|
|
|
The Train Store - Torture Train
![Torture Train]()
|
List Price: $79.99
Our Price:
Your Save: $ 79.99 ( 100% )
Availability:
Manufacturer: Jef Films/Mvd
Starring: Flavio Bucci, Macha Méril, Gianfranco De Grassi, Enrico Maria Salerno, Marina Berti
Directed By: Aldo Lado
|
Average Customer Rating:   
|
|
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 0056777777775
Format: Color
Label: Jef Films/Mvd
Manufacturer: Jef Films/Mvd
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Jef Films/Mvd
Release Date: 2002-05-28
Running Time: 94
Studio: Jef Films/Mvd
Theatrical Release Date: 1993
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Night Train Murders.
Comment: Night Train Murders was a brilliant, disturbing and politically charged exploitation film that was released from Italy during the 70's. While the film was basically a Last House On The Left rippoff, it still had the ability to shock and be different than many of the exploitation films from that period. It was directed by Aldo Lado who also made the giallo flicks Who Saw Her Die and Short Night Of The Glass Dolls so he was obviously a skilled director who used alot of flair and style, his camera work was stunning and the use of scenery was gorgeous, the lighting in the compartment with its heavy shades of blue was also amazing. The way these scenes are lit adds to the film's claustrophobic and uneasy feel and his direction was tight. The music was also great and it was done by Ennio Morricone, he makes effective use of a harmonica to announce the arrival of the two criminals/psychos.
Night Train Murders was definitely a high class Euro-trash film with first rate acting and good production values unlike Last House, don't get me wrong though I loved both films although the dubbing job could have been better. Ripping off Wes Craven's exploitation classic The Last House on The Left, Lado's film starts with best friends Margaret played by Irene Miracle (Inferno) and Lisa (Laura D'Angelo) preparing to travel overnight in a train to spend the Christmas holidays with Lisa's parents in Rome. Unfortunately a couple of punks Blackie (Flavio Bucci) and junkie Curly (Gianfranco De Grassi), hitch a free ride on the same train when they board it to escape a policeman who was chasing after them. Once on the train the punks amuse Margaret and Lisa when they ask them to help them hide from the ticket collector, but things soon turn sour when Blackie gets acquainted with a mysterious lady (Macha Meril) while trying to rape her and Curly has a violent confrontation with the ticket collector.
Margret and Lisa get back at their compartment resolving to keep out of harms way for the remainder of their journey. They even change trains when theirs is held up at a station by the police who are keen to arrest Blackie and the others and for a while they seem at ease in their new train having conversations about their next college term and their sex lives (or lack of), but it's at this point that they're joined by Blackie, Curly and their seriously twisted new female accomplice and soon things turn ugly. Macha Meril delivers a chilling performance as the pervert who encourages the street thugs to violate the girls. Meril (who played the doomed psychic in Argento's Deep Red) has an exotic beauty and her devolution from respectable intellectual to a sadistically cruel woman is quite convincing. Earlier in the film you'll notice the character trying to hide some pornographic pictures that fell from her purse from the other passengers and this reveals her dark and sadistic side which she attempts to conceal. The rest of the cast were great too especially the two girls who end up in this sad and horrific situation.
In the 15 minute interview extra on Blue Underground's DVD release, Director Aldo Lado mentions Night Train Murders as equal parts thriller and social commentary and he claims to have never seen Last House On The Left but liked the basic story outline prepared by his producer Roberto Infascelli who had been very impressed by Craven's film. He also says that he wanted to make a statement about society's class conflicts and the way the rich use young proles to commit crimes that satisfy their own secrets and forbidden desires. The Rape and violence was quite disturbing but not as graphic as I Spit On Your Grave or Last House but it still managed to be a very grim and unsettling film and there was a knife scene that's guaranteed to make you cringe, it was quite sick!. Night Train Murders is a fantastic film overall, the likes of which just don't get made anymore and it's a worthy addition to any hardcore horror fan's collection especially those who like these type of well made Italian exploitation/horror films, check it out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: not all its cracked up to be
Comment: I purchased this film thinking it would be much like last house on the left except on a train, and it was. The biggest dissapointment about it though is that its not as gory and the few killings there are in the film just arent brutal. It is well filmed though and very watchable.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Superior to Last House on the Left
Comment: I know this movie was inspired by the Last House on the Left, but there is really no comparison. This is the far better movie. Macha Meril plays a fantastic villian. The acting here is excellent, where in Last House, it was pretty bad all throughout the first half of the movie. The director sets a good tone of appropriate creepiness. The train setting is fantastic, because it gives you a feeling of claustrophobia, there is just no place to go! There is a theme of the "rich taking advantage of the poor to serve their evil needs and getting away with it", and it makes things even more interesting. I think this movie worked better than Last House because it builds a feeling of dread, without the absurd attempts at "comic relief". The revenge aspect wasn't quite as satisfying, but it is more realistic.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not the best of it's kind, but very well done
Comment: Night Train Murders is often called Last House on the Left on a train and make no mistake it's fairly obvious where Night Train Murders got its idea from. It's pretty much the same exact movie at times only difference is set on a train. Basically if you have seen Last House on the Left you pretty much know how this movie will turn out.
