Night Train (Blu-ray)

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Video:
The specifications on the box indicate that the video is rendered in a 1080i, 1.78:1 widescreen format. The movie has somewhat of a dreamy look to it. Because of this, I felt at times the image was a bit soft on a few occasions. However, for the most part, this movie has a solid HD transfer. The snow which forms an important part of the movie is rendered beautifully along with solid black levels and contrast. Having said this, I felt that the video could have retained some grain to give it a film like texture. I believe DNR was applied although it never destroys the overall experience. For a low budget movie like this, I was pleasantly surprised with this transfer.

Audio:
National Entertainment Media, Inc has included a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix for this BD release, along with regular 5.1 Dolby surround sound. The movie for most part is front-channel driven. This mix provides more depth to dialogue. On a couple of occasions I had to raise the volume as I could not hear the dialogue clearly. To me it seemed that the dialogue wae sampled at a lower volume than the rest of the movie. However, whenever we see the train rumbling on the tracks from the outside, we get a good workout from all the channels. Overall, a fairly competent track when compared to similar BD releases.

Extras:
The disc contains a fifty-minute promotional extra where the director and producer talks about their motivation for the movie specifically from "The Maltese Falcon" and their tight budget. The crew also engages in a discussion about the CG and sets involved for "Night Train". This extra feature is letterboxed and not enhanced for widescreen TVs.

Also, included in the disc is a Photo Gallery and trailer.

Parting Thoughts:
Before I got this movie to review, I had never heard of "Night Train." I got somewhat interested when I saw Danny Glover as one of the actors in this movie. The homage to old noir films and Hitchcockian thrillers does not really come through for me. More so, the unfocused script quickly evaporated my minimal expectations. The filmmakers were more focused on showing senseless hacking and slashing instead of creating a true sense of tension in the film.