Written by T.Y. Drake
Directed by Roger Spottiswoode
Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Johnson, Hart Bochner and David Copperfield
USA/Canada, 1980
It wouldn’t be horrorfest without at least one icon and this year it’s going to be scream-queen Jamie Lee Curtis in TERROR TRAIN.
The movie starts out on unsteady footing as a group of college kids stage a prank that seemingly leads to one kid being so traumatized, he ends up committed. This prank involves a dead body, which I think sinks the entire thing immediately. I’m supposed to empathize with Jamie Lee Curtis, who was peer pressured into participating in this prank, and who ultimately regrets it, but a dead body? That’s too far. That takes it way outside the realm of “normal” college prank, nevermind the fact the prank is also sex-based, which is bad enough.
You might be wondering what any of this has to do with a train, and it doesn’t, really. But, three years later, all these college kids end up on a party train of sorts for their New Years Eve bash. A mysterious killer is also on board the train, hence the terror, and it quickly becomes apparent that the victim of this prank from the beginning of the film is back and looking for revenge.
Eagle eyes will spot the name “David Copperfield” in the credits and sure enough, here he is, in all his glory, playing… a magician! He wows the kids with sleight of hand and becomes a prime suspect. But we all know he’s not guilty of anything, except making the Statue of Liberty disappear. But that was years later and this isn’t MINORITY REPORT.
I’ve seen Jamie Lee Curtis in several horror movies by this point, including several slashers, and I gotta say, so far, this one’s the worst. It doesn’t make very good use of the train setting and ultimately commits one of the worst sins of any movie, let alone a slasher: it’s boring.
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