Had a BU Blu ray double bill last night of Torso and Night Train Murders. My first viewing of both these movies and, given their respective reputations, I was surprised by my reactions. First Torso - I thought this was a poor effort. I found the directing style really strained - every other shot was the camera peeping behind something - a statue, a chair, a bed knob - this got old real quick. The gore was unexpectedly brief but maybe that's a good thing because what there was was laughable. Everytime the pace lagged (often) the director threw more and more breasts at the problem - OK for a leer but not my idea of a classic horror movie. I kept waiting for the 20 minutes of 'pure cinema' Eli Roth promised in his introduction but it never arrived. Maybe the fact that this movie was the inspiration for his career speaks for itself. Now, the positive, Night Train Murders - what a brilliantly directed and gripping movie! I expected this to be a down at heel affair with a fair load of the red stuff but it turned out to be a highly impressive piece of work and barely explicit at all. Great lighting, memorable villainess (that psychic out of Inferno) and first rate use of sound/location. Only downer was some sledgehammer 'social comment' scenes but apart from that a highly recommended from me - didn't see that coming!
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