Movie review: ‘Terror Train’

FloridaGator80

Anyone worth their horror film salt knows that Jamie Lee Curtis made her breakthrough mark with John Carpenter’s “Halloween” in 1978 (click here for my review). It was her first film after five TV acting credits and she quickly became known as the modern day “Scream Queen” for her horror film roles. Some were good; some not so good. One of the better, but little-remembered ones is “Terror Train” from 1980, three years before her big breakout role in the comedy-drama “Trading Places” (click here for my review). The year of 1980 saw her in three horror efforts including “Terror Train,” “Prom Night” (click here for my review) and “The Fog.” So, here’s my look at “Terror Train” and you’ll find a neat, underrated horror film worthy of your time.

‘Terror Train’
(1980; 97 minutes; rated R; directed by Roger Spottiswoode and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Johnson and Hart Bochner)

WATCH OUT! REVENGE CAN BE MAGICAL

(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional opinion, some more trivia and the updating of links on Aug. 12, 2017. I again expanded the review with some additional trivia and the updating of links on Aug. 14, 2018. I again expanded the review on Oct. 25, 2022.)

“Terror Train” has all the stereotypes of the horror film genre: A killer bent on revenge; college students; an enclosed area where they’re picked off one-by-one; and, of course, it stars Jamie Lee Curtis, whose breakout role in “Halloween” two years before “Terror Train” put her in Hollywood’s sights for bigger things to come (try “Trading Places” three years later).

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What’s not stereotypical is that “Terror Train” has a solid, complicated-but-easy plot and an excellent turn by Curtis as the vulnerable but tough-to-kill coed and Hart Bochner as the frat boy at the top of the to-kill list by the confused failed frat boy pledge-turned homicidal maniac. Finally, you’ll find a good but limited supporting cast that includes co-star Ben Johnson, an Oscar winner in his own right, that makes sure this one isn’t run-of-the-mill. In fact, it’s about as underrated as a great horror film as you can find. Watch out for the ** spoiler alert ** later in this review.

As “Terror Train” builds to its climax, more stereotypes appear: The wrong person identified as the mysterious killer; the search of a room by one victim who misses the killer; and, best of all, the killer you thought was gone pops back up again – of course, after the heroine is left alone at a time you’d think she’d be surrounded by everyone else.

Especially efficient is how the director and screenwriter manage to keep the killer going around unnoticed on the small train. Since it is held during a costume party it would appear easy, but the logistics of keeping it fresh with the audience is more of a difficult task than one might believe and one executed well (no pun intended).

The story of “Terror Train” is simple: College kids play a prank involving a corpse and a gullible freshman during a party. The freshman goes off the deep end and three years later at a past winter party – at least one character wears a Northern Illinois sweatshirt in an early scene – and it becomes obvious that he’s back and dealing deadly from the deck of revenge.

In the wake of the 1974 cult horror classic “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” by director Tobe Hooper, audiences were hit hard with a flood of horror flicks by the end of the decade. The “slasher” sub-genre would follow because of “Halloween,” but this kind of film would become more sickeningly graphic and others such as zombie and vampire flicks would follow suit through their gore. “Halloween” remains the gold standard that was only equaled 12 years later by Wes “A Nightmare on Elm Street” Craven’s rejuvenation of the genre with “Scream” in 1996 – click here for my review of that one.

