize it as 'torture porn'though I have seen hell lot of gore movies which are meant to affect you visually, but this one is supposed to hunt your mind, it tracks you mentally and makes you feel sick and disturbed

Oh yeah baby, another terrible and overrated Italian exploitation film that deserves cult status about as much as "Elmo: The Movie." This one is an almost exact clone of Wes Craven's "Last House on the Left," which itself copied Ingmar Bergman's "The Virgin Spring." So what's to say about a copy of a copy? It turns out, not much. Two young women (one played by Irene Miracle from Argento's "Infero") are heading home for the holidays on a late night train. Two obnoxious punks (one played by Flavio Bucci from Argento's "Suspiria") and an equally sick upper class female (played by Macha Meril of Argento's "Deep Red") harass, humiliate, rape and ultimately murder both. The female goes back to her normal everyday life, while the punks end up at the home of one of the murdered girls. The parents find out what happened and get their revenge. After a painfully boring, terribly written first third, this has a brutal and tasteless middle, and caps it all off with an ineffective "revenge" finale that has absolutely no impact whatever and only succeed at being boring and insignificant. This film completely lacks suspense and really is just a third-rate knock-off of material done far better elsewhere. And what strikes me as funny is the number of people claiming this movie is "subtle." If you consider a girl being stabbed in the vagina and then a camera shot of the knife sticking out of her crotch to be "subtle," then you need to pick up a dictionary and look up what "subtle" means.There are a ton of Dario Argento movie vets are the cast. Other then the three I already mentioned, there's also Gianfranco De Grassi (who appeared in the Argento-produced "The Church"), Enrico Maria Salerno ("Bird With the Crystal Plumage"), Giovanni Di Benedetto ("Four Flies on Grey Velvet" and others) and Dalila Di Lazzaro ("Phenomena").My advice: Skip this trash!