interesting that this film is labelled as a revenge film. by now i consider myself a bit of a connoisseur of rape revenge films. this movie is a rape revenge film. it's even supposedly based on ingmar bergman's the virgin spring and the wes craven remake, the last house on the left.
i see the lineage. i see the similarity. late night trains is a rape revenge film. and the thing is, there isn't even a satisfying revenge. it lacks the "showmanship" of craven's last house. i haven't seen the virgin spring but i bet it's wayyyy better than whatever this garbage is. furthermore, one of the perpetrators is just let off scot-free. are you kidding me? it really is a "can i copy your homework? i promise i'll change it" moment. furthermore, the revenge literally comes in the last 10 minutes. so for the rest of the film, you just feel the dread building up. which is effective i guess. this film suffers from the same problems many rape revenge films suffer from, which is prioritizing the terror of women and brutalization of their bodies to justify violent retribution. again, i understand the theory that it places men in the place of women. but is it really feminist to brutalize and abuse women for the sake of getting men to feel just a scrap of empathy?
i've seen enough rape revenge films after my capstone project (which is officially finished and turned in by the way. yay!). i turned this on thinking it was going to just be another giallo flick. man was i wrong.
interesting that this film is labelled as a revenge film. by now i consider myself a bit of a connoisseur of rape revenge films. this movie is a rape revenge film. it's even supposedly based on ingmar bergman's the virgin spring and the wes craven remake, the last house on the left.
i see the lineage. i see the similarity. late night trains is a rape revenge film. and the thing is, there isn't even a satisfying revenge. it lacks the "showmanship" of craven's last house. i haven't seen the virgin spring but i bet it's wayyyy better than whatever this garbage is. furthermore, one of the perpetrators is just let off scot-free. are you kidding me? it really is a "can i copy your homework? i promise i'll change it" moment. furthermore, the revenge literally comes in the last 10 minutes. so for the rest of the film, you just feel the dread building up. which is effective i guess. this film suffers from the same problems many rape revenge films suffer from, which is prioritizing the terror of women and brutalization of their bodies to justify violent retribution. again, i understand the theory that it places men in the place of women. but is it really feminist to brutalize and abuse women for the sake of getting men to feel just a scrap of empathy?
i've seen enough rape revenge films after my capstone project (which is officially finished and turned in by the way. yay!). i turned this on thinking it was going to just be another giallo flick. man was i wrong.
