Director Aldo Lado combines Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring (1960) and Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left (1972) to create a sick and twisted Italian rape-revenge horror film that makes for a nightmare-inducing and uncomfortable viewing experience.
The film begins with scenes introducing the key characters. Two young women, Margaret (Irene Miracle) and Lisa (Laura D’Angelo), are ready to take the overnight train from Munich to Verona, Italy, to spend Christmas with Lisa’s parents. Guilo Stardi (Enrico Maria Salerno), Lisa’s father, is a surgeon trying to reconcile his deteriorating marriage and is looking forward to seeing his daughter for Christmas. The girls board the train only to discover that every available seat is occupied, forcing them to sit in the corridor. Two thugs, Blackie (Flavio Bucci) and Curly (Gianfranco De Grassi), hop on the same train without a ticket to elude the policeman who is after them for theft. They run into Lisa and Margaret, who help them hide from the ticket collector. Blackie then encounters a mysterious woman (Macha Meril), shown to be dressed impeccably (including a black veil over her face), and her mannerisms indicate that she is an upper-class, aristocratic woman. He follows her to the bathroom and forces himself on her, but she accepts his advances and seduces him instead, and they end up having sex. Both young girls start feeling uncomfortable with the two thugs’ behavior and decide to separate from them. That night, following a bomb threat, the train halts in Innsbruck, Austria, and is searched by the authorities.
The second act begins with Lisa and Margaret getting off the train and boarding another one, which is virtually empty and will take them directly to Verona. As they are having dinner, Blackie and Curly, now joined by the woman, invade their compartment. What happens next is the most disturbing part of the film, depicting two girls getting tortured in the most horrific way imaginable. Beautifully shot in pitch black with a blue color palette, the director makes the train compartment feel like a claustrophobic hellhole from which escape seems physically impossible. What comes as a shock is that the lady is the primary initiator and that she turns out to be a sadistic and sexually deranged person who pushes men to perform disgusting sexual acts on the girls and then takes pleasure in watching them. There is a scene in which a peeping tom is seen outside the compartment watching the girls get molested. The woman spots him, lets him in, and then Blackie forces him to rape Margaret for her pleasure. You will never see a woman enjoy and enable the sexual exploitation of another woman to the extreme levels depicted in this film. However, one of my issues with this film is regarding the mysterious woman’s character. She is this wicked person doing horrible things, but the reasoning behind her cruelty and sadism remains opaque. The makers try to give some context early in the film by showing a photo of her having an orgy, but it feels insufficient because her character needed something more substantial to justify her behavior.
The film elevates itself in the third act. After arriving at the station, Lisa’s parents are alarmed when the girls don’t show up. But they do encounter Blackie, Curly, and the woman. The film masterfully handles the suspense of how the parents will learn about their daughter’s fate and what will happen once they do, flawlessly connecting all the dots without allowing the plot points to be coincidental or predictable. Last Stop on the Night Train is not for the faint of heart, and there are some moments in the film where you may find yourself averting your gaze from the screen on more than one occasion.
Last Stop on the Night Train is available for free on YouTube.
Last Stop on the Night Train movie link: IMDB
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