  • A Golden Globe winner and five-time nominee (not for this one), Curtis plays “Alana Maxwell” and does her typically good horror film job: She’s good and maintains the standard she set in “Halloween” as well as bringing some acting chops along the way. Of course, Curtis would later cast aside her “Scream Queen” image for much better acting work in films such as “A Fish Called Wanda” and “The Tailor of Panama” as well as even action biggies such as “True Lies” (click here for my review). She won a Globe for “Terror Train” and got a win and a nomination for “Anything But Love.” Curtis was nominated for TV’s “Scream Queens” and “The Heidi Chronicles” and on the big screen for “Freaky Friday” and my favorite of all her acting efforts, “A Fish Called Wanda.”
  • Bochner is no stranger to being a frat boy tormentor (see “Breaking Away” – click here for my review) or the know-it-all jerk who’s a doomed character (see “Die Hard” – click here for my review) and he’s really good at this here as “Doc Manley,” the casually cruel, sadistic schemer behind pranks – especially the one at the beginning of the film. Bochner is smooth and collected in this role at least until he knows he’s in the killer’s sights. Bochner has also been in “Say Nothing” and “Company Retreat.” I like him best after TT as the ego-ridden corporate fool who does an early exit in “Die Hard.”
  • An Oscar winner (not for this one), Johnson, who plays train conductor “Carne,” does an efficient job here as he’s the first to find out about the killer, who manages to deflect detection by getting rid of bodies and switching costumes. Johnson has had much better roles, even when they are smaller such as in Sam Peckinpah’s seminal and nearly-perfect “The Getaway” with Steve McQueen and Al McGraw (click here for my review), and has been in “Hang ’Em High,” “The Wild Bunch,” the original “Red Dawn” (click here for my review), “The Sugarland Express” and “Dillinger” (click here for my review). He won his Oscar as well as a Golden Globe for “The Last Picture Show.” Johnson died at 77 in 1996 of a heart attack.
  • Internationally renowned illusionist David Copperfield plays “Ken the Magician” (who else?) and begins to develop the character just as the film begins the killer’s real rampage on the train. He has also voiced himself on TV’s “The Simpsons” but “Terror Train” is his only film role playing a character.

** SPOILER ALERT! **

The killer “Kenny Hampson” is played by Derek MacKinnon (he’d later drop the “a” in his last name). MacKinnon is good in his one scene across a table from Curtis, but otherwise has little acting exposure. He has also been in “Breaking All the Rules” in his brief, four-role career (including as “Drag Queen” in “Family Motel” – he did cross-dressing in “Terror Train”).

** SPOILER ALERT ENDS **

Where would a horror film be without a supporting cast of doomed characters? Well, here are a few:

Sandee Currie as “Mitchy;” Timothy Webber as “Mo;” Anthony Sherwood as “Jackson;” and Howard Busgang as “Ed” (he’s the funniest and does the best supporting job) are the friends who are doomed.

Currie, who was in her first movie here, has been in “Curtains;” Webber was in a string of TV roles in his prolific career that continues today; Sherwood in the sci-fi horror cult classic “Scanners” (click here for my review); and Busgang, also in his first film here and who is now a producer, was in “Head Office” (click here for my review).

I’m not sure why my usual source of Box Office Mojo doesn’t list “Terror Train” for the box office ranking in 1980. Wiki reports here that “Terror Train” made $8 million on a budget of $4.2 million. The Box Office Mojo then should have ranked it 70th in U.S. ticket sales, a spot ahead of “Fatso” which brought in $7.6 million. Curtis’ “Prom Night” was 49th with $14.7 million at the box office, while the No. 1 film was “Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back” with $209.3 million.

Assorted cast and notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Nadia Rona has a very small and inactive part: she plays “corpse” (from the prank scene at the beginning). Rona has also been in “Street Smart” in her four acting roles and is now better-known for casting or being the casting director for films such as the horrid “The Jackal” (click here for my review) and “The Whole Nine Yards.”
  • The train used for the film, Canadian Pacific Railway No. 1293, was still in service 20 years later, but I couldn’t find out whether it still is today.
  • While Roger Spottiswoode was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for directing the HBO film “And the Band Played On” (click here for my review), “Terror Train” was his first directing credit. He’d go on to other films on TV as well as big-screen efforts that include “Turner & Hooch,” “Air America” and the 007 effort “Tomorrow Never Dies” (click here for my review).
  • The film was shot in November and December of 1979.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “Actor Ben Johnson once said of this movie in which he co-starred: ‘I hadn’t even read the script for Terror Train (1980) when I told Roger [Spottiswoode, the director] I’d do the role. I had enormous admiration for his work on the [Sam] Peckinpah films, and I knew he’d make one helluva fine director.’”
  • Paul Lynch reportedly was offered the director’s chair for this one, but turned the offer down. You, like myself, probably ask, “Who’s Paul Lynch?” I don’t know his work and therefore would say Spottiswoode was the best for the job.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “Body count: 7 on-camera (confirmed); 3 off-camera (unconfirmed); 1 missing (presumed dead); none of whom include the killer.”

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