Video Nasty #16- Night Train Murders

(1975)
Director: Aldo Lado
Writers: Aldo Lado, Roberto Infascelli, Renato Izzo, Ettore Sanzo

Night Train Murders (a.k.a. Late Night Trains, Don't Ride On Late Night Trains, Last Stop On The Night Train, Last House- Part II, New House On The Left, Second House On The Left, Torture Train, and Xmas Massacre) doesn't try to hide the fact that it is ripping off Wes Craven's Last House On The Left. In fact, the entire marketing campaign seems to have been built around it with many posters stealing the tagline of "Keep Repeating... It's Only A Movie..." or the variant "You Can Tell Yourself It's Only A Movie... But It Won't Help!" But just because it's clearly imitating another movie doesn't mean that it doesn't have any merit.

The film begins with a rather upbeat song and scenes of a busy city which include our main characters, two young women who are taking an overnight train from Germany to one of the girl's parents' house in Italy where they plan to spend Christmas. Meanwhile, two thugs running from the police sneak aboard the crowded train. The girls eventually run into the thugs and help them to hide from the ticket collector. One of the thugs sneaks into the restroom after a wealthy older woman (Macha Meril, the psychic from Dario Argento's Deep Red) whom he intends to rape, however she willingly consents to the act and eventually becomes a sort of mother-like figure to the group. Meanwhile, the other thug stirs up trouble when he threatens a family with his switchblade. Feeling uncomfortable with the increasingly disturbing behavior on the train, the two young ladies transfer to a different, less crowded train only to find that the two thugs and the wealthy woman have followed them.

If you've seen Last House On The Left, the rest of the movie should provide no surprises for you. Unlike Last House On The Left however, there is no goofy music to break up the tension but instead a wonderful score by Ennio Morricone. Night Train Murders plays out like a less gritty, more stylish European version of Last House On The Left. Because of this take, I would say that Aldo Lado's Night Train Murders actually feels sleazier than Last House On The Left.

Obviously, with so many similarities to the already banned Last House On The Left, it's easy to see why Night Train Murders was added to the Video Nasty list. Violence against women was certainly a hot-button topic for the BBFC and Night Train Murders has it in spades. That being said, it's a beautifully shot film and even though it's a bit derivative, it's still a must-see for any fan of seventies-era exploitation cinema. 4 1/2 out of 6 beers.