Terror Train

A mean spirited prank sends a coed into a mental hospital and he plans his sweet revenge on the classmates who sent him there while on a New Year's Eve train party.

It's a simple set up, but a lot of it is effective. There's a surprising lack of gore, but the killer's multiple disguises are downright eerie. A late in the game twist does genuinely surprise as well. Actors such as Ben Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Hart Bochner elevate the threadbare material throughout and the finale ends up being more intense than it probably should be as the masked madman terrorizes Curtis throughout the train.

"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.

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.

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.