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Terror Train (DVD)
Year: 1980
Rating: MA
Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Johnson, Derek Mackinnon
Release Date: February 02, 2011
Distributor: Beyond
The Film: 4.0
FILMINK rates DVDs and Blu-rays out of 5“…a clever, darkly entertaining ride.”
Terror Train is a slasher classic featuring the young Jamie Lee Curtis and magician David Copperfield performing his own illusions - on a train! What more could anyone want?
The film revolves around the idea of things not being what they seem, and employs pranks, magic tricks and fancy dress disguises to create a sense of ongoing uncertainty. It kicks off at a campus bonfire party, where a nasty clique of pre-med students plays a humiliating prank on the resident outcast (Derek Mackinnon). This practical joke is genuinely (and rather ingeniously) horrific, tipping its victim right over the edge of sanity. Three years later, when the same students celebrate graduation with a costume bash on a chartered train, he's ready to take his revenge.
Terror Train is well-played, with Jamie Lee Curtis demonstrating her scream queen appeal, Derek Mackinnon convincing as victim-turned-psychopath, and David Copperfield radiating intensity as the magician.
For a slasher film, it's not all that gory, relying more on suspense and suggestion. The twist ending isn't hard to predict for those paying attention, but this doesn't interfere with a clever, darkly entertaining ride.
