As far as 80s slasher movies go, "Terror Train" could easily be mentioned among the worst of them. It has a very silly story involving a fraternity that pulls a vicious stunt on a naive young pledge by getting one of their girlfriends (Jamie Lee Curtis) to lure him into bed with a corpse at a New Year's Eve party. It sends him over the edge and he goes to a mental hospital. Three years later, the fraternity holds another New Year's Eve party, this time on an old steam engine locomotive train. A killer slips aboard and exacts revenge on the partygoers. Is it the prank victim from three years ago, and if so, where is he? It's the kind of premise that only happens in slasher movies and not in real life.
However, "Terror Train" does have a few big things going for it, and I was surprised at how much I liked it anyway. John Alcott does wonders with the movie's cinematography here, and it helps that the train sets are very realistic and claustrophobic. Alcott plays some of my favorite horror film cards, working movie magic with shadows and lighting. This is the main reason that anything in the movie works at all, because "Terror Train" actually has very little suspense as far as the story goes. The kills are mostly unscary in and of themselves, but the photography and the design of the shots really stretches the material as far as it will go. There are a couple of great "boo" shocks that might give you a thrill, including a few well-orchestrated "hand-grab-from-nowhere" moments.
The filmmakers were also lucky that they had some acting talent on hand. Obviously their trump card was Jamie Lee Curtis, who was the number one box office draw for these types of films at the time. She is absolutely luminous in this movie, especially since most of the other characters are completely flat. Watching this film, you can really see why she became a star; she was already light years ahead of the material, and this was still near the very beginning of her career. Ben Johnson also turns out to be a major presence in the film as the conductor, and if any real comparisons are to be made between this film and "Halloween", Johnson would be the in "Dr. Loomis" spot opposite Jamie Lee here.
But comparisons to "Halloween" are mostly superfluous. The director wasn't going for John Carpenter here, and he does have a nice sense of style. What brings the film down is a heavy sense of deja vu, not to mention the huge lapses in logic, which are right on the surface here. For instance, there is a rather obvious conversation near the beginning of the film where the conductor reveals that the train has no radio. We also spend a lot of the movie wondering why Jamie Lee Curtis' character would be involved in such a mean prank. Of course the script dictates that she didn't know the extent of what was going on, but we still question whether she's the "good girl" or not.
The script isn't very sly in terms of its plot exposition, and the murders themselves are unrealistic (especially one victim who is smashed into a bathroom mirror). You also might wonder how the killer could manage donning all the different costumes in the film, especially when his identity is revealed at the conclusion (you'd have to have already seen the movie to understand, but it involves a spoiler I would not dare give away because it is one of the big pleasures of "Terror Train").
David Copperfield is actually very memorable as...well, as a magician. Ironically, his illusions are way more interesting than this entire movie. A few of the tricks look like they were done with "movie magic" instead of real time, but they're very entertaining nonetheless.
Of course the goods come at the climax of the film, where JLC must go up against the psycho killer alone. At this point her characters still hadn't learned how to actually finish the killer off with the first strike, choosing instead to inflict what must be flesh wounds in hopes of warding him off. But the final confrontation is genuinely creepy, if a little unbelievable.
The violence isn't quite as graphic as other films of the genre. There is a severed head (rather unconvincing) and a few bloody scenes, but otherwise it's fairly tame stuff. Nothing in the movie quite gels, and I can't really say "Terror Train" is any kind of classic, but its own relative obscurity actually works in its favor at this point. Aside from its initial cable-TV run in the early 80s, as well as a brief release on video & laserdisc shortly after, the film almost disappeared into obscurity until its recent DVD revival. Therefore the few shocks it contains are not yet overexposed, and the film isn't often seen. Even though it's not a great film and in many ways is quite stupid, I did enjoy it anyway and I will probably be watching it again.
However, "Terror Train" does have a few big things going for it, and I was surprised at how much I liked it anyway. John Alcott does wonders with the movie's cinematography here, and it helps that the train sets are very realistic and claustrophobic. Alcott plays some of my favorite horror film cards, working movie magic with shadows and lighting. This is the main reason that anything in the movie works at all, because "Terror Train" actually has very little suspense as far as the story goes. The kills are mostly unscary in and of themselves, but the photography and the design of the shots really stretches the material as far as it will go. There are a couple of great "boo" shocks that might give you a thrill, including a few well-orchestrated "hand-grab-from-nowhere" moments.
The filmmakers were also lucky that they had some acting talent on hand. Obviously their trump card was Jamie Lee Curtis, who was the number one box office draw for these types of films at the time. She is absolutely luminous in this movie, especially since most of the other characters are completely flat. Watching this film, you can really see why she became a star; she was already light years ahead of the material, and this was still near the very beginning of her career. Ben Johnson also turns out to be a major presence in the film as the conductor, and if any real comparisons are to be made between this film and "Halloween", Johnson would be the in "Dr. Loomis" spot opposite Jamie Lee here.
But comparisons to "Halloween" are mostly superfluous. The director wasn't going for John Carpenter here, and he does have a nice sense of style. What brings the film down is a heavy sense of deja vu, not to mention the huge lapses in logic, which are right on the surface here. For instance, there is a rather obvious conversation near the beginning of the film where the conductor reveals that the train has no radio. We also spend a lot of the movie wondering why Jamie Lee Curtis' character would be involved in such a mean prank. Of course the script dictates that she didn't know the extent of what was going on, but we still question whether she's the "good girl" or not.
The script isn't very sly in terms of its plot exposition, and the murders themselves are unrealistic (especially one victim who is smashed into a bathroom mirror). You also might wonder how the killer could manage donning all the different costumes in the film, especially when his identity is revealed at the conclusion (you'd have to have already seen the movie to understand, but it involves a spoiler I would not dare give away because it is one of the big pleasures of "Terror Train").
David Copperfield is actually very memorable as...well, as a magician. Ironically, his illusions are way more interesting than this entire movie. A few of the tricks look like they were done with "movie magic" instead of real time, but they're very entertaining nonetheless.
Of course the goods come at the climax of the film, where JLC must go up against the psycho killer alone. At this point her characters still hadn't learned how to actually finish the killer off with the first strike, choosing instead to inflict what must be flesh wounds in hopes of warding him off. But the final confrontation is genuinely creepy, if a little unbelievable.
The violence isn't quite as graphic as other films of the genre. There is a severed head (rather unconvincing) and a few bloody scenes, but otherwise it's fairly tame stuff. Nothing in the movie quite gels, and I can't really say "Terror Train" is any kind of classic, but its own relative obscurity actually works in its favor at this point. Aside from its initial cable-TV run in the early 80s, as well as a brief release on video & laserdisc shortly after, the film almost disappeared into obscurity until its recent DVD revival. Therefore the few shocks it contains are not yet overexposed, and the film isn't often seen. Even though it's not a great film and in many ways is quite stupid, I did enjoy it anyway and I will probably be watching it again.