Terror Train.

Review #2603: Terror Train.

Cast: 

Ben Johnson (Carne), Jamie Lee Curtis (Alana Maxwell), Hart Bochner (Doc), Sandee Currie (Mitchy), Timothy Webber (Mo), Derek MacKinnon (Kenny Hampson), Anthony Sherwood (Jackson), Joy Boushel (Pet), Vanity (Merry), Greg Swanson (Class President), Howard Busgang (Ed), and David Copperfield (The Magician) Directed by Roger Spottiswoode (#171 - Tomorrow Never Dies, #191 - The 6th Day, #1205 - Air America, #2532 - Shoot to Kill)

Review: 

"In this sense, I was probably not the ideal person to make Terror Train, because I’m not a great believer in overt violence onscreen. To be honest, I don’t see a lot of horror films. I hadn’t before Terror Train, and I haven’t since. It was rather a coincidence that I made one of the more violent pictures, Straw Dogs, which was considered incredibly violent at the time. Although it doesn’t look so now.

I had lots of arguments with Sam about onscreen violence with which I did not personally agree very much. I think you can make a film exciting without being graphic. I feel rather strongly and extensively about this…that onscreen violence is not a particularly good thing. You can create an exciting film without doing that. It wasn’t political. It was just in my nature to do it that way."

Sure, everyone wanted to grab the coattails of movies such as Halloween (1978), so why not go with actually having Jamie Lee Curtis as one of the key leads? Daniel Grodnik (previous executive producer of such films as Starhops [1978]) had the initial idea of the film because, well, why not try Halloween but on a train? It eventually grabbed the attention of Sandy Howard and led to a road of making a film to take advantage of the tax shelter in where else but Canada (it was Howard who apparently wanted a magician in the film because, well, he liked magic tricks). The script was written by musician-turned-writer Thomas Y. Drake, who mostly wrote for television with the exception of this film and the long-delayed The Keeper (released in 1985). The director chosen was a first timer with Roger Spottiswoode, who had previously served as an editor on a couple of movies (Straw Dogs [1971], Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid [1973], The Gambler [1974], Hard Times [1975]). Apparently, Howard and his production company had a vague knowing of him as a writer because Spottiswoode had sent a script to them (you might remember that he yearned to direct after getting his start in editing and had written an early draft of 48 Hrs. [1982]). He initially rejected it but was approached about doing it again two months later and basically was cajoled into doing it (Howard aimed to have him direct and edit, for which Spottiswoode soon hired his own editor). In a year that brought out slashers such as Friday the 13th and Prom Night, Terror Train found distribution with 20th Century Fox that saw them apparently spend over $5 million in marketing that ended up not fulfilling their high expectations despite being a light hit. For his part, Spottiswoode enjoyed his experiences making the film, even if he felt that he wasn't the ideal director to make a slasher film with, say, plenty of excess gore. Grodnik hammered away as a producer (while once dabbling as the CEO of National Lampoon magazine) while doing some work as a professor. 

The opening scene gives you a setup of what totally won't be referred to later: a group of folks at a fraternity do a mean prank on a pledge that sees him find a corpse in a bed and three years later you see those folks go on a train on the eve of a new year. I suppose there's something about the chunk of horror movies that exist with one or all of the following in young girls, blood, and knives that I suppose gets a bad rap because heaven forbid a slasher movie have some mayhem. I give some leeway when it comes to characters obviously meant to die because, well, you can't have all the likable smart people stay above the gutter. The movie doesn't have great big kills, and it might've fallen under the radar due to its title (what else would you call it, "Murders on a Train"?), but there's enough entertainment value within the trappings (97 minutes) set out in train-based terror and pacing that actually makes it a pretty neat gem.  The filming (done in roughly 25 days) was done on an actual steam locomotive and passenger cars, as leased from Vermont, with modifications made to allow for equipment along with, well, ways to help light it for John Alcott, who had the whole train re-wired that were housed in a Montreal warehouse (the location is where they got MacKinnon, who was a cross-dressing performer). It might sound repetitive to see Curtis engage in another final-girl mishmash, but she's likable enough in the lingering guilt of being with these kooks in a closed space (such as a delightfully smarmy Bochner) to make it worth being around her and the eventual showdown. Apparently, Johnson went up to Spottiswoode on the first days of shooting and told him to look for any dialogue that sounded excessive from his part to delete (citing his time working with John Ford). He provides stately enough presence in his succinct timing (whether spent with the crew or the moments spent around the folks when people start to go missing). It's funny to think, oh well the Copperfield* sequence is there to just pad the movie with barely anything to do with the film, but I actually do like what we see here, mainly because the magic act does have some charm to its execution and how it looks, as opposed to just thinking it is a goofy camera trick done to escape being thought of as a low-rent Murder on the Orient Express. I especially like the final showdown sequence that decides to ensure no follow-ups by making sure to beat the killer with a shovel for them to fall down the train right as it is moving over a river (complete with them going splat on the ice). As a whole, it is a neat ride that wanted to get on a trend in slashing folks for money that plays patiently with its body-count for little blood but plenty of charm and curiosity within its trappings for what I would argue is a fair gem to discover.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars. 

Song of the day!

*Copperfield has been accused of sexual misconduct for several years, ranging from a 2007 federal investigation, accusations in 2018, and documents that labeled him as an associate of a certain Mr. Epstein.