Night train murders registers itself in the category of most disturbing movies of all times. It is inspired by Wes Craven's Last house on left,which was released couple of years earlier but it appears more brutal because the story looks more realistic and believable. Two girls travelling by train on Christmas Eve are humiliated and tortured sadistically by two men and a woman. Its amazing what wonder, a good direction does to a pretty tame storyline. Firstly we are introduced to two super pretty and innocent characters and when we start liking them, the movie get switched to its darker phase showing ruthless violence & extreme brutality towards the most affectionate characters in the movie. Some may categorize it as 'torture porn'though I have seen hell lot of gore movies which are meant to affect you visually, but this one is supposed to hunt your mind, it tracks you mentally and makes you feel sick and disturbed

Director Aldo Lado is doubtlessly best known for his beautiful and eerie Gialli "La Corta Notte Delle Bambole Di Vetro" ("Short Night of the Glass Dolls" / "Malastrana", 1971) and "Chi L'ha Vista Morire?" ("Who Saw Her Die?" / "The Child", 1972). And rightly so, as "L'Ultimo Treno Della Notte" ("The Night Train Murders", 1975) isn't nearly as good nor as elegant as the man's Gialli. A blatant rip-off of Wes Craven's Exploitation classic "The Last House on the Left" of 1972 (which itself is a remake of Ingmar Bergmann's 1960 film "The Virgin Spring"), "The Night Train Murders" bears no surprises, and only few elements that make it worthwhile, other than a score by Ennio Morricone. "The Last House on the Left" spawned a variety of (mostly Italian) rip-offs in the following years, including Ruggero Deodato's ultra-nasty "House on the Edge of the Park" (1980), and one must sadly say that this is one of the less interesting ones. Personally, I have never been the biggest fan of Craven's film, but it is doubtlessly a milestone that was disturbing, genuinely shocking and unforgettable once one has seen it. This film has no originality, and while it has the potential to shock and disturb, it only does so in a depressing manner.***Warning! BIG SPOILERS!!!*** Lado simply takes the story of Craven's film and transfers it into a train. Laura (Martina Berti) and Margaret (Irene Miracle) are going by train from Munich to Verona in order to spend the Christmas holiday with Laura's family. Two lowlife scumbags and a perverted bitch (played by Macha Méril, who is best known for her role in Argento's "Profondo Rosso" from the same year) begin to harass the two girls, later rape them. Later they accidentally kill one of the girls in a sadistic game, the other girl throws herself out of the window of the running train and dies. As it happens, fate then leads the three scumbags to the house of Laura's parents, and her dad is eager to take bloody revenge for his little girl...No surprises here, just an exact copy of the plot of "The Last House on the Left", only that it isn't as effective and the ending is very lame. At least in Craven's film we saw all the scumbags wiped out by the parents, whereas in this film, the crazed female culprit, probably the worst of the pack, is still breathing by the film's end. Now that's what I call depressing: Having to see the poor girls tormented and killed first, and then not even having the opportunity to see all those responsible die agonizing deaths - this kinda makes you feel cheated as a viewer."The Night Train Murders" is very sadistic, but actually pretty tame in its actual depiction of gore and sleaze compared to other films of the kind. Even though i obviously didn't like this film, I have to say that it does have some good aspects. The performances are above average for a low-budget exploitation feature, particularly the beautiful Macha Méril, whose face every Italo-Horror fan will recognize from Argento's "Profondo Rosso", is wonderfully diabolical in the role of the perverted bitch she plays. The score by Ennio Morricone is good, of course, and there is one sequence that, even though depressing, goes beyond the plot of "Last House on the Left" and therefore can be applauded for its uncompromising character: The sequence in which a spectator, instead of helping the girls or calling for help happily joins their rapists once invited. Though unpleasant to watch, this scene uncompromisingly visualizes the rotten character of so many 'square' people who are always happy to do evil things, as long as they are not likely to get caught.Still, "The Night Train Murders" is a disappointment in my eyes. The film's utterly depressing character isn't necessarily a flaw, in my opinion. I tend to love depressing, shocking and disturbing Exploitation films. This one just has no originality, and in the end it just leaves a feeling of emptiness, since the revenge part is not properly completed. Not recommended.

NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS, like many have already noted is a very thinly veiled homage (or a straight-up ripoff, depending on how you look at it...)of LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT - only this this one is set on a train.Two girls are heading home for the holidays on a train in Europe when they are accosted by two creepy guys and an equally creepy woman who begin tormenting the two young travelers. The taunting starts off pretty tame but quickly escalates. Without spoiling too much of the "fun stuff"...one of the girls is killed "accidentally" and the other jumps out of the moving train in terror and dies. Through an unlikely chance meeting, the girls parents unsuspectingly meet up with the killers and invite them to their house (a la LAST HOUSE...). When a newscast tips off the mother and father as to the fate of the girls, the father decides to take revenge in typical 70's exploitation fashion...Overall NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS is a decent film. A little slow going especially in the beginning, but the story is relatively tight - if also very derivative. The rape and revenge scenes are relatively tame by today's standards - I was hoping for something a little rougher, but - I have a soft spot for these 70's exploit "classics", so my rating may be a little higher than some. Not a masterpiece by any means, but worth a look for the genre enthusiast. Stick with LAST HOUSE, THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE or I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE for stronger, more original takes on this genre of film. 6/10

Laura and her friend Irene are travelling back to Italy on the overnight train from Munich for Christmas, also on board are two pickpockets Curly a heroin addict and Blackie on the run from the German police for mugging Santa Claus…HOHOHO!. All seems well on the over crowed train and the girls kick up a rapport with the boys and help them avoid the ticket collector, Macha Méril plays a seemingly respectable lady passenger content to discuss social issues with other seemingly respectable passengers until that is she meets Blackie in a toilet where he forces himself on her meeting little resistance, and after an unprovoked attack on another passenger by the two boys she seems hooked on the seedier side of life.The train is stopped in a deserted station after the police receive threats that there is a bomb on board…The two girls see this as there chance to rid themselves of the troublesome boys and as luck would have it there is a direct train leaving shortly for there home town. The girls enjoy a candlelit lunch on board the dark and cold train which is lit only with a blue light, they seem relaxed until they realize the boys have also jumped trains with their lady friend in tow. The trio force themselves into the girls compartment where they subject them to demeaning sexual acts which go a little too far resulting in one of the girls being killed in a hideous manner,the other fleeing half naked jumps from the moving train as she is chased by the two boys,she falls to her death. Laura's parents await her arrival at the train station but the only people there are the murdering trio, who seek assistance from Laura's father as he is a doctor and the lady passenger has an injured leg that requires treatment.The trio return to Laura's house where they rest up and have dinner,unaware of who's house they are in. The parents become suspicious of the boys and after they hear that two girls bodies have been found beside the railway line, Laura's father seeks revenge on the boys, whom he dispatches in a very bloody way, the respectable lady escapes scott free pleading innocence. A very gritty film that rips off Last House on the lefts idea of revenge, although Lado claims he hadn't seen it at the time. Lado's film is supposed to an indictment on violence and other social issues and to be fair he doesn't show too much gore and also doesn't resort to unneeded nudity, while I found the film interesting there wasn't enough tension for me….maybe it was down to Lado's laid back way of telling the story which was very matter of fact. Exploitation fans will probably love it.