Video Nasty #6 : Night Train Murders (AKA Late Night Trains)

Synopsis: Two friends are on a long distance train journey to visit parents for Christmas. Unfortunately they choose to share a carriage with a couple of psychopathic thugs and a nympho who subject them to rape and fatal torture. When the murdering trio find themselves in one of the dead girl's parents' house the newly bereaved are left with a choice - either hand the murderers over to the police or make them suffer like their daughter.

In 2010 i'm attempting to watch and review all of the films on the DPP Video Nasty list. Click here for an explanation.

If the synopsis to Night Train Murders sounds familiar, that's because it's a slightly smudged carbon copy of Last House on the Left, a film that was made 3 years earlier and also features on the DPP list. Last House on the Left is itself a retelling of Bergman's The Virgin Spring

'Rape & Revenge' is a genre that despite some recent attempts at resurgence has been relegated to exploitation infamy. There are variations on the above plot (see I Spit On Your Grave), but the films all claim to explore the old testament notion of an 'Eye for Eye'. Is it right to reciprocate a violent act with more brutality, or does that just further perpetuate the notion that violence is ok if the person committing it believes they are morally justified? No where is this question more contentious than the scenario of a parent having the chance to avenge the rape and murder of their daughter.

It's an interesting yet tough subject to explore, especially when the film will most likely end up being labelled horror, immediately restricting its primary viewership to adolescent teens and film geeks (i'm guessing i'm the later). Unfortunately, one has to question the morality of the filmmakers when most of the movie is slick stylised violence and the little dialog that addresses the central thesis could of been written by a fourteen year old emo.

Technically Night Train Murders was fine and the cinematography exceeded most other films on the list. The characters were introduced efficiently and, where required, likeable enough. The fact that the upper class female instigates the violence and eventually avoids persecution due to misplaced preconceptions of the parents provides an interesting commentary on how we judge others with respect to class.


I especially enjoyed the way the two male villains were introduced, robbing Santa Clause in broad day light. The only more ham-fisted way to exemplify their evil trait would be to have them beating up the Easter Bunny, or possibly punching a nun.

I suspect Night Train Murders was banned for the same reason Straw Dogs was out of circulation for so long. An early scene in the film shows what begins as a rape turning into consensual sex, which is clearly obscene given the DPP's definition. It should be noted that the equivalent scene in Straw Dogs was far more ambiguous and regardless, that was a really good intelligent film.

As i've alluded, my biggest problem with The Night Train Murders was the lack of intelligent exploration of its supposed thesis. When the violence in your film is more despicable than most exploitation movies (which I think is required to elicit the required response from the parents and the viewer) it has to be balanced out with something approaching intellectualism. If it isn't you end up with a film that is far more offensive than any of the so-called unintelligent nasties. Despite the interesting social commentary on class and preconceptions, the film doesn't really address the central issue of revenge.


The parent's discover they are harbouring the murderers eight minutes from the end of the film, giving very little time to explore the key issue. In fact there were only two instances of dialog that came close to exploring the theme. The first was at a smug dinner party, where there was a brief discussion about society breeding violence (this was the point when I knew exactly how the rest of the film would play out). The second was just before the father executed the second man. His wife screamed the utterly cheesy line 'Hasn't there been enough violence?'. Yeah, she's right. There was enough violence. Just not enough of anything else.

After thought: On reflection I think i was expecting too much from the film, after all, it is an exploitation revenge movie. With this in mind, the pay off is surprisingly tame and just wasn't satisfying enough.