THE PLOT THUS FAR
A pair of psychotic hoodlums and an equally demented nymphomaniac woman terrorize two young girls on a train trip from Germany to Italy.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
Two young girls, on the way to Italy to spend Christmas with one girl’s parents, find themselves trapped in a train compartment with a sadistic upper class woman and two low-life thugs, who perform various humiliating and cruel acts on them. Meanwhile, at the younger, virginal girl’s parents’ villa, a Christmas party is taking place, and the parents are blissfully unaware of the girls’ predicament.
As with most Italian movies of this period, the film takes a while to get started, with many fill up scenes that aren’t of much interest but once it gets going the film makes a strong impact. The scene where the two girls get molested is a pretty tough viewing experience. Lado stretches the scene to almost unbearable length, displaying such inhuman and immoral tendencies you can’t help but be disgusted. The final violent confrontation between the distraught father and the violators becomes not only justifiable but wholly satisfactory.
The film’s intercutting between the normal goings on in the lives of the father and mother of one of the girls and what’s happening to them on board the train makes a strong impact as well. Lado is purposely trying his best to make the events even more unbearable and sad and it works very well. The script is also philosophical to some extent, displaying grounded ideas about the human nature and it’s incapability of letting go of some it’s animal instincts and it’s refusal to be controlled.
The Blu-Ray comes with international trailers, interviews and radio spots. The A/V Quality is impeccable with a 1080p transfer that looks better than print quality. Hell, the DTS-HD 2.0 mono master audio track is properly mixed a natural respect for the original mono track. Blue Underground continues their impressive work with another undersold classic of Italian horror. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase to all Italian horror fans.
RELEASE DATE: 01/31/2012
