Taking a special train trip together, a class of graduating college students on a special New Year's Eve trip find the experience ruined by a masked killer onboard killing them off in retaliation for a prank gone wrong years ago and must find a way to solve their identity and stop him to get off alive.
This was a generally solid if somewhat useless remake. When this one works is the recreation of the setup which gives this one quite an effective starting point for the events to continue. Offering up the fire prank at the hazing initiation that's close enough to the original but has a slight edge that manages to give it enough of its own touch to be a worthwhile motivation that gets revealed later on. That continues with the interactions on the train which features the same general setup including the groups' sexual hookups behind each others' backs, the main party including the exploits of the sleazy magician interacting with the group, and the series of interactions with the dwindling group discovering the killing going on that makes the story fun. That leaves the film with a highly effective and more enjoyable series of stalking and slashing scenes. The first few scenes with the masked figure sneaking around the train picking off stragglers in sequences that are linked to the concept of no one realizing it's an actual attack undertaking the mindset of a prank. Later scenes here, such as the bathroom encounter, an ambush on an unsuspecting coed expecting a sexual tryst, and a series of chases around the back of the train, have a lot to like with the costume-switching going on keeping the group in the dark on who to trust. The finale, featuring some fantastic confrontations between the survivor and the killer, gets quite a lot to like involving some suspenseful moments and decent gore effects which make this one better than expected. There are some big issues to be had with this one. The main issue with this one is the seemingly obvious one with the unnecessary and questionable need for this one to be a near shot-for-shot remake of the original. Featuring the same general prank, the same general setup, and the same general party on the train being crashed as a form of revenge which causes the film to recreate so many scenes verbatim that so much of the suspense and surprise gets taken away. As well, the inclusion of some rather obvious work done to make the killer obvious renders a lot of the twist ending here underwhelming as a result of pretty much telegraphing everything way too easily. Beyond these factors, though, this one wasn't as bad as it could've been considering its origins.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Brief Nudity.
This was a generally solid if somewhat useless remake. When this one works is the recreation of the setup which gives this one quite an effective starting point for the events to continue. Offering up the fire prank at the hazing initiation that's close enough to the original but has a slight edge that manages to give it enough of its own touch to be a worthwhile motivation that gets revealed later on. That continues with the interactions on the train which features the same general setup including the groups' sexual hookups behind each others' backs, the main party including the exploits of the sleazy magician interacting with the group, and the series of interactions with the dwindling group discovering the killing going on that makes the story fun. That leaves the film with a highly effective and more enjoyable series of stalking and slashing scenes. The first few scenes with the masked figure sneaking around the train picking off stragglers in sequences that are linked to the concept of no one realizing it's an actual attack undertaking the mindset of a prank. Later scenes here, such as the bathroom encounter, an ambush on an unsuspecting coed expecting a sexual tryst, and a series of chases around the back of the train, have a lot to like with the costume-switching going on keeping the group in the dark on who to trust. The finale, featuring some fantastic confrontations between the survivor and the killer, gets quite a lot to like involving some suspenseful moments and decent gore effects which make this one better than expected. There are some big issues to be had with this one. The main issue with this one is the seemingly obvious one with the unnecessary and questionable need for this one to be a near shot-for-shot remake of the original. Featuring the same general prank, the same general setup, and the same general party on the train being crashed as a form of revenge which causes the film to recreate so many scenes verbatim that so much of the suspense and surprise gets taken away. As well, the inclusion of some rather obvious work done to make the killer obvious renders a lot of the twist ending here underwhelming as a result of pretty much telegraphing everything way too easily. Beyond these factors, though, this one wasn't as bad as it could've been considering its origins.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Brief Nudity.