Late Night Trains Movie Review

Trailer here.

Late Night Trains a.k.a. Night Train Murders is a 1975 Italian thriller directed by Aldo Lado and starring Flavio Bucci, Macha Meril and Irene Miracle.

The story begins with two young ladies, Margaret(Miracle) and Lisa. They are travelling from Munich to Italy on the train to spend Christmas with Lisa's parents. There are two criminals on the train also. They are Blackie(Bucci) and Curly. They are causing trouble on the train and they have no tickets. They spot the two girls. The girls are messing with them and chatting to them. There is a woman on the train who is looking for someone to have sex with. Blackie obliges and they have sex in the bathroom. Curly attacks a train worker. Margaret and Lisa are horrified. They move away from the two criminals. The train stops in Austria because of a bomb threat and they try to call their parents. There is no answer and they have to catch a different train. The woman and the two criminals get on to it also.` The train is old and empty for the most part. Margaret and Lisa feel very nervous.

The thugs get into their compartment and they have the woman with them. They are acting strangely. This worries the two girls. Curly is a drug addict. He shoots up and becomes crazy. The woman and Blackie start fondling each other etc and this makes the girls uncomfortable. Curly pulls out a knife. The girls are scared now. Curly tries it on with Lisa and she has to play along with him. There is a peeping tom on the train who they bring in and make rape Margaret. He gets away from them and heads off. Curly and the woman end up killing Lisa with the knife.  Margaret tries to run and she ends up jumping out of the window of the train and dying from her fall. Lisa is flung out of the window by the three criminals. Curly keeps a tie that Lisa had bought for her father.

Lisa's parents hear about the deaths of two young women on the radio. When Margaret and Lisa don't show up, they realise something bad has happened. The woman meets Lisa's father, who happens to be a doctor. She asks him to help her. The two crims accompany her. Lisa's mother recognises the tie that Curly has. She had been talking about it with Lisa earlier on in the movie so she knows that it must have come from Lisa. The peeping tom has an attack of conscience and he calls the police and tells them that the two criminals and the woman killed the two girls. Lisa's mother tells the dad about the tie. They confront the woman about it and she says that the two thugs did it and she was just a victim. The dad goes on a rampage and he kills Curly. Blackie runs, but he gets caught and shot. They are both dead, but the woman sees to have weaseled her way out of it. The movie ends with the police coming and we don't know if the woman is arrested.

I think it is obvious that this film is influenced by The Last House on the Left. It isn't as good as that film, though. There are some uncomfortable scenes in this. It isn't for the faint hearted. You know that something bad is going to happen to the girls, but it's still not an easy watch. I didn't like the ending. It was not satisfying to me. I think all three of the criminals should have been killed. It is one of those films that you won't forget in a hurry, but it really doesn't contain anything too awful compared to modern movies. The action doesn't happen immediately and it takes the film a while to get going. If it sounds like your kind of movie, then it is worth a look. I will give it a 5/10.