Night Train Murders – Severin Films (4k UHD/Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1975
Director: Aldo Lado
Writers: Roberto Infascelli, Ettore Sanzò, Aldo Lado, Renato Izzo
Cast: Flavio Bucci, Macha Méril, Gianfranco De Grassi, Enrico Maria Salerno, Marina Berti, Franco Fabrizi, Irene Miracle, Laura D'Angelo, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Daniele Dublino

Release Date: April 29th, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 95 Minutes 22 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / HDR10
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian, DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region A (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: $44.95

"When two young girls taking a train home for the holidays encounter a pair of sadistic thugs, it will trigger a nightmare of sexual brutality and parental revenge." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5 (4K UHD, Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "scanned in 4K from the original camera negative".

Night Train Murders comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 61.1 GB

Feature: 59.8 GB

The bulk of the source looks excellent; that said, there are occasional moments of print debris, and in the scene leading into the end credits, there is a noticeable flare-up of source damage (a screenshot example below). When compared to previous home media releases, this transfer is an improvement in every way. Colors look correct, image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic look.

Night Train Murders comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 40.3 GB

Feature: 28 GB

The Blu-ray uses the same source as the 4K UHD does for its transfer.

Audio: 4/5 (DTS-HD Mono Italian), 4.5/5 (DTS-HD Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. The Italian language track has some background hiss, and the English language track sounds fuller. That said, both audio tracks sound clear and balanced, and Ennio Morricone’s score is well-represented. Both audio tracks have some dialog in German; the subtitles for the Italian language track translate the German dialog, while the subtitles for the English language track say, ‘Speaking German.’ Included are removable English subtitles for the Italian language track and removable English SDH for the English language track.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 50 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Ultra Violent Magazine's Art Ettinger and Cinema Arcana's Bruce Holecheck, and an archival audio commentary with director Aldo Lado, Moderated By Freak-O-Rama's Federico Caddeo.

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 50 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with actress Irene Miracle titled Train in Vain (16 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actor Gianfranco De Grassi titled Back on the Train (8 minutes 48 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with actress Macha Méril titled The Veiled Lady (21 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with Aldo Lado titled Hear My Train A-Comin' (81 minutes 413 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), a video essay by Kat Ellinger, author of Daughters of Darkness titled Night Train Murders and Sadean Women: Power, Pleasure and the Subversion of Morality (9 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Art Ettinger and Bruce Holecheck, and an archival audio commentary with Aldo Lado and Federico Caddeo.

Other extras include reversible cover art.

Summary:

Aldo Lado directed The Night Train Murders. Though he had a career that spanned 42 years, he’s most remembered for his work in the thriller genre: Short Night of Glass Dolls, Who Saw Her Die?, and The Night Train Murders.

Two thugs and a bourgeois woman terrorized, raped, and killed two girls on their way home for the Christmas holiday.

My first time watching Night Train Murders, I had high expectations because I had already seen Aldo Lado’s Short Night of the Glass Dolls and Who Saw Her Die? Both of these films I thoroughly enjoyed. Italian cinema has long been known for mimicking genres and films that were popular at the time by creating a film of its own to capitalize off of the other films' success. Would Night Train Murders be another clone that offers little in return, or will this film be a fresh take on the source material? There are many elements of Night Train Murders that mirror Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left.

Fate is central to Night Train Murders' storyline; characters' choices play a role in their destiny. Though the two girls, Margaret and Laura, experience the brunt of the two thugs' sadism, they are not the first victims. Macha Méril (Deep Red) portrays a bourgeois woman traveling on the train alone who is the two thugs' first victim. While she initially finds their actions repulsive, she gradually transforms into one of their accomplices. As she begins to revel in the chaos, the two thugs increase their violence, further testing the boundaries of their actions. Did her enthusiasm encourage the boys to go further than they otherwise would have? Her body language and her facial expressions lead the viewer to believe that she is the one orchestrating everything.

In a film filled with unflinching moments of brutality, the most disturbing is a scene with a voyeur. Instead of going for help, he stops to watch the two girls being raped, before being forcibly invited to join in. Despite his fear of the potential consequences for not participating, it is the manner in which he vanishes afterward that reinforces his guilt. He doesn’t tell anyone about what has just happened. Franco Fabrizi (What Have They Done to Your Daughters?) portrays this character superbly.

Flavio Bucci (Suspiria) and Gianfranco De Grassi (Savage Three) are cast in the roles of the two thugs, Blackie and Curly. Flavio Bucci has a unique face that adds to his character's menacing demeanor, while Gianfranco De Grassi does a phenomenal job capturing his character's unpredictability. Of these two characters, Curly is the more insecure, and he relies on drugs to give him an edge. Though there is no character in Night Train Murders that matches Krug from Last House on the Left, the combination of these two characters comes close.

Rounding out the cast are Irene Miracle (Inferno) and Laura D'Angelo (Closed Circuit) in the roles of Margaret and Laura, respectively. It was both actresses' first film, and they deliver exceptional performances that make you feel their characters' terror and suffering. Other cast members of note include Enrico Maria Salerno (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage) and Marina Berti (An Angel for Satan) in the roles of Margaret’s parents. That said, all around, the cast is outstanding.

Ennio Morricone's exemplary score is not to be overlooked when discussing Night Train Murders. Outside of its main theme, the bulk of the score is a harmonica played by Curley throughout. His instincts as a composer were unrivaled, and he often made inspired choices, like the use of a harmonica, which foreshadows impending doom.

From a production standpoint, there is no area where Night Train Murders does not excel. Though the premise feels familiar, the result is a well-constructed narrative that does an excellent job building tension and momentum to its cathartic finale. The visuals do a remarkable job heightening the mood, especially in the way in which they accentuate claustrophobic spaces. The most powerful moment visually are two scenes that juxtaposition images of Margaret and Laura with the former's parents while they are getting ready for their trip and while they are being violated. Ultimately, Night Train Murders is an extraordinary morality tale that is a perfect blend of De Sade and The Last House on the Left.

Night Train Murders gets a solid release from Severin Films, highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

 

                                  Screenshot example of source damage.

Written by Michael Den Boer