Films such as Saw and Hostel became the focal point for the recent sub-genre that many have dubbed “torture porn.” Since the genre’s inception, a ton of independent and studio-based direct-to-DVD films have been made that fall into this category. I, personally, am not a big fan of this newly created sub-genre. I like my horror to be smart, not pointless gore and guts. Some films can work with such gratuity and violence, and Train is one of those few films.
Train is about a traveling co-ed wrestling team that is tournament-jumping throughout Europe. Alex (Thora Birch) and her friends are told by their couch to be in bed by 8pm in order to catch an early morning train headed to their next tournament. However, Alex and a small group of her friends, along with the wrestling assistant go to a local rave and party until the sun comes up. The coach is waiting for them at the train platform, and he is pissed off that he had to put the rest of the team on the train and wait for the stragglers. Unable to get the next train, they meet a woman who invites them to board a train she is working on as it is stopping at the location of the next tournament. Little do they know that a group of foreign organ traders runs this train, and they plan to make Alex and her friends the next victims of body harvesting.
The story may seem simple, and yet it is more dynamic than one might think. We do not just get a story that is full of one blood-filled scene after another. You slowly learn that the film has meaning, and that while you may think the killers in this film are just killing for the fun of it; you soon learn that this is their livelihood, immoral as it may be. We learn that through their evils, they are actually helping people from other nations that do not have the means that many European nations and the United States do. The story starts off slowly as we are submitted to about twenty minutes of what many teenage horror films need to make the film suitable, such as nudity, sex, drugs and drinking. I can at least give this film credit for getting it out of the way in the first ten minutes and then getting on with the story. The script is decent, and develops the characters very well to the point that we really start to feel something for them. The dialogue is at time corny, yet the consensus is that this film does get its point across.
The film has some very well-constructed sets and great visual and make-up effects. It is a film that has good production value all around from the director’s use of shots and lighting techniques to its impulsive editing. Some of the scenes could have been lit a bit better here and there, but overall it is a very well put together film. The acting is really what you would expect with a film that only has one known star in it surrounded by a bunch of unknowns. Thora Birch, who is best known for her work in the Academy Award-winning film American Beauty, is the centerpiece of the film. She does a decent job as Alex, and I think the acting would have suffered dearly if an unknown had been cast in the role. The supporting cast is subpar. In fact, think the script could have done without some of the characters. There is an overabundance of characters in this film for which some of the acting suffers. You cannot always blame the actors for a bad performance, and in this case, some of the dialogue and the way it was performed left me shaking my head.
The DVD is, for the most part, a bare bones DVD with the exception of a behind-the-scenes featurette. The film is presented in widescreen with English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Digital Audio and optional English and Spanish subtitles.
Train is a film that surprised me. While the film does have its flaws, it is surprisingly entertaining and has some suspenseful moments. I really enjoyed the fact that it is not just a blood-and-guts movie and actually has some substance by inserting the social issue of black market organ harvesting. With most so-called torture porn films, it’s just about the shock value. While Train has plenty of shocking and disturbing moments, it is a film with substance and I think not only will fans of the sub-genre enjoy this film, but people like me who like a little more than just a shocking horror film will enjoy as well.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
