terror train

1980 Directed by Roger Spottiswoode

Horror Marathon Day 17 Film 26

Jamie Lee Curtis stars in another slasher thrill- this one pitted on a train where there's nowhere to run. It's not the worst premise as the train cars and winter landscape become a cold, dark, and claustrophobic setting. There’s not a huge plot to attach to so most of it is the setting itself.

The typical slasher revenge opening is pretty traumatic- a pledge is pranked into kissing a corpse. Years later the frat goes on a party train- all dressed up (apparently for New Year's Eve- though it feels like Halloween with a lot of the costumes and Barry Lyndon’s low light setting). There really isn't any mystery as to who is killing the other students- but they don’t' really show who it is because they're wearing a Groucho Marx mask or seeming to take the costume of the person they just killed- so the film keeps you still guessing as to which person at the party is the killer in disguise.

It also features David Copperfield being skewered- so there's some nice visual irony of illusion of film and what we're seeing too. The eventual reveal comes as a nice surprise too. The "final girl" fight sequences with Curtis are especially full of tension too- blood splashes everywhere and the creepy entanglement with her killer is really welcome for a slasher. An unfortunate miss for film is the quickness of getting rid of the killer- with all the energy pulled out.