Monster im Nachtexpress

Three years after a prank gone wrong, a costumed killer is targeting some snotty college kids on board a train. I happen to like trains and I enjoy a good '80s slasher film as well. This one isn't half bad. Not great but good. Some will be disappointed as there isn't much gore. The cute girl quota is filled by Jamie Lee Curtis, Sandee Currie, Joy Boushel, and Vanity. Who can forget Hart Bochner and Ben Johnson? Well, quite a few people can but they're good here anyway. Of course the big selling point is David Copperfield playing -- wait for it -- a magician! The plot's fairly thin and the killer is hardly a surprise but it's all good fun with some suspense and a decent cast for the genre. All aboard!

The college students Doc (Hart Bochner), Michelle "Mitchy" (Sandee Currie), Mo (Timothy Webber), Alana (Jamie Lee Curtis), Edward "Ed" (Howard Busgang) and Jackson (Anthony Sherwood) plot a prank for their college mate Kenny Hampson (Derek McKinnon); however the joke goes wrong and Kenny ends up in a mental institution. Years later, Doc and Mo decide to celebrate their graduation with a costume party and a magician (David Copperfield) aboard of a train. In the embarkation platform, Ed is murdered by a killer that wears his costume of Groucho Marx. Then he kills Jackson and wears his costume of The Swamp Thing. The conductor Carne (Ben Johnson) discovers his body, but who might be the masked killer?

"Terror Train" is an average slasher, with a claustrophobic story developed in a moving train. The identity of the killer is discovered but the he and his victims wear costumes and is difficult to identify who might be him. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Trem do Terror" ("The Terror Train")

Note: On 09 Sep 2022, I saw this film again.

Well, I have to say Terror Train was an excellent film. Like Prom Night, the suspense takes alittle while to get going, but it's worth it. The real scary parts are the first mask the killer wears, and the big chase at the end. Even though Prom Night is thought of as a classic, I think it's nothing compared to Terror Train. Of course it's no Halloween, but then again nothing is. And for those who say this was just to cash in on Jamie and HAlloween, your wrong. There is no relavance to Halloween except Jamie and the killer wears a mask. This is an out of print movie, so if you get a chance to rent it or see it on tv, go for it you won't be sorry!!! If for nothing eles, get it for jamie. This is a mystery too, and the killer is never who you think. It's obvious when he is revealed and you'll kill yerself if you get it wrong. I sure did. Jamie once again prove she is, was, and always will be, The Scream Queen!!

This movie is really good. It is a very creative idea isolating people on a train. I really just love this movie. Good acting, some suspense, and I loved how the killer was there the entire time. This movie really surprised me. I've seen comments these other users have made, complaining about how it was a Halloween rip-off. Don't base the fact of whether or not you're going to view this movie on these opinions. This movie is nothing like Halloween and it isn't so much trying to be Halloween. If you say this movie is a Halloween rip-off you may as well say that about every other slasher movies. It is silly to not watch this movie because some other person who had way too HIGH expectations about this movie says it was bad. It is a great movie, but if you watch it with high expectations of another Halloween you'll be disappointed.

The 1980 horror film TERROR TRAIN might best be described as HALLOWEEN on the rails. In it, a fraternity has a party taking place on a train speeding through the Canadian night. And then, one by one, without anyone knowing it (a situation made even more complicated by the fact that everyone's dressed up in disguises), they all get bumped off in shocking and violent fashion by a maniac. And as with HALLOWEEN and THE FOG, the heroine at the center of this is none other than Jamie Lee Curtis.

But unlike most HALLOWEEN-inspired bloodfests, TERROR TRAIN does boast a lot of good things to lift it above the worst of an always-bad bunch. The director here is Roger Spottiswoode, who served as a film editor for some of Sam Peckinpah's films, including his 1971 horror film STRAW DOGS. The train's conductor is portrayed by veteran character actor Ben Johnson, a stalwart of both John Ford and Peckinpah who won a Supporting Actor Oscar in 1971 for THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. Even more, the atmospheric cinematography of TERROR TRAIN is provided by the legendary British camerman John Alcott, whose groundbreaking work for Stanley Kubrick, including 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and THE SHINING, is legendary. Furthermore, the violence and bloodshed are surprisingly kept relatively down; and while the revelation of who the killer is may not in and of itself be so surprising, it does give the opportunity for both Johnson and Curtis to be heroes.

TERROR TRAIN may not be everyone's cup of tea (and it doesn't really compare to HALLOWEEN); but for those willing to take a spooky ride, it is well worth it.