Beware the film of exploitative decent that compares itself to another that is viewed as a leader in the genre. Promising more thrills, chills, spills and kills, it is more often than not...a lie. More so than that, beware the film that tries to pass itself off as a sequel, when in fact it's nothing more than a tired old rehash attempting to cash in on the phenomenon, and in turn, make a quick buck...once again, another lie. While Night Train Murders is not a direct sequel to Last House on the Left, promotional materials and alternate titles would certainly suggest otherwise. Title configurations are so close, it's a wonder that they didn't at one point consider Last Night Train on the Left...or did they? On the same note, Night Train Murders is not necessarily one of those titles we should beware of either, on it's own, it holds up fairly well, despite the obviously all too familiar comparisons, I have to admit that there's quite often an exception to just about every rule and Night Train Murders could very well stand as one of these exceptions.

It's true that Night Train Murders was conceived, solely based on the success of Last House on the Left. The formula was quickly applied to achieve this end result, this is something that director Aldo Lado will not deny. But to its credit, Night Train Murders is not a throwaway copycat exploitation flick. It may not be MUCH more than this in the end, but it is indeed MORE than this nonetheless. Story is not so much of importance here as style and execution, so we're going to keep the synopsis brief.

Two college students are on their way home for the holidays to visit with the one young girls family. They hop on a train, unaware of the ordeal they are about to face. Without giving too much away, let's just say that the young girls are accosted by two young men, and a fairly older upper class lady. They are tormented and abused both physically, and emotionally. So it's pretty obvious, formula wise, Night Train Murders follows that of Last House on the Left pretty closely. If you are indeed familiar, I'm sure you can figure the rest out from here, not much has changed.

It's difficult to mix a high level of gratuitous exploitation with a certain level of believability, one of the appeals of Last House on the Left is this even mix. Night Train Murders manages to pull it off as well. There's a great lead up to the sadism, and while things do tend to get a bit silly (as with Last House as well) this factor of believability is still very much present. Another plus is the films' attempts at social commentary, class structure et al. While Lado speaks of these issues during his interview it's evident he has a stronger perspective on the strength of the message than I did, nonetheless, it's there and the attempt is definitely acknowledged.

Worthy of note is the fact that it takes quite a bit of time to reach the meat and potatoes of Night Train, so those in the market for a quick and dirty fix of nastiness may have come to the wrong place, as there is a long and deliberate build up. Also of note is the fact that there is primarily just one extended scene of gratuitous debauchery, until we get to our moment of retribution. This isn't to say that this is Disney style entertainment up until this point, but unlike Last House, Night Train Murders doesn't stew in it's exploitative juices quite as long.

As far as the quality of the presentation, Blue Underground has hit another one right out of the park. The anamorphic image is near spotless and the mono audio is crystal clear. Extras include a brief onscreen interview with director Aldo Lado, trailers, radio spots and a healthy stills gallery.