Some 80s slashers that are low on blood and gore and innovative kills are becoming a little stale to me on rewatch. I have to put myself in the mindset of the time and remember that something like this was considered more visceral. What Terror Train does have going for it is its gimmick. John Kenneth Muir has written that this movie is all about illusion versus reality. That is reflected in the magician show being a big part of the movie. It also shows in how they cut away from certain kills and how you have to imagine what happened in almost all of them. Like some other 80s slashers it is another movie I would want to be in if I didn't get killed. The best slashers are fun movies outside of the slashing. Roger Spottiswoode, often Sam Peckinpah's editor, and John Alcott, often Stanley Kubrick's cinematographer, photograph this movie quite well. I don't like the choices of when the cuts are made on the kills but a lack of special effects and MPAA ratings at the time can be blamed for that as well. What can't be denied is that there are great suspense sequences, and the movie feels exactly like the experience of being on a train. I did enjoy how the killer took people's masks after he killed them.
Some other slasher movies like Prom Night or Valentine have the same kind of prior evil of a prank gone wrong. In this case I didn't feel the need to root for the killer because of that. In Prom Night I usually root for the killer just because the prank caused someone to die. In this case Kenny seemed to all ready have mental issues before this prank. His reaction is extreme and what he decides to do for revenge is extreme. The effects of that cadaver they put in the bed are actually the best effects in the movie. That tells you something about the kills in this. Kenny (Derek McKinnon) is the victim of this prank that Doc (Hart Bochner), Ed (Howard Busgang), Jackson (Anthony Sherwood), Mo (Timothy Webber), and Alana (Jamie Lee Curtis) play on him. The boys tell him that Alana is interested in him and lead him into the room where Alana says sexual things to him behind a bed curtain. He unveils the curtain to reveal a dead cadaver and proceeds to react manically.
Three years later the same medical students are having a New Year's Eve costume party on a train. Before they can even board the train Ed is killed by getting stabbed with a sword. What is interesting though is, as they board the train they see Ed and think he is just playing a joke. This starts the theme during the kills of illusion versus reality. People think one thing but it may be something different. Later when someone dies right next to Doc he is trying to get help but a crowd of people think it is a joke. The movie even does that with the audience. Some of the cutaways make you unsure if someone has actually been killed or not. The killer starts taking people's masks in a clever gimmick. Speaking of clever gimmicks, cutting away from the kills is actually a clever gimmick to disguise cheap filmmaking though it does have a point in this movie. This movie does have some of the most bloodless and offscreen kills of any slasher.
Some of the masks the killer wears and seeing them are better than the actual kills
Despite that I enjoy the setting of this film and there are some great suspenseful moments and character moments. I think of the moment with Doc alone in that compartment where he knows the killer is there but can't find him anywhere. The moment when Lana locks herself in an office with the killer outside and the whole chase between them through the train. Ben Johnson brings some ethos to this as the conductor. Notice how the killer never tries to tussle with him until the end. I do like that many slasher movies will often try to cast someone with some credibility to prop up the other actors around them. David Copperfield is part of the gimmick and I do like the magic trick he pulls with the cigarette through the quarter. Seeing him play a character and not just himself was unique. It was nice to see Vanity play another one of the college students. There are some fun moments where Doc and Mo flirt with some women saying stuff like we need to do an exploratory we're gonna be gynecologists soon.
While most slasher movies that aren't whodunits don't do a good job with mystery this one does something clever. The murderer is Kenny. That is obvious. What isn't obvious is who he actually is and where he is on the train. On rewatch I don't see how I was fooled but some initial viewers may not catch it. It goes again with the illusion versus reality theme because you may look somewhere and say hey that person looks familiar but I'm not sure from where. I also like moments in slasher movies like this where the characters realize why they might be targets for a killer. It happens in this and I like that. I also enjoy anytime Ben Johnson is on screen. I enjoy the card trick he keeps trying to get people with.
Rating: 7/10 Like i said the kills are time but I still have a lot of fun with this one.
Kill Count, brought to you by Dead Meat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yHW5ueFs9k
Trivia: The idea for Terror Train (1980) came from a dream that Daniel Grodnik had. One weekend night after seeing the films Halloween (1978) and Silver Streak (1976), Dan woke up and said to his wife, "What do you think about putting Halloween on a train?" His wife answered, "That's terrible". He jotted down "Terrible Train" on a piece of paper on his nightstand. In the morning, he changed the title to "Terror Train", wrote up 22 pages, and made a deal on it with Sandy Howard's company at 3:00 in the afternoon.
SLASHER MOVIE ANATOMY:
- Prior Evil: Prank gone wrong. Unstable person pranked by frat college guys wants revenge.
- Body Count: 10
- Whodunit: Yes and no. I think as a viewer you know it is Kenny but you aren't sure what he looks like until the end reveal.
- Mask or outfit: Groucho Marx and other masks he takes from the victims. Lizard and witch hag mask.
- Locale or organizer: Train
- Best Kill: Sword to the chest
- Famous person: David Copperfield
- Credible actor: Ben Johnson
INSTRUMENTS OF DEATH AND SLASH COUNT
Offscreen presumed dead and unknown: 2
Off screen throat slit: 1
Offscreen decapitation: 1
Offscreen kill with bloody aftermath: 1
Sword: 3 (1 onscreen)
Falling from the train: 1
Head bashed into mirror: 1
SLASHER MOVIE TAXONOMY
- Kingdom: Post Halloween, initial 80s slasher
- Phylum: Serious, but a focus on illusion and magic makes it fun
- Class: Slasher set on train, New Years Eve, college students
- Order: 1980
- Family: One woman shows upper body nudity
- Genus: Great atmospheric setting, active help from the authority figure, Ben Johnson is just as much the main character as Jamie Lee Curtis is
- Species: Medium on screen body count, minimal effects work, some bloody aftermath shots, fun setting, killer wearing different masks he gets from victims.
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