Terror Train

Since I covered a Jamie Lee Curtis film yesterday, I thought I would take a look back at one in the genre that made her famous, horror. Curtis was known as the scream queen back in the late 70's and early 80's, mostly due to her iconic role as Laurie Strode in the Halloween franchise. Since she was a bankable horror star, she made a lot of scary movies. She was pretty smart about the roles she took as well. Her horror films usually rose above the standard slasher film. One I revisited recently was the mostly forgotten Terror Train from 1980.

Curtis stars as Alana, a med student who took part in a vicious New Year's Eve frat prank on a fellow student, which caused the victim to end up in a mental institution. Three years later, the same students who played the prank are having a New Year's Eve costume party aboard a train. But their is an expected guest, and the body count begins to rise.

This is a fun and gory little horror film. This was the debut feature for directer Roger Spottiswoode, and he handles the suspense nicely. The cast, which includes Ben Johnson, Hart Bochner, and magician David Copperfield, are all really good. I love how a lot of these slasher films of the 80's were able to get classic actors, like Johnson, in major roles.

In one of my past blogs, I wrote about National Lampoon's Class Reunion, which is a spoof of horror films. I think the main film they are targeting is this one because the story is very similar.

Terror Train is one of the better horror films from this era.

It's available on dvd and blu ray.