Night Train (2009)

Two passengers and the conductor discover that a man has passed away on their night train cabin. They come across a mysterious object in a box the dead man was carrying and they all wish to keep for themselves.

Director:

Brian King

Writer:

Brian King

Stars:

Danny Glover, Leelee Sobieski, Steve Zahn

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Danny Glover	...	Miles
Leelee Sobieski	...	Chloe
Steve Zahn	...	Pete
Matthias Schweighöfer	...	Frankie (as Matthias Schweighoefer)
Takatsuna Mukai	...	Hiro
Togo Igawa	...	Yamashita
Richard O'Brien	...	Mrs. Froy
Jo Marr	...	Mr. Cairo
Constantine Gregory	...	Mr. Gutman
Harry Anichkin	...	Walter
Geoff Bell	...	Detective
Luca Bercovici	...	Man
Mariana Stansheva	...	Woman (as Mariana Stanisheva)
Dessi Morales	...	Nurse (as Desislava Nikolova-Morales)
Yana Atanasova Popova	...	Little Girl

Storyline

Two Passengers and the conductor discover that a person has passed away on their Night Train cabin. They come across valuable diamonds on his person, that they wish to keep for themselves. So, to make it look like the man never boarded the train, they conspire to dump his body in a river that the train passes. Their scheme to get rid of the corpse escalates to the point where they have to chop up his body just to fit him into a small trunk. They then become paranoid, as they might turn on each other.

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Plot Keywords:

greed | body in suitcase | transexual | sole black character dies cliche | drug overdose | 

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Taglines:

Greed has its price.

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Genres:

Crime | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violent content and some language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mrs.Froy (Richard O'Brien) is a reference to Alfred Hitchcock's character "Miss Froy". She was originally introduced in The Lady Vanishes (1938).

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Goofs

After Miles leaves to notify next station about the dead man, Peter approaches the corpse. On the close up you can see the chest moving because of breathing and not because of the movement of the train.

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Quotes

Miles: You're about to carve into that fellow like he's a Christmas turkey!
Chloe: I took an autopsy class last semester.

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Connections

References The Lady Vanishes (1938)

User Reviews

Though atmospheric, ultimately disappoints

I'm a fan of low budget film-making and I am convinced that from the truly talented filmmakers monetary limitations bring out the best in terms of creativity.

Night Train is basically a chamber piece. The whole story takes place within the compartments of a long train riding relentlessly through the darkness on Christmas eve. All the exterior shots are rather cheap looking CGI of the passenger train going ahead in the snow blizzard which in itself is not distracting, on the contrary - the darkness outside increases the gloomy, disturbing atmosphere inside the train. The set design is problematic though. The interior of the train makes it look like we're in the past, early in the last century. I was under the impression that that was the case - even the way people dress in the movie fueled this conviction - but then around 40 minutes into the film one of the characters uses a cell phone.

Although the tech credits are okay, by the look of the inside of the train I could see the film was shot somewhere in Eastern Europe and firing up IMDb I saw I was right. So it's not the dodgy CGI but the unnecessarily confusing set design what gives away the low budget of the film.

Plotwise it's all seen it all before. Many people refer to Shallow Grave in the threads here - yes, the setup recalls that movie, but then halfway through the story it takes a turn into a far more mysterious direction. Problem is, up until that time the plot is very predictable and goes through the usual motions (albeit in fast forward, given the time constraints) as characters debate what to do with the dead body and the loot, begin to act suspiciously to each other and to outsiders then ultimately turn on each other. This mechanical plot takes over from characterization, so after the twist in the midpoint when events become less predictable it's hard to really care because the characters remain thin and uninteresting.

Acting is okay, Danny Glover gives a low-key performance that suits the purposes of the film, while Zahn apparently tries to bring out the best of his clichéd role. Leelee Sobielski is quite convincing at first with her deadpan reactions and attitude but later gives a kind of performance which is borderline comic - I am not sure if this was intentional.

The unfortunate set design and some grave credibility issues (I am no expert of US police procedure but the way a detective handles the situation later on in the film seems quite ridiculous, plus even on Christmas it is hard to imagine only a handful of people would take a train that has a dozen carriages, a working bar and kitchen but no other staff than two attendants) make this a slightly worse than average movie.

Details

Country:

USA Germany Romania

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 July 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Night Train

Filming Locations:

Romania

Company Credits

Production Co:

A-Mark Entertainment, FilmTiger, Instinctive Film

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1