The 80s were a wild time. It’s the only decade that both David Copperfield (the magician) and Academy Award winner Ben Johnson would share the screen in a low-budget slasher starring Jamie Lee Curtis post-Halloween. Terror Train has no right being as good as it is. The college slasher on a train takes the best parts of the horror subgenre and giallo to concoct a wild, heady brew of ridiculous plot points and unsavory, despicable characters.
A frat hazing prank gone awry seems to be ancient history for Alana (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends. Mo (Timothy Webber) and Doc (Hart Bochner) have planned a New Year’s Eve party aboard a luxury train. As a train full of coeds begins to party, the bodies begin to pile up, and Alana has a sneaking suspicion it’s tied to that almost forgotten hazing that left that pledge in an institution. As Alana becomes the murderer’s next target, she has to figure out who is hiding in plain sight.
Terror Train is not a great film, but it’s a highly entertaining one. Director Roger Spottiswoode, working with ace cinematographer John Alcott (who shot Barry Lyndon and 2001 amongst other films), creates a stylish 90-minute slasher that moves (pardon the pun) like a freight train. The film moves so quickly that even the rougher patches are smoothed over. This is one of the cases of an Editor turned Director that benefits the story, ensuring that everything is cut to the bone (another pun absolutely intended).
One of the strengths of the film, other than the lunatic script, is the cast that casts a wide net of a who’s who of great actors. Jame Lee Curtis does an admirable job with a thankless role that requires her to scream and look baffled and/or scared. She makes do with what she’s given. Ben Johnson is incapable of anything less than a stellar performance, and Terror Train is the proof positive. David Copperfield, Timothy Webber, Sandee Currie, and Vanity turn in your standard-issue slasher film performances. Hart Bochner, aka Ellis from Die Hard, almost steals the show playing the douche bag supreme (as he does in all films from the 1980s).
The third act of the film and the killer’s reveal is actually quite clever if troubling for our current era. One will actually want to go back and see if the film manages to hide the killer in plain sight, which it does with Spottiswoode’s keen editor’s eye. Terror Train is an early slasher film that separates itself with a decent script, a great cast, and some inspired direction and visual style. If only more films of the genre would try as hard as it does.
The Transfer
The all-new HDR10 Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative is a solid representation of the John Alcott-shot film. The low-light photography is beautifully rendered by the HDR10 encoding. The contrast and black detail are wonderfully reproduced here. The film has never looked better than it has here. Even its 35mm prints pale in comparison. Kino Lorber has given us a truly wonderful 4K Upgrade.
The Extras
They include the following;
Audio Commentary by Paul Corupe of Canuxploitation.com and Film Historian Jason Pichonsky
Audio Commentary by Film Historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson
Interviews with Director Roger Spottiswoode, Screenwriter Judith Rascoe, and Composer John Mills-Cockell
Theatrical Trailer
TV Spot
The first of two Audio Commentaries is by Paul Corupe of Canuxploitation.com and Film Historian Jason Pichonsky. The duo opens with a bit of audio before discussing how this film was made out of the Canadian Tax Shelter era. Some of the details include a discussion of Sam Peckingpah Editor turned Director Roger Spottiswoode, and where he was in his career and his personal history; the career and work of producer Sandy Howard; how the production got famed cinematographer John Alcott – and how the production was able to get the cinematographer that worked with Stanley Kubrick; a discussion of star Jamie Lee Curtis – where she was in her career when she made this film; the development of TerrorTrain – which leads to a discussion of the career and collaboration of Harold Greenberg and Sandy Howard; this was made at the same time that Death Ship was in production; the very complicated and messy nature of credits in these Canadian tax shelter movies and their requirements to get that tax; the original idea for the film and how it changed through drafts and the various uncredited writers; a larger discussion of the various actors that appear in the film; and much more.
