Terror Train (1980)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Roger Spottiswoode

Writer:

T.Y. Drake (writer)

Release Date:

3 October 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

The boys and girls of Sigma Phi. Some will live. Some will die.

Plot:

A masked killer targets six college kids responsible for a prank gone wrong years earlier and whom are currently throwing a large New Year's Eve costume party aboard a moving train.

Plot Keywords:

Costume | Train | Party | Prank | Student

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Ben Johnson	...	Carne, Train Conductor
Jamie Lee Curtis	...	Alana Maxwell
Hart Bochner	...	Doc Manley
David Copperfield	...	Ken, The Magician
Derek McKinnon	...	Kenny Hampson (as Derek MacKinnon)
Sandee Currie	...	Mitchy
Timothy Webber	...	Mo
Anthony Sherwood	...	Jackson
Howard Busgang	...	Ed
Steve Michaels	...	Charley the Brakeman
Greg Swanson	...	Class President
Vanity	...	Merry (as D.D. Winters)
Joy Boushel	...	Pet
Victor Knight	...	Walter the Engineer
Donald Lamoureux	...	Shovels the Stoker (as Don Lamoureux)

Also Known As:

Le monstre du train (Canada: French title)
Train of Terror

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (1990) (cut) | Finland:K-18 (1981) (cut) | West Germany:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | UK:X (original rating) (1980) | Finland:K-18 (uncut) (2007) | Italy:T (VHS) (alternate rating) | Italy:VM14 (VHS rating) | Italy:VM18 (DVD rating) | Australia:R | France:-16 | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (re-rating) (1989) | USA:R | South Korea:18 | Spain:18

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company:

Astral Bellevue Pathé

Trivia:

Filmed aboard actual train cars that were converted to allow space for large camera equipment for the production.

Quotes:

Carne, Train Conductor: Have you ever shoveled any coal?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006)

A slasher set on a train. Simple but great!

Within its genre this movie is simply a great and effective one. It's a real typical early '80's slasher but with as an original point its setting. The movie for most part is set on a train, which makes the movie its story simple but at the same time also provides it with the right atmosphere and material to create a good and effective genre movie with.

The story is quite ridicules, I mean why doesn't the train just stop when the first killings start to occur but the story for most part is still being made believable by its professional approach of it all. Even though this was Roger Spottiswoode's first ever directed movie, the movie looks and feels like it got made by a genre expert, who had been in the business for at least a decade already.

It's a typical slasher that is basically about a killer killing the one after the other med-student, who are celebrating new years eve on a train. You also don't really know who the killer is, since its being implied that it could very well be one of the passengers and its not just simply the kid Ken who got pranked badly at the beginning of the movie.

The movie progresses nicely, though it of course is not being very surprising all. It has a good atmosphere that helps to build the suspense of the movie. Like most early slashers, it's not being very gory by todays standards but those who are into the genre and familiar with this type of movie shouldn't really mind this.

It's a nice little extra that the movie also stars the queen of scream Jamie Lee Curtis, in the early days of her horror-career. It's quite weird to also see magician David Copperfield in this. Strangely enough it's also his only acting role, which makes you wonder why he only said yes to this particular movie. It's not like it is his greatest moment, though he also isn't exactly any worse than some of the other actors within this movie.

It's too bad that the movie sort of looses its touch toward the end, when things seem to get rushed. This probably also has to do with the fact that this movie got shot in only about a month time.

A bit too unlikely to consider this movie the best the genre has to offer but within its genre it's simply still a great and maintaining enough movie, especially of course when you're a fan of the genre.

6/10