Pretty Good

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

While I was watching "The Train Killer", I kept thinking that the movie sure looked like a made for television effort despite some nudity, sex, and a couple of impressive train wrecks. Doing some research after watching the movie, I came across some evidence suggesting it was indeed made for European television, but I was unable to get enough confirmation. Anyway, the cheap look of the enterprise isn't the only problem to be found here. The main character is barely explored - there's no real explanation (or even theories) brought forward as to why he wants to wreck all those trains. Also, the feel of the movie is very sedate, despite the explosions and wrecks - the movie comes across as surprisingly low key, so much so that it's hard to stay alert and interested in what happens. You'd be better off looking up Szilveszter Matuska on the Internet and reading about him rather that watching this disappointing movie.

I watched this on videotape, but it is out on DVD both by itself and in one or two cheap DVD sets from Platinum and/or Brentwood.I didn't find it very involving. It would have helped a little bit if it were in Hungarian with English subtitles, but unfortunately it was dubbed. It was also full-screen, and I suspect it looked a lot better in widescreen given that it deals with wide things like trains, and bridges and so on; the color was nice.I think a documentary about the real-life subject of this film would have been more interesting. Oh well.As the English title The Train Killer suggests, the subject is a man who compulsively derails trains by various methods. Why he does so is not clear. There are a couple brief sex scenes which do feature some nudity.

***SLIGHT SPOILERS*** What an odd little film. It's lovingly photographed in places, but the direction is slipshod, the screenplay laughable, the acting almost ineffably terrible, and the dubbing among the worst I've heard. Despite these flaws, I was somehow drawn to the very end of the picture, which is more than I can say for many recent thrillers I've regretted seeing (Memento leaps to mind). I suspect my patience would have thinned had it not been based on a true story. But the film's connection to reality, though probably tenuous, was enough to hold my interest to some small degree. Some psychological depth would have been nice in a movie about a man who reveled in the destruction of trains in pre-war Hungary, but the closest we get is when the protagonist leans over a stretch of track, toiling to bring about one of his catastrophes, and mutters to himself, "Damn trains!" Oh, I get it! He doesn't like trains. That's why he kills all those people and destroys all those trains. Oh well, whether I recommend it or not (I do, kind of), you may be hard pressed to find a copy of it, and I don't foresee a DVD release anytime soon.

This is a quality movie with quality dubbing based off of historical fact. While there may be multiple versions of this short movie (as a lot of people were uncredited in my VHS US dubbed version), the story is the same. Aside from one flashback sequence, to get the story going, the movie flows along wonderfully and logically. Historical dates, statements, and results are even given. AND, there is room for a sequel (Holloywoodinized of course). Yet being nearly 2 decades old, this movie is not well known. It is quality in a drama/thriller/mystery role and is recommended (if you can find it). viewed/owner on VHS