Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Train Of Terror

In the 1980s, the slasher sub-genre began with Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween running the show, but then Terror Train got started in 1980 and other franchises like Friday The 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street happened, but Halloween was the best—and the makers of this movie knew it since that’s the movie they modeled Terror Train after. Jamie Lee Curtis, made famous in the 1978 Halloween, returned to do a film release roughly a little bit after Halloween and that movie was Terror Train. It was really in Terror Train where she earned the infamous term “Scream Queen” and although she truly wasn’t boosted into superstar status until after Prom Night and True Lies, she still was really good in Terror Train.

One night, a couple freshman (college) coeds decide that it would be a great idea to play a practical joke on a nerd so they pull the joke and end up putting the guy in the hospital. Fast-forward three years. The same crew goes on a train ride to party for a whole weekend, but mysteriously people keep getting killed off and now the people who remain alive must figure out whom of the sixty so people is the killer, but the tricky part is that it’s a costume party so everyone’s wearing masks…Will this terror train derail killing everyone? Will they find out who killed their friends? Find out and rent (or better yet buy) Terror Train.

In case you are wondering, a week or so ago I found a box of a ton of my old VHS tapes (that were mostly handed down from my brother, but I bought some also). All of them were horror movies and not just any by crappy horror movies that I thought were cool back in the old days (Uncle Sam, Jack Frost) and while digging through I found all of my old Halloween movies, Child’s Play movies, and Terror Train among others. The only thing that sucks is that my Terror Train cassette is missing its case and it won’t play (because it’s in crappy condition due to the fact that my family has owned it since 㥚 and that it’s been in a box (on the very bottom) for about four years.

Terror Train isn’t exactly a rip off of Halloween, but they are very similar. Both movies have teenagers (well, not teenagers but young people) being murdered and they are doing drugs and drinking alcohol. Both movies have a silent killer who never talks. Both movies have a killer that stalks (in the sense of spying on people). There’s some more, but those are the real basic ones. But when it comes to liking the movies, I’d say that Halloween is better because the direction has more quality to it, it’s far more scary, and it’s just more interesting. Chances are that you won’t get bored while watching this movie since it is a fun movie to watch. Since this is a slasher movie then there are people getting killed in many different ways, but there isn’t any that truly stand out except one where a person is found dead in a magic box with swords through his whole body and an attempt to kill Jamie Lee Curtis’ character (whose name has slipped out of my head) where she locks herself in the conductor’s office (that looks exactly like a cage) and he tries to stab her with a huge metal bar. These scenes are pretty cool, but you still get the basic ones like stabbings and choke-outs.

What makes Terror Train’s serial killer so cool is that he sports a lot of types of costumes so that no one will know who he truly is. He takes all of his victims’ costumes after he kills them so I thought it was sort of a cool concept. On the cover art it shows a guy wearing a weird looking mask, (that’s ugly) brandishing a knife, (strangely similar to Halloween’s cover art) and wearing a conductor’s hat, yet the murderer only wears that mask for a brief amount of time and he never wears the conductor’s hat at all in the movie. And from the start you have a basic idea of who the killer is, but it’s been three years so the guy’s face would have changed right? Plus, when the last scene rolls you will be really surprised because I was when I first saw it because it was so original. And speaking of original, the storyline was pretty original at the time. It wouldn’t have met today’s standards, but it was kickas$ back then and actually really unique and probably one of the only movies I’ve ever watched involving a killer killing on trains.

The special effects are pretty good. David Copperfield’s in the movie and he’s doing magic tricks a lot in it and some of the tricks that he’s doing looks so real that it’s scary. Either the guy is really making a woman levitate or the special effects were really good. Speaking of David Copperfield, he sucks in this movie. Not only is he one of the biggest dorks ever created, but also his acting skills are just as good as his looks. Jamie Lee Curtis steals every scene that she’s in with him. Plus, when I watched it I noticed how full of himself he is. I just get the feeling that he thinks that he’s cool and it annoys the crap out of me. If you like gore, don’t look forward to the gore in Terror Train because there isn’t as much as you might think. In fact, there is only one sequence that has gore in it and that’s when the conductor finds a head in the baggage compartment.

Terror Of Train…Wait—

Jamie Lee Curtis does magnificently as always and really saves the movie from sucking as$. Not only is she gorgeous in Terror Train but she kicks as$. Close to the end of the movie she totally beats up the killer and it was probably the best scene in the movie and really reminded me like Scream ripped the scene off of Terror Train. If you want to be scared this Halloween or just be scared in particular then I wouldn’t turn to Terror Train. Although the movie is cool, it’s just not scary at all (like it sets out to be and like it promised). The killer is a cool character, but not enough to be scared to go on trains about. With Halloween, I didn’t want to go outside when it was dark or be by a window at night because I’d always think that Michael Myers would come and get me and that just didn’t happen with this schmuck. If you want a scary movie rent Halloween but if you just want to have a good time with your friends then you should definitely rent (or buy) Terror Train because it is awesome although it’s not the best slasher film.

Jay


TERROR TRAIN

Directed by Roger Spottiswoode

Executive Produced by Lamar Card

Written by T.Y. Drake

Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Johnson, and David Copperfield

Rated R For Violence, Terror, Language, And A Scene Of Nudity

1980

99 Minutes

Perfect Occasion For: Halloween




Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older