Terror Train

     Yet another early 80's slasher film to come from Canada, "Terror Train" hit theaters on October 3, 1980.  Jamie Lee Curtis had already been established as the "Scream Queen" with earlier roles in "Halloween", "The Fog", and "Prom Night", and she would follow this up with "Halloween 2". I really dig "Terror Train".  It's really grown on me and love it almost as much as I love "Prom Night"- which is a lot.  This is 100% prime slasher here.  Shy and awkward pledge Kenny Hampson becomes the victim of a cruel and twisted prank gone horribly wrong. His mind snapping in the process, he is of course instiutionalized.  We flash forward 3 years later to same group of students who are now graduating and decide to throw a New Years' Eve costume party aboard a train. Little do they know that Kenny has boarded the train as well, murderously lurking in a creepy Groucho Marx costume and brandishing a knife.  And it gets even better- David Friggin' Copperfield performs a magic show on the train.  I'm not making this up!  A train hurtling through a dark winter night with Jamie Lee Curtis, David Copperfield, and a murderous lunatic on board?  Hell yes.

      "Terror Train" is not a bad movie as it's sometimes made out to be.  It's certainly no "Halloween", but I find it extremely watchable.  The opening prank scene is genuinely creepy and the movie delivers quite the climax as our one and only Jamie Lee battles the killer to the death.  It certainly picks up steam in the last 30 minutes or so.  "Terror Train" boasts the novelty of the killer donning the costume of his last victim, which is fun, let's be real.  The movie was filmed in Montreal on an actual reconverted train in about three weeks, for you trivia hounds out there.  It's got some great atmosphere shots of the train barreling through a snowy landscape, and the claustrophobic setting on the train really helps the film.  As of now the only Jamie Lee Curtis horror flick that hasn't been remade- although there are talks for one in the making.  Bleh. Bottom line- if you're into early 80's slashers, book a ticket on the "Terror Train" today!