"No one likes the idea of a totalitarian state, but..."
-Intellectual on Train

Dystopian horror thriller revealing a world eroded by fascism.

When, amongst intellectuals, democracy is still not the one and only possible form of government; when certain backwards dinosaurs still hoot nazi patter like it's 1942; and when even Santa Clause can get robbed on the streets without any entailing consequences; you should at least suspect you (still) have a problem with fascism.

*minor (obvious) spoilers ahead*

The train in Late Night Trains, or more specifically, one compartment on the train turns into one of those totalitarian states, with all of its trademarks: suppression of the weak, dictatorship, abuse of power, etc. etc., testing its "advantages" and disadvantages. When the situation suddenly gets out of hand, and one of the oppressed is accidentally killed and another flees and would rather kill herself than to get reintegrated into the fascist regime, it doesn't take a lot of mental stretching to figure out if that form of government is good or evil.

Then, the end of the movie suggests a rather brutal method to resolve the problem. It suggests to actually play the Darwinistic game, to pick up the rifle, and to fight fascism with fascism.

List: Italian Exploition Essentials