21st Century B-Movie

It's kinda sad that there is no more theatrical outlet for B-movies these days: no double features, no (or darn few) drive-ins, no inner-city grindhouses. Nowadays, the equivalent of the B-movie is the made-for-TV movie or the straight-to-DVD release, which is usually a movie which was made for theatrical release but which never got sold to a distributor. These movies usually have the stink of failure about them by the time they get on the market, and I'm just as bad as any other film snob--I will rarely watch a straight-to-DVD movie, though I did have a positive experience a while back with Kabluey.

I'm glad I took a chance on Night Train, a recent DVD release of a theatrically orphaned movie which was filmed in Bulgaria in 2007. On Christmas Eve, a bedraggled man, popping pills and clutching a Christmas present, runs to catch a train, gets on, and promptly drops dead. The other two passengers in the car, an alcoholic salesman (Steve Zahn) and a young med school student (Leelee Sobieski), open the gift and find a small locked wooden box with what seem to be priceless gems inside. The conductor (Danny Glover) wants to lock the box up until they get to the next stop where they can report the death, but Zahn and Sobieski talk him into an elaborate scheme to get rid of the body and keep the treasure for themselves.

Glover, whom we assume will be the moral center of the story, gives in--he has a sick wife and plans to use his cut of the money to get her better care--and soon we're in Treasure of the Sierra Madre territory as greed and paranoia get the better of the characters. Disposing of the body proves to be a rather messy problem (a funny but graphic scene, and one that shows that Sobieski has what it takes to be the leader of the group), but when they think they're in the clear, who shows up at the next stop but a man who was supposed to meet the dead guy. The important cinematic references become The Maltese Falcon and Kiss Me Deadly. Just when our anti-heroes think they've taken care of him, the cops stop the train. Around this time, things take a turn for the Twilight Zone, and I'll give away no more of the plot except to say that the ending is both ambiguous and satisfying.

The first thing I liked about this movie is its look: virtually all of it is set on the train decked out with Christmas lights and decorations, giving most scenes a hazy red, green, or blue look that winds up being much creepier than you might think. Despite the limited setting, the active camerawork keeps the film energetic. All of the exterior shots of the train racing through snowy landscapes are done with CGI and look like it, but they're effective nonetheless.

I also liked the movie references. I can't give all of them away, but it's no spoiler to say that the dead guy's name is Cairo, the fat man looking for him is Gutman (both from Maltese Falcon), the salesman's name is Dobbs (Sierra Madre), and an old lady on the train is named Froy (Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes). The mix of noirish thriller, fantasy, and horror works well, and I like the twists and turns the plot takes near the end--not at all realistic, but catnip for movie buffs.

The acting is solid, with Zahn giving the best performance as the schlubby salesman; he gets the few comic lines in the movie and underplays them nicely. (I like that Zahn sometimes looks like a demented Robert Morse, as if his character in How to Succeed in Business had gotten laid off.) Glover does his usual sturdy, authoritative persona, and Sobieski is fine as the quirkiest character, who seems to have unplumbed depths. Richard O'Brien (Riff-Raff from Rocky Horror) has a surprising role. The characters are all underwritten, but this isn't a character-driven drama. Had this movie gotten out to theaters, it would likely have died a quick death, but perhaps it will find an audience on disc, though anyone renting this assuming it's an action quickie will be disappointed, and would probably be bothered by the mid-way turns to fantasy and horror. However, I highly recommend it.