Terror Train

The picture narrates how a group of fraternity executes an initiation prank to a young boy who is emotionally frightened . Years later , a masquerade party is celebrated on chartered hired train and someone mask wearing realizes a series of body count scabrously murdered . The train chief (Ben Johnson) will try to track down the killer among the numerous students (Jamie Lee Curtis, Hart Bochner , D.D.Winters : Vanity). The psychotic murderer is wearing the costume of each successive victim . Who's the killer ? .

Jamie Lee Curtis , as usual , interprets a scream girl (similarly at Hallowen , The fog , Prom night and Road games) in the role of a young student besieged by a cruel and sadist murderer . Jamie Lee Curtis shot this film back to back with the similarly themed slasher film Prom Night in late 1979 ; both films were shot in Canada ; Prom Night in Toronto and this one in Montreal . David Copperfield (as always) acts showing his magic numbers . The film has enough scares , it is plenty of shocks , terror and great loads of bloody and gore . Although technically well made is mediocre and offers a few novelties . Nice cinematography by John Alcott , photographer of ¨Clockwork Orange¨ and many classic English films . The film was professionally directed by Roger Spottswoode . He'll posteriorly attained many success and he'll direct much better movies , such as : ¨Shoot to kill¨ , ¨Under fire¨ and even one with James Bond/Pierce Brosnan . Rating: Average but entertaining .

Jamie Lee Curtis was once again cementing her status as the Scream Queen, after the successes of "Halloween", "The Fog" and "Prom Night", but this one unfortunately wasn't as successful as the previous ones and remains the least remembered. But that doesn't mean that this movie is bad. A Slasher movie set on a train is something different I suppose, which makes Terror Train a stylish and inventive and really makes the most of it's settings. And I also loved the fact that the killer uses different costumes for each murder, pure genius.

The only draw back on this movie is that most of the murders happen off-screen, but more than makes up for it in the performances like Derek MacKinnion who plays Kenny a very well rounded performance, Ben Johnston does well in his role as the train conducter and even real life magician David Copperfield plays his part well. Hart Bochner plays the coward Doc annoyed me and glad he got his just desserts and once again Jamie Lee Curtis is brilliant as the lead heroine and gives the best chase scene in this movie which is the main highlight of this movie in my books.

All in all "Terror Train" is an underrated gem and a highlight on Jamie Lee Curtis's glowing CV.

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.

"Terror Train" is the final Jamie Lee Curtis horror movie (not including the "Halloween" sequels) and it certainly is a high note to go out on. The film doesn't have the substance and art that "Halloween" or "The Fog", but one might find that "Terror Train" is an above average slasher film that, like its fellow Curtis movies, relies more on story and thrills than blood and guts. This movie truly puts others like "Prom Night", "My Bloody Valentine", "Madman", "Happy Birthday to Me", and "Graduation Day" to shame, and one could easily argue that its better than the extremely popular "Friday the 13th" films.

"Terror Train" is a little more complicated than most slasher fares. It is about a fraternity holding a New Year's Eve costume party on a train but someone has boarded the train with a vendetta against the college kids for an accidental prank that occurred several years beforehand. While on the train, the killer takes on the costumed identity of whoever he kills, so who is the killer and who is just dressed up. Its got a great plot and the movie delivers some as well.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Ben Johnson are the stars of this movie, but other big names are included as well. David Copperfield is one of them; he does his job playing himself basically, but the true acting chops go to Hart Bochner, who plays the stuck up, rude, and mostly mean fraternity brother responsible for the accident years ago. Ben Johnson is of course good, but his role is limited to a train conductor. Jamie Lee Curtis is pretty much playing yet another heroine in a horror movie, and her performance is stellar but nothing special.

"Terror Train" is a great slasher film recommended for slasher fans. It has its plot holes, but overall its makes up for them with a good story, some decent suspense, and a great twist ending that you won't soon forget. It definitely doesn't fall off the tracks.

"Terror Train" is available on DVD only on a simple DVD with just the theatrical trailer included. The impending remake may bring about a special edition.

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.