Terror Train (1980) 20th Century Fox/Horror RT: 97 minutes Rated R (language, graphic violence, brief nudity, sexual content, partying, alcohol use, drug references) Director: Roger Spottiswoode Screenplay: T.Y. Drake Music: John Mills-Cockell Cinematography: John Alcott Release date: October 3, 1980 (US) Starring: Ben Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Hart Bochner, Sandee Currie, Timothy Webber, David Copperfield, Derek MacKinnon, Anthony Sherwood, Joy Boushel, D.D. Winters (Vanity), Greg Swanson, Howard Busgang, Steve Michaels, Victor Knight, Don Lamoureux. Box Office: $8 million (US)
Rating: ***
As Halloween approaches each year, I like to pick a few movies out of the horror archives and revisit them. My traditional Halloween movies are Prince of Darkness and Halloween III: Season of the Witch, but I always augment them with other scary movies like the 1980 slasher flick Terror Train.
Ah yes, 1980, one of the golden years of slasher movies. It stars the original Scream Queen herself Jamie Lee Curtis whose presence graced such blood-drenched classics as Halloween I & II, Prom Night, The Fog and Road Games. I’m not saying that all of these movies are great (or any good for that matter), but her presence in these movies elevates them slightly above other entries in the genre. Terror Train is her best non-Halloween slasher flick.
It goes without saying that I didn’t see this one at the movies (the trusty parental block in action once again!) even though the poster hung on my bedroom wall. I saw in April ’82 at a friend’s house during an overnight visit. I remember it well because his mother gave us a good scare as we watched it in the comfort of a dark living room. It’s one of the only times that I ever screamed while watching a horror flick. Good times, right John B.?
I would even go so far as to say that Terror Train is one of the best slasher movies that I’ve ever seen. True, it lacks the copious amount of bloodshed that I typically look for in such a movie, but it has a sense of fun and style that makes it impossible to overlook. As you know, many of these movies feature a once-big star whose shine has faded in the face of a new generation of actors. In this case, Ben Johnson (Shane, The Last Picture Show) shows up as the conductor on the ill-fated train ride.
These movies tend to start with a horrible tragedy that ultimately brings about a bloody massacre some years later. In Terror Train, it’s a fraternity prank gone horribly wrong. At a New Year’s Eve frat party, a bunch of pre-med students decide to prank a shy and awkward pledge named Kenny Hampson (MacKinnon) by having one of their girlfriends, Alana (Curtis), lure him into a bedroom with the promise of sex. When he gets there, he finds a woman’s corpse in the bed and totally freaks out. He ends up confined to a psychiatric hospital.
Three years later, the same students gather for another party, this time on a train. It’s one of those old-fashioned jobs that run on coal. It’s a costume party which means that the killer could be hiding anywhere in plain sight. We already know it’s Kenny, but it takes a while for these supposedly intelligent future doctors to figure this out. What makes this killer different from every other mad slasher is that he assumes the mask and costume of each murder victim as he goes down the list. Like I said, the killer could be anybody. Suspicion even falls on the magician (real life illusionist Copperfield) that some unknown person has hired to entertain the rowdy partygoers. It’s Carne (Johnson) the conductor who first sees that somebody is killing his passengers. As you might guess, it all comes down to Alana facing off against the killer. I will say that some of these kids deserve what happens to them, especially Doc (Bochner, Die Hard), the ringleader of the group. The prank was his big idea.
Like I said, Terror Train is a fun movie. It’s perfect for young teens watching their first R-rated horror flick. It’s violent, but not overly so. The nudity is brief and the sexual content relatively mild. Young children still shouldn’t watch it, but it’s a refreshing change of pace from any given entry in the Saw franchise. I would even say that Terror Train is innocent (comparatively speaking).
Nobody in the cast turns in a performance that could be mistaken for an Oscar attempt, but why should they? We’re not talking about a Fellini film here. Hell, we’re not even talking about Hitchcock. I doubt that the Master of Suspense would have even liked it. It’s directed by Roger Spottiswoode who would go on to bigger and better things (in some cases anyway) like Under Fire, The Best of Times, Shoot to Kill, Turner & Hooch and Air America. I’ll refrain from bringing up Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.
Ben Johnson knows he’s starring in a no-brainer, but he still brings his A-game to the table. Jamie Lee Curtis is very much at home in this genre. It’s easy to see why she would go on to become a big star, but I never would have guessed that she had a gift for comedy (Trading Places, A Fish Called Wanda).
Don’t watch Terror Train expecting any kind of horror classic, but feel free to raise your expectations slightly as it’s a pretty good slasher flick. It does exactly what it’s supposed to do, it racks up a respectable body count and even provides a decent scare or two. No, I’m NOT counting Mrs. B sneaking up behind us although I thought that was the scariest part of the movie (LOL!). What I’m getting at here is that Terror Train is a lot of fun and worth checking out. Or checking out again.