The second Audio Commentary by Film Historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson. After the duo introduces themselves and dives into a few pun-related jokes, before diving into this unique slasher film, which they both adore. Some of the details include a discussion of the work of cinematographer John Alcott; details from the actor who played the corpse in the opening of the film; a larger discussion of the variation of the formula of the slasher film in not just in Terror Train but in other films as well; what separates this from Halloween and specifically the Jamie Lee Curtis’s final girl; the influence of Murder on the Orient Express on the film beyond their settings; some of the accidents that occurred on set; a larger discussion of David Copperfield’s career and life as a magician and just how large of a force he was in pop culture during the 1980s and 1990s; a side conversation about the magic in horror subgenre; the troupe of masks being used in cinema and specifically in horror films (Heller-Nicholas actually wrote a book and her thesis on the subject matter); and much more. Heller-Nicholas and Nelson have quotes from multiple cast and crew involved, including star Curtis, director Spottiswoode, and others.
Interview with Director Roger Spottiswoode (16:47) – the director opens with the reason why he took on the film as director, as he had worked thus far as an editor. Some of the details include a discussion of working with legendary cinematographer John Alcott on the film; the lack of sets and shooting on a real train and the issues that came up because of that; the issues with the production schedule and the time frame they were imposed with – including a discussion of working with producers Harold Greenberg and Sandy Howard; working with actor Ben Johnson; the star power of Jamie Lee Curtis and how she helped Spottiswoode; working with David Copperfield and magic onscreen; and much more.
Interview with Screenwriter Judith Rascoe (5:36) – Rascoe opens with a great story about Montreal (where the film was made) and the wild nature of the production windfall the city had because of tax incentives. The screenwriter goes on to discuss her collaboration with director Spottiswoode; the fact that the film was being made in the wake of the mega success of Halloween and how that inspired her; and more.
Murder Music with John Mills-Cockell (8:11) – Mills-Cockell opens with how he was hired by Spottiswoode. The composer goes on to discuss being a novice at the time to horror films; his collaboration with Spottiswoode; and much more.
Jamie Lee Curtis rides the first-class car in the 80’s slasher Terror Train. New on 4K UHD from Kino Lorber.
The Film
The 80s were a wild time. It’s the only decade that both David Copperfield (the magician) and Academy Award winner Ben Johnson would share the screen in a low-budget slasher starring Jamie Lee Curtis post-Halloween. Terror Train has no right being as good as it is. The college slasher on a train takes the best parts of the horror subgenre and giallo to concoct a wild, heady brew of ridiculous plot points and unsavory, despicable characters.
A frat hazing prank gone awry seems to be ancient history for Alana (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends. Mo (Timothy Webber) and Doc (Hart Bochner) have planned a New Year’s Eve party aboard a luxury train. As a train full of coeds begins to party, the bodies begin to pile up, and Alana has a sneaking suspicion it’s tied to that almost forgotten hazing that left that pledge in an institution. As Alana becomes the murderer’s next target, she has to figure out who is hiding in plain sight.
Terror Train is not a great film, but it’s a highly entertaining one. Director Roger Spottiswoode, working with ace cinematographer John Alcott (who shot Barry Lyndon and 2001 amongst other films), creates a stylish 90-minute slasher that moves (pardon the pun) like a freight train. The film moves so quickly that even the rougher patches are smoothed over. This is one of the cases of an Editor turned Director that benefits the story, ensuring that everything is cut to the bone (another pun absolutely intended).
One of the strengths of the film, other than the lunatic script, is the cast that casts a wide net of a who’s who of great actors. Jame Lee Curtis does an admirable job with a thankless role that requires her to scream and look baffled and/or scared. She makes do with what she’s given. Ben Johnson is incapable of anything less than a stellar performance, and Terror Train is the proof positive. David Copperfield, Timothy Webber, Sandee Currie, and Vanity turn in your standard-issue slasher film performances. Hart Bochner, aka Ellis from Die Hard, almost steals the show playing the douche bag supreme (as he does in all films from the 1980s).
