BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Walter Sloane Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Michael Ledo This movie is based upon the true story of Szilveszter Matuska, a man who derailed trains in 1930-1931 in Austria. His motive is uncertain. Some say it was political, others claim he was a religious fanatic (aka Christian terrorist) while he may have gotten paid. The film shows why there was confusion. In this drama Matuska (Michael Sarrazin) leases a quarry in order to have access to explosives.The film is foreign and dubbed. It has the look of a low budget foreign production. The train wrecks are not spectacular. The dubbing makes the acting look bad. The action and drama move a bit slow which is why they show you the ending of the film first then jump to the beginning, although that is not made clear until you see the same part played over. It is a film that could easily be redone and better. It is okay for an historical drama.Parental Guide: No f-bombs. Sex and nudity (Constanze Engelbrecht, Herlinde Latzko)

Wizard-8 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.

FieCrier 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.

roskalnikov ***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.