Night Train Murders has a lot going for it though; for starters unlike the movie it knocked off there is no comedy here. It's a straight forward movie with no happy ending.
The script by Renato Izzo & Aldo Lado lacks in the character development, but despite that they are able to create real characters as well as make some political statements. Aldo Lado also directs and does a fine job at the pacing of the movie; the first half of the movie is rather slow. Not a whole lot happens as we follow the two teenage girls who despite depth come across as real and likeable people.
Some people might find the first half boring and in many ways I understand why. But despite the slowness I still quite enjoyed it. I liked the two main characters and that helped keep my interest. The scenes with the parents early on are also well done and like the two girls the parents lack depth, but come across as real people.
Night Train Murders does start to get a little boring right before the villains attack the two girls. But it's only a matter of minutes before the movie picks up again. The torture scenes on the train are actually rather tame compared to most movies like this. Though the razor blade scene easily has to rate as one of the most twisted scenes ever; besides that scene while there are some shocking moments and the torture scenes are unpleasant Night Train Murders is though very tame compared too many movies with this style.
The train scenes during the attack are very well done; first off it's well shot and beautifully lit. The blue lighting used really is amazing and adds to the tension. The girls are stuck with these terrible people and you feel as if you are stuck with them as well. Anything that might be lacking in those scenes is made up for with the feel of claustrophobia.
The villains are pretty much a poor mans version of the villains from Last House on the Left, Flavio Bucci as Blackie even has a resemblance to David Hess. Despite that the villains work well for the most part and are very unlikable. In movies like this even when the villains pay for their crimes there is no happy ending due to what came before. But Night Train Murders while offers nothing really different to this genre doesn't have your typical ending.
Like in real life not everybody pays for their crimes and while there is revenge in Night Train Murders not everybody gets what's coming to them. While it's some what disappointing it also keeps the movie a little more real. The two thugs are worthless vile people who truly get what they deserve, but I thought the most interesting part was the fact the Lady on the Train played by Macha Meril was probably the most sadistic.
The lower class will often pay for their crimes, which they should; but many times the upper class even if more ruthless a lot of the times get away with what they have done. Some of these aspects help keep Night Train Murders feel very real. The revenge scenes were solid, but they could have maybe lasted a little longer. They are too quick, but at the same time get the job done.
While Night Train Murders may not be the best this genre has to offer and the torture scenes are tame compared to other movies like this, it still works well and is rather unpleasant to watch. Even when the movie ends you still feel a bit down due to what came before it. For those looking for something hardcore you won't find it here, but Night Train Murders is quite well done in my opinion.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Take The Bus Next Time
Comment: Italian cinema in the 1970's, the home of cheap imitations and ruthless money obsessed producers whose last concern was the creative or artistic endeavours of their directors. Despite the mercenary capitalism of Italian film production, a few genre films of note drifted out of the mediocrity. Aldo Lado's 1975 effort "The Night Train Murders" lies in that perilous middle ground between an interesting film with some value and a shameless rip off, of in this case, Wes Craven's "Last House on the Left". From a narrative point of view the films are identical and so is the rather feeble moral message about violence and the society that breeds it. Naturally the sadistic sexual violence is deeply unpleasant and its impact is increased by Ennio Morricone's Spartan and uncharacteristically minimalist soundtrack (excluding the truly awful Demis Roussos theme song). This brutality left me rather hollow and empty. However Lado's does have cultural value. It builds on a concern present in many Lado films, which is the uncompromising exploitation of a younger permissive generation by a bored, apathetic and dangerously decadent bourgeoisie. What gives this film added virulence is that the bourgeious is represented by an astonishingly sadistic woman. She plays the young thugs like mindless puppets as they act out her darkest and sickest fantasies. The films conclusion punishes the young thugs with death, but the female sadist survives which implicitly suggests that bourgeious exploitation will continue. The same message can be found in Lado's superior giallo "Short Night of Glass Dolls". The film is made with polish and style by Lado, who is an accomplished director, he eschews the rough and ready cinema verite approach of Craven, to produce a uniquely European take on this revenge tale. However this doesn't excuse the film or the sour taste it leaves in the mouth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