The third act of the film and the killer’s reveal is actually quite clever if troubling for our current era. One will actually want to go back and see if the film manages to hide the killer in plain sight, which it does with Spottiswoode’s keen editor’s eye. Terror Train is an early slasher film that separates itself with a decent script, a great cast, and some inspired direction and visual style. If only more films of the genre would try as hard as it does.
The Transfer
The all-new HDR10 Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative is a solid representation of the John Alcott-shot film. The low-light photography is beautifully rendered by the HDR10 encoding. The contrast and black detail are wonderfully reproduced here. The film has never looked better than it has here. Even its 35mm prints pale in comparison. Kino Lorber has given us a truly wonderful 4K Upgrade.
The Extras
They include the following;
The first of two Audio Commentaries is by Paul Corupe of Canuxploitation.com and Film Historian Jason Pichonsky. The duo opens with a bit of audio before discussing how this film was made out of the Canadian Tax Shelter era. Some of the details include a discussion of Sam Peckingpah Editor turned Director Roger Spottiswoode, and where he was in his career and his personal history; the career and work of producer Sandy Howard; how the production got famed cinematographer John Alcott – and how the production was able to get the cinematographer that worked with Stanley Kubrick; a discussion of star Jamie Lee Curtis – where she was in her career when she made this film; the development of Terror Train – which leads to a discussion of the career and collaboration of Harold Greenberg and Sandy Howard; this was made at the same time that Death Ship was in production; the very complicated and messy nature of credits in these Canadian tax shelter movies and their requirements to get that tax; the original idea for the film and how it changed through drafts and the various uncredited writers; a larger discussion of the various actors that appear in the film; and much more.
The second Audio Commentary by Film Historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson. After the duo introduces themselves and dives into a few pun-related jokes, before diving into this unique slasher film, which they both adore. Some of the details include a discussion of the work of cinematographer John Alcott; details from the actor who played the corpse in the opening of the film; a larger discussion of the variation of the formula of the slasher film in not just in Terror Train but in other films as well; what separates this from Halloween and specifically the Jamie Lee Curtis’s final girl; the influence of Murder on the Orient Express on the film beyond their settings; some of the accidents that occurred on set; a larger discussion of David Copperfield’s career and life as a magician and just how large of a force he was in pop culture during the 1980s and 1990s; a side conversation about the magic in horror subgenre; the troupe of masks being used in cinema and specifically in horror films (Heller-Nicholas actually wrote a book and her thesis on the subject matter); and much more. Heller-Nicholas and Nelson have quotes from multiple cast and crew involved, including star Curtis, director Spottiswoode, and others.
Interview with Director Roger Spottiswoode (16:47) – the director opens with the reason why he took on the film as director, as he had worked thus far as an editor. Some of the details include a discussion of working with legendary cinematographer John Alcott on the film; the lack of sets and shooting on a real train and the issues that came up because of that; the issues with the production schedule and the time frame they were imposed with – including a discussion of working with producers Harold Greenberg and Sandy Howard; working with actor Ben Johnson; the star power of Jamie Lee Curtis and how she helped Spottiswoode; working with David Copperfield and magic onscreen; and much more.
Interview with Screenwriter Judith Rascoe (5:36) – Rascoe opens with a great story about Montreal (where the film was made) and the wild nature of the production windfall the city had because of tax incentives. The screenwriter goes on to discuss her collaboration with director Spottiswoode; the fact that the film was being made in the wake of the mega success of Halloween and how that inspired her; and more.
Murder Music with John Mills-Cockell (8:11) – Mills-Cockell opens with how he was hired by Spottiswoode. The composer goes on to discuss being a novice at the time to horror films; his collaboration with Spottiswoode; and much more.
TV Spot (0:30)
Rounding out the special features are trailers for Terror Train (2:29); Death Ship (1:35); Dust Devil (1:37); Mimic (1:52); The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper (2:55);
The Final Thought
Kino Lorber has given us another great 4K upgrade to a cult title. Highest Recommendations!!
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